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| Salvatore Ferragamo Icona French Wallet $425 This one's for Grandma. |
Let’s get
something straight. A stocking stuffer does not have its status determined by
its size, but by its price. iPhone – NOT a stocking stuffer. Candy pooping
reindeer – STOCKING STUFFER. Now that we have that straight… A fantastic
holiday gift idea, and a particular favorite accessory of mine, is the wallet!
Wallets, wristlets, cosmetic pouches, card cases, money clips: all of these
delightful little gems come in a range of styles, qualities and prices. This
means that you can get them as “I love you so much!” gifts to yourself, “Thanks
for employing me,” gifts for your boss, “I had to spend a lot of money on you,
but you have such horrible taste in everything I didn’t know what else to get
for you,” presents for matriarchal family members, “Holidays are awkward - this
is personal, but not so personal that there’s worry of wedding bells,” gifts
for boyfriends/girlfriends, or even “This is a cute way to spruce up the inside
of your purse and it didn’t cost me much!” for your girlfriends. Wallets as gifts
for men tend to be a bit more personal as they seem to use one until it is
completely falling to pieces and then replace it. With us ladies, it’s like
handbags. Excess is to be expected. Different wallets exist for different bags,
moods, and seasons.
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| Comme des Garçons Bright Star Wallet $210 |
Designer
wallets all come with hefty multiple hundred dollar price tags. Even after
selling them, I’m going to be honest with you – I'm not entirely certain why
they’re so pricey. Saffiano leather is a draw, yes (that’s that lovely laser
textured leather, and it does make
your product more durable to things like that rude, grabby girl’s finger nails
and cats). Brass zippers last longer and generally work a bit better. The
colors are nice. As long as your product is made of leather and not plastic,
however, it should be fairly durable! Maybe people won’t say, “OOH, she has a
PRADA wallet!” when you go to pay for things, but do you really need to hear
that to move on with your day? These fill the “had to spend a lot of money on
you” gift category.
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| Miu Miu Matelassé Leather Wallet $480 |
If you’re going to shell out the
cash for a wallet/wristlet for yourself, it should at least have something
exciting going on with its appearance, other than a designer logo. I love Comme
des Garçons for
interesting wallets. I can’t figure out for the life of me why they’re so
expensive, other than the cool quotient. This little wallet sure is fun! It
also comes in a pouch style (no
strap, so sadly not a wristlet). Colorful. Shiny. Sure to bring smiles. They
have some polka dot embossed pieces as well that are quite rich in color. For
texture, Miu Miu does the matelassé
leather wallets. I absolutely love this style. This is on the top end of what I
deem an acceptable amount to pay for a wallet. I’m not even going to discuss
wallets that cost more than this. There are people starving on the street in
the cold. If you are thinking about buying an $800 wallet, I strongly suggest
you think about just how ridiculous that is and buy the $480 wallet (which is
ALSO ridiculous btw) and give the other $300 to a homeless shelter.
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| Hobo 'Lauren' Double Frame Clutch $128 |
Let’s explore the personal/not so personal price range for
girlfriends, girlfriends of family members, and just plain old NORMAL people.
Some brands I really like for quality/style/price are Hobo, Lodis, and Cole
Haan. Hobo makes the double frame clutch. The advantage to this lovely “wallet”
is that you can fill it with all kinds of stuff for a night out on the town. It
can take the place of a handbag. (It’s funny, gentlemen. As much as the ladies
love to accumulate handbags, they find them to be a giant pain in the ass to
haul around.) The drawback is that you have to hold it in
your hand wherever you go, hence the term
“clutch.” If you get a shiny one, though, it’s not so bad. You can stare at it
in the light and entertain yourself whilst those around you start to wonder
about your level of sanity. These run a little over $100 depending on the
style. I don’t know anyone with one of these who doesn’t love it, including
myself.
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| Lodis 'Audrey' Continental Wallet $88 |
Lodis just makes lovely leather products. Sometimes they have really
fun wacky wallets for people who want something different. I have a fluorescent
yellow one with dead flowers shellacked into it. They almost always carry very
basic wallets – ziparounds, frame, continental (long), and French (short,
squat). And business card cases! For a less expensive or a “thanks for
employing me” gift.
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| Cole Haan 'Jitney' Electronic Wristlet $78 |
I love the idea of a wristlet. It used to be that you could
only get wristlets at Coach, but now Cole Haan has quite a few of them and I
really prefer their leathers. I find the wristlet far superior to the clutch
for normal daily use. You put that little loop around your wrist, and you let
go, and it just hangs there! Tada! Magic. I can be absent minded and know that
my wallet is attached to my body. Just like my mittens used to be. My brilliant
friend Jenifer has an entirely different use for the wristlet. She uses
multiples of them to organize the inside of her handbag. Coach should probably
be paying her for the good press she’s giving them.
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| Lulu Wallet from Sears $9.98 |
Now if you’d like a cute stocking stuffer style wallet to
give as a gift, you can pay a stocking stuffer price ($9.98) and purchase this
one at Sears. It’s shiny. It’s silly. It’s fun. It’s probably going to fall
apart in a couple of months. This is not necessarily a bad thing. Rather than
being sad about poorly made $10 wallets, I would approach this the same way I
approach broken wine glasses. The sooner you break them all, the sooner you get
to pick out new ones!
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| Cole Haan Reflective Slim Wallet in Tango Red $98 |
If you want to buy a wallet, money clip, card case for
your man, do not fear... I’m not going to leave you hanging. While I am not a man
and can’t tell you for sure what I would need in a men’s wallet, I once sold quite a lot of them. From my experience, if you’re not 100% certain he
likes ornately decorated stuff, he probably doesn’t want a jacked up wallet.
Like this Cole Haan reflective wallet in Tango Red? PROBABLY NOT. It needs to
be soft enough leather that it’s not going to be painful in the back pocket,
yet also durable. It’s not a good thing when the corners start coming apart or
the stitching starts coming out. Some guys stuff way more stuff than they
should in those poor bi-folds. (No one carries trifold wallets anymore, except very strange clientele). I really liked
to sell this textured bifold at Ferragamo, though I don’t remember it
costing $295. Inflation? It’s simple and durable. If you’ve found a man worth
keeping, this wallet is worth buying. Money clips are fun too for a more
old-fashioned type, or someone who routinely has lots of cash. Just don’t get
the magnetic ones. They seem really great, until that one absent minded day
when the guy puts a credit card in with his cash……
