Cheryl Shops

Just before the new year, there was a meme going around the Internet alluding to how 2022 sounds like "2020 two," e.g. "the sequel," e.g. dear god, not again. But Sean interpreted it as "2020 take two," e.g. a do-over, and that optimism is one of the many reasons why I love him. Yes, things may be less than ideal right now, with closures and quarantines and yet another rampant strain of Covid, but maybe, just maybe this is the year we move on from this @#$% virus. I didn't realize how much I was craving my old routines until our back-to-office date got pushed back for the gazillionth time—and this time I was actually disappointed about it. I had been thinking about easing back into office wear (and really looking forward to wearing my blazers again), but since that won't be happening just yet, I've come up with a happy medium: pieces that are comfortable and casual enough to wear around the house, but polished enough to wear out to after-work drinks (outside, of course). So here's what I'm wearing in 2022...for now.

You, dear readers, seem to love my honest reviews, so I'm pledging to do more of them in 2021—at least one a month. You appear to be particularly curious about luxury items, so first up is my biggest splurge of 2020, my Celine Cabas Phantom tote. As I noted when I first featured it here, I'm generally not a bag person (I'm more of a shoe person), but I'd been in need of a new work tote and was eyeing this one for quite a while. And by quite a while, I mean dragging Sean to every Celine boutique we came across so I could try it on and debate getting the medium size or the small. (I got the medium, obviously, but more on that later.) I finally decided to take the plunge last year in Paris; while that's out of the question for the moment, I wanted to share my experience anyway with the hope that, god willing, we can travel again soon. So here's how I bought my Celine Phantom tote in Paris, why I went with the medium, and how I really feel about it. 

For the last three days, Tommy Ton has been posting gratuitous shots of Celine clothes, shoes, and bags at his Jak & Jil blog, each post filled with more drool-worthy items than the last. He kicked off with a two-paragraph analysis from T's Sally Singer, and I fully agree with her assessment: Phoebe Philo's designs combine luxury and utilitarianism into a new minimalism that looks more modern than anything else out there at the moment. Philo, as you may know, started under Stella McCartney at Chloé, then took over the house when McCartne left and remained there until early 2006, when she left to spend more time with her family. Philo joined Celine nearly two years ago, and has since transformed the brand from a stale old French house to one of the most directional and influential around.

Celine can currently be found at Barneys and Bergdorf's in NYC and at the Celine store in Bal Harbor, Florida; sadly, it's not sold online, however a handful of the bags and shoes recently turned up on Bluefly for about 20% off retail (not bad!). I, however, am holding out for this hobo--quite possibly one of the most perfectly luxurious and chic bags I've ever seen.