By Bag Snob Kelly

February 19, 2007

Jennifer Alfano was introduced to us by a mutual friend and of course the first thing she did was show us her bag collection, which we love! The use of interesting exotic (the Marina is in velvet python with a smoothed surface), the clean fluid lines and interesting hardware all struck a chord with us. But it wasn’t until we got to know Jennifer herself that we realized she is a long lost sister of the Bag Snobs. During our first conversation she said that her style icons were Lee Radziwell and Jane Birkin, women who aren’t trying too hard. She loves their 60′s relaxed sense of style. I was like, am I in bizarro world? Am I talking to a Tina double? Then she went on to say that she designs for a girl who wears a Chloe dress one day and then jeans the next and I swore she must have snuck into mine and Tina’s closets! She is also a mommy with 2 little girls so how could we not just love her? She began her career as a fashion editor for Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar (where she worked for Liz Tilberis until she passed) and then as the Fashion Features Director under Glenda Bailey until recently. She didn’t want to spend $15,000 on a Balenciaga alligator motorcycle bag so instead spent mutiples of that to start her own bag line. Now that kind of rationalization is something we can definitely identiy with! Jennifer Alfano bags. Carolina clutch is $1545 and Marina clutch is $1195, available at LuxCouture and Jeffrey New York (449 West 14th St. New York 212.206.1272).