Hello! Are these shopping posts for the foreseeable future perhaps going to be inspired by stuff I am trying to figure out for my honeymoon/milestone birthday travel this summer? MAYBE. (For example, so far I’ve rounded up spring dresses with sleeves, cute flats/sneakers, and, of course, zip-top tote bags. FWIW, I did get that Boat and Tote with “Carry On” monogrammed on it and it’s very cute. God bless the Boat and Tote monogram people; also I just noticed that monogramming is free at LL Bean until May 11, FYI.) Lately, my obsession has been getting a crossbody bag I can comfortably wear around Italy.
Travel-planning right now will have you spun up about pickpockets and I’m not sure how overblown this is, especially given that I never worried much about this in years past. I keep thinking, “I’m sure women who live in Rome just carry their normal handbags and don’t think that much about it.” But Reddit has big concerns and Reddit is where I do a lot of travel-planning. (Also at Rick Steves and that man wants me to carry a money belt. Rick! I can’t.) I know folks love their Baggallini and Pacsafe bags and I absolutely respect/understand this! (And this Baggallini is totally reasonable and cute; I think they are better looking in person than online) (And two hours after I wrote this post, PacSafe found me on Instagram and served me an ad for a bag that I do think is cute except I wish it didn’t have such a big label.) But generally the leading anti-theft purses are not really my personal vibe, visually-speaking; my current theory is that if a brand out there could figure out an anti-theft bag that looked more fashion-y, that brand would RAKE IT IN.
After going back and forth about this for weeks because it’s a fun and easy thing to fixate on that has nothing to do with other serious problems in the world/my life, I decided what I really need is just a smaller crossbody I can wear across my chest when we’re in places that are really swamped with people (so, all of them), or on public transport, and I can just use these little purse locks on the zipper. AM I IRRATIONALLY OBSESSING ABOUT THIS? YES. OBVIOUSLY.
And thus then I transitioned to obsessing about what crossbody. There are so many of them now! Join me on my spiral. Madewell claims I can use my everyday purse as a crossbody, and the strap definitely does adjust to make that possible, but it’s big and unwieldy that way for me. (Although I LOVE it as an everyday bag.) This Uniqlo one has been recommended all over the internet and the price is right. I love this Parker Thatch one, but I think it’s too big and will mess up my back/neck if I wear it all day, plus v. spendy for something that might be uncomfortable. I was tempted by this Lululemon — on sale! I also love this Le Pliage one — and the zipper plus snap flap makes it seem secure — but online reviews made it look a little narrow for my needs. (I wish the sweet Nordstrom sales people who make their very helpful online videos would put things in their bags so you can tell how it really looks with like a phone and a wallet in it.) I carried this Clare V. one all over Berlin and use it constantly at home but the top handle just came off in my hand so it’s at the cobbler for a month and also it’s more of a hip bag. I told you I was being obsessive. Anyway! Ultimately, I went with this suede Quince crossbody. It seems like a good size. I think it’s cute. And I needed to stop overthinking this!
Here are some other options (some of these are linked above, but not all) :
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