I knew I wouldn’t find Karl Lagerfeld scouring around the 26th street flea market looking for frocks. As the subject of fellow CFDA Special Award winner Cathy Horyn’s piece about the newly svelte designer that appeared in the Style section of the Sunday New York Times, he talked about why his relationship soured with ‘bad boy’ Jeremy Scott, saying about his designs, “there has to be some work behind it, not 20 dresses inspired by the flea market”. Ouch! Actually, that can be applied to many other designers, let’s face it. Since it was the day before the CFDA awards, with so many of fashion’s international fold here in town, I did expect to find some familiar fashion faces thumbing through the eclectic merchandise (which I didn’t).
But, nonetheless, in my search for bargains around town, I did spot a true find…. One dealer, located on 86th street, between 3rd and Lexington Avenues, had a sign boasting ‘$5 for any bag’. And while most of the selection was very ordinary, what stood out- considering how ‘hot’ leopard is right now – were a group of small leopard bags. The two styles – both standing about 6″ by 4″, and covered in a velour like fabric – look far more expensive, and can be used either as a little day or evening purse, or as a bag inside your larger tote which holds your money, glasses, etc… At five bucks, you really can’t go wrong.
