Tag Archives: made in america

Clutch Bags Q & A: April loves Bags

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This week Clutch Bags NY was lucky enough to spend some time talking with April Dinwoodie. Not only is she a Clutch NY client, she is also a woman with more than one career. April is a successful publicity director and the cofounder of a nonprofit organization called Fostering Change for Children.

Keep reading to find out what motivates April to keep moving forward!

 

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April at home with her Clutch NY mail bag

Why do you like living in NYC? New York is full of diversity. Overall, it has a great vibe. I grew up in Rhode Island which is pretty much just one note. Whereas New York is many notes. So I love it for that reason. What inspires you? Young people who have had tremendous hurdles in life, yet they manage to get themselves out of bed everyday and put a smile on their face. There’s nothing more inspiring to me than that. What gives you hope? More or less the same thing. Seeing someone breakthrough. When a person has something really challenging in front of them, watching them overcome it makes me feel hopeful.  Continue reading →

Clutch Bags: Ode to the Prowess of a Lady

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Margaret Thatcher, Prowess of a Lady

Margaret Thatcher, Prowess of a Lady

“Being powerful is like being a lady. If you have to tell people you are, you aren’t.”

                                                                             -Margaret Thatcher

Lady leadership has been so scarce in our lifetime. However, the ladies that have been triumphant in history have a legacy that lives forever.  How fortunate we are that our lives have  intersected that of the great Lady Leader Margaret Thatcher.

As a young woman alive on this planet during the election and leadership of British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, I have been personally influenced by her role as a powerful political female figurehead.  It has been her undeniable strength as a woman that has effected me most.  A woman who commanded the respect of a leader, consistently possessed the dignity and prowess of a lady.  The positive female role that Margaret Thatcher exuded during her lifetime will forever be ingrained in the navigational skills of leadership that I use to build Clutch Bags NY into a strong Made in USA brand of handbags that I believe in.  Mrs. Thatcher taught me to stand firm for what you believe in, and set a path that is your own.

“Don’t follow the crowd, let the crowd follow you.” — Margaret Thatcher

With great respect and gratitude-

Laura Dotolo

Clutch Bags NY

Clutch Bags Q & A: Maria Beauty

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Clutch Bags NY was lucky enough this week to spend some time talking with Maria De Los Angeles,  a Clutch NY client who happens to be a very successful and inspirational NYC hairstylist.

Keep reading to find out how Maria went from a conformable Catholic schoolgirl to a strong and resilient businesswoman!

Screen Shot 2013-03-29 at 5.43.16 PMWhat does your profession mean to you? I’m a hairstylist and I see it as an art form. The hair is a blank canvas and the face is the structure, so I blend them together. But I don’t just do hair, I care about the people I work with. I care about those people out there. They’re my people. How did you know this was the career path  for you? I knew that I loved structure, I loved clothes, art, and I loved nature. What was your first job? My career started in the fashion business. I worked for Norma Kamali for eight years, from 1981 to about 1989-ish. And I started as an intern. I worked for free and then she hired me.

Where did you grow up? I lived in the South Bronx. I was born in 1963, so during that time it was a very working-class-neighborhood, very Catholic school, very uniform. What were you like when you were younger? I grew up in a family of five. And it’s interesting, because I grew up tending to be the peacemaker in the family and a little more submissive. You know, you want to be a good kid. Who was your first mentor? Continue reading →

Clutch Bags March On

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 Is imagesit just me or is time flying by? It seems like just yesterday I was packing my weekend bag for Winter vacation, wrapping Christmas presents, and drafting my New Year’s resolutions, and now, all of a sudden it’s the sixty-fourth day of 2013! If you, like me, are not totally sure about where all of that time went, use this post as a guideline as to what is memorable about March.

Transitioning from February to March doesn’t only mark a change of climactic and fashion seasons, but also a change of focus. Now, ladies, before you start worrying about updating your wardrobe with this Spring’s latest must-haves, remember that every Clutch Bag is versatile Adeleenough to withstand the trend of any season!

While the month of February celebrated the beauty of humanity’s products–such as fashion, film, and music– through events like The Grammy’s and Fashion Week, March celebrates the beauty of humanity itself. Through a bundle of holidays that commemorate doctors, saints, and women, this month stresses humanity’s most admirable qualities:

Clutch Bags says: Happy New Year !!!!

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               Let me begin by wishing everyone out there a very happy, healthy and refreshing New Year from Clutch Bags NY!

What a great opportunity we have every year on this day to  transcend old habits into new ones.  I like to say, “Out with the old habits and in with the new vows!”  Or, as George Williams Curtis says, “The new year begins in a snow-storm of white vows.” That is some very nice winter imagery for us, isn’t it?

So, doesn’t that make us reflect on what our new vows should be? I know that I have been thinking not only about the habits I need to break, but also about the vows I need to begin implementing.  January 1st is the perfect time for the birth of new habits.

So, where do we begin with breaking some habits? Lets start with the definition so we can figure out what it is we need to change. Wikipedia says: “Habits are routines of behavior that are repeated regularly and tend to occur subconsciously. Old habits are hard to break and new habits are hard to form because the behavioral patterns we repeat are imprinted in our neural pathways.”

So, habits are habitual and hard to break.  Possibly, we can break them by making some promises to ourselves with some new vows. Webster defines a vow as such: “a solemn promise or assertion; specifically : one by which a person is bound to an act, service, or condition. Okay, we have it.  Vows are a bound to an act.  Let’s start with that and bind ourselves to some acts.

What acts would we like to bind to ourselves with in this new year of 2013? After giving all of this some thought, I came up with the following list.

Laura Dotolo’s Vows for Clutch Bags NY in 2013:

1-Build Clutch Bags NY into a stronger brand for people to believe in

2-Write more blogs  so people can read  more about the workings  of Clutch Bags NY

3-Get the message out to the world that Clutch Bags NY are made right here in NYC…and America is a pretty cool place to have things made.

4-Tweet inspirational mentions from Clutch Bags NY daily

5-Always strive to be a better person 😉

So, my January 1st has begun in a productive way with some positive vows.  As Jim Ryun has been quoted saying, “Motivation is what gets you started.  Habit is what keeps you going.”  Here’s wishing that all of you are able to make a vow that becomes a very good habit for 2013!!!!


 

Happy New Year 2013!
kisses,

Laura

 

 

 

 

 

 

A day to remember at Clutch Bags New York

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September 11 tribute lights

911 Tragedy remembered in Downtown Manhattan

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was in awe looking up at this light display erected near the site of the fallen towers. It brought me back to the day I witnessed the events first hand while working on set in downtown New York where I live. It was a somber day for us yesterday as we remember the many friends we lost on that tragic day. All of us who still live here in downtown have been impressed with the resilience of our fellow New Yorkers and particularly impressed with the reconstruction of our beloved neighborhood. It reminds me of the strength and fortitude of the American worker as I see what has been rebuilt on the former site of the fallen towers. I decided to start my handbag manufacturing company in the wake of this tragedy in 2001, determined that my handbags designs would always be manufactured here in New York City. I have succeeded in keeping that promised to myself even in the wake of a wave of cheap handbag manufacturing overseas. I still believe that Americans, given an informed choice of quality over cheap goods that don’t last, will choose made in America. My Clutch Bags and Leather purses are warrantied for life and I thank all our clients for their support in purchasing high quality handbags made by hand here in New York City. Made in USA is important to me. God Bless America and all those that support her.

 

Kisses,

Laura Dotolo

Clutch Bags NY

Clutch Bags Styling Mother

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Cool Moms

 

Oh, Mothers, Mothers everywhere!  How we do love you and what you wear!

Oh, yes, how true it is.  I believe this to be the perfect time of year for us at Clutch Bags NY to pay tribute to your mom and give her credit for what she has shared with you in terms of traditions, manners and fashion.  Have you ever thought about where your taste or sense of fashion has sprung from?  Or who has influenced it?  Have you ever thought about why you like to wear, look or touch certain handbags or fabrics?  Quite possibly, your fashion sensibility has been influenced by your mother.  Remember  when you were just a wee one and you were not able to even dress yourself?  Who dressed you?  And then, when you were able to pick out certain items of clothing to put on and decided that you could dress yourself at the age of 3, who was there to guide you?  Hands down, it was most likely your mom.  Whether you were watching her coordinate her shoes to her handbag, or helping her find the right earrings for the dress, you were in the vicinity to be influenced by her taste and her style.

Now, some of you I am sure are cringing, thinking that you cannot possibly have been influenced by your mom’s polyester pantsuits or yellow go-go boots.   Continue reading →

White Bright Designer Hand Bags : Clutch Bags says “Keep It Light”

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White is not just a color. It’s an attitude.  Take a look, open your eyes.  White is making its appearance in the form of hip and cool.  Yeh!  The color white has finally arrived!  It has taken quite a few years in the fashion journey for white to creep  down to this level;  the no frills street level that is.  Sure, white is nice.  It is pure. It is sweet. It is bridal, first communion,  innocence, purity  and cleanliness.  It is also bright, fresh, and blinding.  It is so very  healing and germ free.  Let’s face it,  it is the king of all neutrals. Continue reading →

New York Fashion Week shows off Houndstooth

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Houndstooth at New York Fashion Week

 

This past week gave us a tremendous peek into what’s coming for Fashion and overall Style in the months ahead. One fun observation is the photo montage below captured by none other than Alex Thompson, our man on the street. Could this first shot be none other than, oh you guess.

Not sure if the houndstooth is here to stay but Continue reading →