Hook and I

Here’s one that came in via email today: a bracelet that turns into a purse hook.

I’ve been carrying a purse hook ever since I sat next to the most elegant woman years ago at a dinner party in Lyon, France. The woman arrived, pulled out a carved wooden purse hook and hooked her evening bag to the table. She then looked at my own purse, lying forlornly at my feet, and said—in the nicest possible way—“It’s bad luck to put your purse on the floor.”

I’ve been—ahem—hooked ever since.

As soon as I got home, I bought my own. I’ve since carted it around the world and I get a reaction every time I use it. The only drawback is that the hook gets lost in my purse. Once, when I was rummaging through my bag looking for the hook, I tipped over a glass of water into the lap of one of my dining partners.

The Clipa could solve my rummage problem. Made by Irvine, Calif.–based Topcor, the patent-pending Clipa is pretty cute as a bangle bracelet. But it’s super cute clipped to the handle of a purse—and comes in several gold and silver finishes. There’s also a special-edition pink verion; 10 percent of the sales of the Clipa for a Cure version is donated to The Breast Cancer Research Foundation.