Marc Jacobs Lola

Many years ago I saw the Marc Jacobs Lola bag, originally from the Fall 2003 collection (I think), and knew I had to have one. The Lola is a medium-sized shoulder bag with a built-in umbrella compartment (and included umbrella), made in Italy from thick, squishy leather and lined with suede. Lola originally retailed for $795, but typically goes for $100-$200 now. They pop up on ebay periodically, but rarely in colors other than cream and pink, occasionally in black. I already have too many black bags and don't carry white bags or pink bags, so over time the Lola desire waned.

Meet Debra

Almost as soon as I made the switch to a Pocket size Filofax I knew I would want a Kate Spade binder. One search on ebay yielded this beauty, a Wellesley Pocket Debra circa 2006. The exterior is boar hide, the interior is linen-patterned calfskin, the hardware is 24k gold-plated. I have other Wellesley accessories, and can say from experience that the boar hide wears like iron. When I got my new binder in the mail this week I fell in love immediately. Unlike newer KS binders, this one has 15mm rings, making it significantly slimmer than my Malden. This means I had to downsize my filling by a couple of months, but it's not too much of an inconvenience.