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Coffee Break: Croc-Effect Patent-Leather Clutch

I usually think of clutches as dinnerwear, but sometimes a fabulous clutch comes along that you can envision a fabulously stylish CEO or the like casually taking it out of her bigger tote and heading off to for a lunch meeting with it. I would put this one in that bucket — the orange is unusual but not crazy (it also comes in yellow!) and I like that it's got a magnetic closure on the flap and a zipper in the back. (All of the “croc effect” pieces Net-a-Porter has from Dries van Noten are kind of fabulous — there are shoes and belts as well.) The pictured clutch is $820. Croc-Effect Patent-Leather Clutch This post contains affiliate links and Corporette® may earn commissions for purchases made through links in this post. For more details see here. Thank you so much for your support!

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91 Comments

  1. For those of you with outdoor space at home, what have you done for privacy that you love? Not into pergolas, don’t want to spend $30K on an outdoor fireplace custom build, but not sure what I DO want…

    1. What’s your setup? Do you have a large suburban yard? An existing fence? How close are your neighbors?

      I’m always a fan of trees and landscaping for privacy.

    2. We were lucky enough to start with several large trees. We have 6 ft fences (this is common in California, less so other places I understand) on two sides of the back yard, and a low ivy covered fence on the third side. For a few years we had no neighbors on that side due to the aged owner going into assisted living, but now we do have neighbors, and it definitely reduces privacy to some extent.

      Basically, we orient our outdoor furniture facing away from them and pretend like they’re not there. We also have large shade umbrellas so that helps with the second story looking down into our yard effect.

      All that said, we are not doing anything weird in our backyard, and we don’t have a pool or hot tub so no nudity/swimsuit concerns. We have neighbors just like most other people in the world, and still manage to enjoy our beautiful outdoor space.

      1. If I were you, I’d probably just add a third side of privacy fencing, even if it meant doing it inside the ivy covered fence.

        1. And I just realized Anon at 3:32 that you may not have been the OP describing her yard, just someone giving an example, in which case, carry on. I’m sure all three sides of your fence are lovely!

          1. Thanks yeah I’m not op. The reason there’s a low fence is that the tree between our houses is a “heritage” tree – sort of like a land marked tree, we can’t cut it down or do anything that might kill it, not that we’d want to – so the low fence is here to stay as long as the tree is.

    3. I grew up on a suburban street where there were eight houses with their yards back to back, no fences (4×2). Some landscaping (trees, hedges) but mostly just eight houses. It was great. We are so close to our neighbors because of it; our neighbor’s grandkids used our swing set when we were a bit too old, our family dogs always had friends to romp with. This is to say- consider if you really need substantial privacy. Maybe a low hedge, or trees in the back of the yard? Or arrange furniture so that you don’t look our on neighbors. We have a small area with a fence on two sides that makes it a bit less open and better for eating.

    4. Grew Star Jasmine Vines along the fence (iron with 6 inch spacing) that will eventually provide a thick cover that you have to part to see through. They grow very quickly and on anything, and produce fragrant white flowers in spring. At least in zone 9, they are maintenance free except initially wrapping stems around the fence every couple months to train growth for clipping an errant vine here and there every couple of months. – 15 along a 30 ft fence was around $300 (the 2 ft tall baby plants)

      Ikea and other stores also have thick canvas cloth canopies that you can string up for something cheap, temporary, but also good looking for shade.

  2. This clutch looks like you murdered a dragon and I am 100% here for it.

    3. I would not spend this much money for an orange clutch that looks like pleather! FOOEY! Dad says he will NOT let me buy any more handbags or clutches, and he is right b/c I already have at least 12 that I dont even use. Dad is even more mad b/c of Trump’s SALT deduction which he says is costing him “bowcoo bucks”. He says he needs a new accountant who can save him on taxes, but his accountant says it is all legal with the SALT deduciton. FOOEY!

  3. So, vests. Opinions? They seem popular in my office, both casual and formal, but mostly still for men. I think I have the right figure to wear them- no curves on my hips or rear. But I’m not sure what aesthetic would work. Has anyone seen it done well?

    1. I’ve seen it done well in two ways: Annie Hall style, or counterculture/zoot-suit inspired. I think both ways require the wearer to already trend towards those styles, else it comes across as costume-y.

      For the former, you’d need the wide-leg trousers and blown-out hair. (IMO a tie might take it too far, but some people could pull it off.) For the latter, you could go with pinstripes, long station chains, or slick hair. I think key is choosing one or two aspects of the look and mixing them in, rather than going full cosplay imitation.

    2. I think they only work OK outside of suiting. Faux fur with a blouse during winter, utility vest with cinched or tied waist over long sleeve tees for brunch and any sort of athletica/patagonia/other down or sport style over long sleeve or short sleeve tees for casual or athletic gear.

      I think vest styles with ribbing, cinching or curvy cuts work best. Anything too straight up and down can make the wearer look boxy.

      Anything in suiting is just…odd. I haven’t seen it in real life in my large metro city for decades. If the desire is to adopt a more masculine style, many other ways to pick up the style that are more flattering (footwear, eyewear, etc.)

    3. Just please don’t tell me you’re wondering about wearing one with a collared shirt.

    4. I like a utility vest with a casual outfit or a shawl like vest over a long sleeve shirt and skirt. I also like a breton tee with a thin puffer vest for weekends

    1. I think I did 50-100 each per hour. We only had them for two or three hours, and it was all furniture and 4 flights of stairs. I think the cost itself was $150 an hour for the movers if that gives you an idea. :/

      2. What!? I’ve heard $5-10/hour per person. I can’t imagine giving someone a $100 hourly tip, I don’t know anyone that earns that much money…

      3. WOW that seems high. Are you saying you tipped $600 or so on a $300-$450 move?? I tipped $60 total on a $300 move (elevators for the first part) — that was easy to hand out (a $20 for each guy) and conveniently also 20%…

        1. Not all moves are $300-$450. Moves can be well into the thousands. If someone tips $600, the cost of the move might be $3,000 or more.

          1. Anon said that it was a 2-3 hour move at $150 per hour for which she tipped ~$600…

      4. lol no you don’t need to tip your movers $100 an hour. I gave them $20 each and provided bagels and juice. I think they were in our house for about 3 hours. The move cost many thousands of dollars but we were going cross-country and they were not (just packing us and loading the truck) so it didn’t seem to make sense to tie their tip to the total move cost.

      1. That’s similar to what we’ve done — plus buy lunch and bottled water. This was for packing up a large 4 bd home, and probably 8-9 hrs, low cost of living area. Not sure what my husband did on the un-packing side; probably the same.

    3. We did a local move recently, MCOL area, and we tipped $60 per mover after an 11-hour day. The total was about 15% of the cost of the move. And we bought lunch from Subway (we offered a few choices in the immediate area, and they chose Subway).

      1. omg, SC, this made me think of my friend’s move from one street to another in Metairie (between Bonnabel and Martin Behrman on the lake side). She hired movers who didn’t come with a truck, so she had to go get the truck. She ended up drinking wine while they were working (long day) and being too toasted to return the truck (her daughter did it). And one of the movers was so hung over, he was throwing up on the front lawn. That all said, it was a very successful move! And we got drive-thru daiquiris.

        1. LOL. That sounds like a very New Orleans story. We were very happy with our movers–they showed up on time, with a truck, completed a pretty big job, and didn’t damage anything–so if you or a friend is ever looking for a recommendation, let me know.

    4. My last move I did $20 each and a cooler of soda. But this was not one of the super professional movers and the move, while a 3 bedroom house was only a mile down the road.
      Md suburb of DC.

      1. Also md suburb of dc- I gave 3 guys $40 each because they were super nice about our apt screwing up the dock schedule- I usually do $20 or $40 pp. we move a lot.

  6. We own a vacation home in a rural area. Over the past couple years, the area has become more Trump-ified, setting up a very clear class divide between the poor locals and the well-to-do vacationers. There are Confederate flags in too many (year-round) yards to count, hateful bumper stickers, propaganda on telephone poles supporting a certain hate group. But when you meet locals in town as your grocery store clerk, your waitress, they’re friendly, happy people who love to tell you about the new shop on Main Street and where to get the best produce. (I’m not saying I know they’re the same people, just saying odds are some of these nice people are going to home to Confederate flags.) The town council isn’t really sophisticated enough to handle these issues (only 1 of 5 members has been to college) and think about the potential economic impact on their economy, which is almost solely dependent upon tourism/vacationers.

    How do we reconcile this? Do we need to reconcile this? We don’t want our kids around this stuff – WE don’t want to be around this stuff. Do we sell the house and leave the bitter, bigoted, ignorant locals to themselves and vacation elsewhere? Or do we keep our well-loved tradition and try to show love/be kind to our Trumpy neighbors? If Trumpism is about us vs. them, city vs. country, coast vs. heartland, college vs. high school…does leaving make it worse and send them further into their myopic stew of bitterness? Or does staying (and paying property taxes and spending money that improves schools that helps people get jobs that ultimately maybe prevents a Trump for the next generation) and being kind help shine a light and be an example of inclusivity and acceptance?

    1. I’d sell and move to a vacation place that you find relaxing. The relatively value of your property taxes will not change this place. You are not having substantive conversations with people in the grocery store on these issues. Donate to causes that are doing meaningful work and enjoy your vacation time elsewhere.

      3. +1 You do not need to reconcile this. Move your vacation home to a place with values that are like your own. You are under no obligation to try to make this place better.

    2. I’ve experienced this too at two different locations, in two different states (one where my parents own a lakehouse, another where friends own a river house) and I would venture to say this is not unusual in more rural areas (south, but also other places). I’m not really sure what you think the town council would or could do about it. FWIW, it’s not enough for me to change my plans to visit, but I also am not the one who owns property in either place. I am an optimistic enough person to hope (truly hope!) that the tide changes and we move on past this (hopefully in 18 or so months!). (I am realistic enough to have doubt, so don’t flame me… I just have to hold fast to hope though!).

    3. Assuming you’re not POC who are concerned for your safety, I wouldn’t let these bigots drive you away from an area you otherwise like. Your kids are not going to be negatively influenced by random, brief encounters with these people and hateful signs can be a valuable jumping off point for fruitful discussion about your family values. I’d worry a lot more about your kids going to school in this area, but since it’s just your vacation home that’s not an issue.

      1. +1

        If you like the people you actually encounter, why let a couple of anon bad apples run you out of town? Stand your ground and stand with the nice people.

      2. What a nice thing to get to pretend this kind of hate doesn’t exist because you happen to look like them.

        I’m white but have a black husband and mixed race kids, and I wouldn’t want my family fueling a local economy full of people who thinks my family is less-than.

        1. Choosing not to move away from an area you love is not “choosing to pretend this kind of hate doesn’t exist.” I specifically said they should talk to their kids about the signs.

        2. I’m stuck on the point about more money going to the schools. A lot of the school teachers probably go home to confederate flags too, right? How does money change that?

          1. This. Racism and poverty are two different things. Exhibit A = current occupant of White House.

          2. Where my family is from, there are a lot of confederate flags. It is a very poor area, even if you are white. It is also at least 70% black. So, those schools are completely underfunded. They need your $. The only way out for anyone is to join the military after high school or hope you can work your way through community college and become a nurse’s aide.

    4. Can we not with the “The town council isn’t really sophisticated enough to handle these issues (only 1 of 5 members has been to college)”?

      I have yet to see a town counsel, however academically pedigreed, be able to make people do things like change people’s hearts. But you know who can? You. Your presence, your niceness, your happiness with the people you encounter may make this area less “y’all” [just guessing here. . .] and more “all y’all.”

      1. You condescension won’t change anyone’s heart, though. It also sounds like you don’t have actual friendships with people here anyway, right? I generally think you can only convert people in the context of a real relationship, not just by being nice and well-educated at wait staff. It’s not like day-to-day kindness (let alone to customers) is a political marker.

      1. Also curious, though I suspect southern based on the confederate flags. Or are those elsewhere as well? I’m in (non-rural) Texas and usually only saw them as a high school flag (yes, really, for a semi-rural/exurb area) until about 5ish years ago when they were slowly phased out–I think.

        2. I am truly wondering.

          I went to college in the SEUS (although they are still fighting the revolution; they haven’t gotten up to the civil war yet), live in a large SEUS city, and have family sprinkled around enough to have spent lots of time driving through rural areas en route to various places. I see confederate flags sprinkled hither and yon when I go on big (200+ mile drives), but rarely in a noticeable bunching anywhere (let along bunching + bumper stickers + signs), especially en route to a place where you’d have a second home, and not terribly often (like in a day of driving, not even hourly). Many of my part of the SEUS is purple now (but not so over my lifetime), and the non-city areas are starkly politically different than the cities. Even so, I’ve never gone through a day of driving and noted “X is a town with a remarkable number of visually-confirmed hateful people.”

        3. They’re very common in Indiana, although the only rural part of the state that’s a tourist destination is the Lake Michigan coast and that’s culturally more like Michigan.

      2. I see confederate flags, stickers, and paint jobs on vehicles and houses regularly in the PNW, as well as “don’t tread on me” flags.

        1. Don’t tread on me — isn’t that the New Hampshire flag? Or some other colony-era state? Like it was said re the British (back when we were Brits)?

      3. This is not uncommon along the NC coast. The island/beach is full of vacation homes, and then right across the bridge in the town with the year round residents is super conservative. The NC coast goes from developed to extremely rural shockingly fast.

      4. I’ve lived almost my whole life in the SEUS where there are a lot of “heritage not hate” types and I understand the complicated relationship we have with the past down here. So if this property is in the SEUS, it wouldn’t bother me quite as much (it still bothers me a lot) as if it was elsewhere that maybe doesn’t have that background because I’d read that as co-opting all the bad.

    6. I think you should reconsider your opinion of the town council – “The town council isn’t really sophisticated enough to handle these issues (only 1 of 5 members has been to college) and think about the potential economic impact on their economy, which is almost solely dependent upon tourism/vacationers.”

      I don’t think going to college is a qualification to hold elected office, I think we would all be a lot better off if the demographics of our political representation looked more like the communities we serve (says me the most terminally degree’d member of my city council). I don’t think having a college education makes you better able to serve, either. I think an honest desire to help others and an ability to think deeply about local issues are the key qualifications, and the elitism of saying only 1 of 5 members has been to college rankles me.

      It also seems like you are thinking that they want these tourism/vacationer dollars to keep coming in, which might not be the case. Local revenues come from a lot of sources, and I can’t speak to this community specifically, but I suspect this town existed before it because a vacation spot and will survive after. Having a lot of higher-end homes can seriously drive up housing prices, and end up leading to economic depression among the year-round residents. They get a flush of cash every summer, sure, but when properties are being snatched up for people to live in 3/12 months per year, it makes it a lot harder for the 12/12 month residents to afford their living space (unless the municipality is taking specific steps to address this. If they are a smaller, poorer town, they might not have the resources to be able to do so. It would also depend on the interactions between state and local zoning laws). I mean, take a look at some articles about Martha’s Vineyard off-season. You might be causing problems that have driven them into the arms of Trump and intolerance (which I DO NOT CONDONE, to be clear I might never have run for office if I didn’t STRENUOUSLY OBJECT to his presidency).

      At any rate, I think the way you phrased this is condescending and I would respectfully ask you to reconsider. I also think staying and doing something about local politics would have the biggest impact. Look for businesses to support that aren’t Trumpist. Donate to a non-Trumpy candidate in their next local election. Donate to a local non-profit that supports diversity. Talk to the current town council members, or write a letter to the editor or something. Be the change you want to see, while being sensitive to local concerns. That’s my $0.02!

      1. This is a good comment. I was also put off by the condescension and I’m glad you addressed it.

    7. We are keeping our place and we made a list of inclusive businesses to support while we are there. We are also donating to a local charity.

    8. You didn’t say you were in danger, you just find political views and displays of those views to be offensive. It’s your house and if you like the area and the locals why would you let a few folks bother you? I live in a rural area very close to a mid size city in the NE. We love the country setting and see confederate flags from time to time…we know that some folks are racist and love Trump but that doesn’t keep us from enjoying the outdoors, friendly locals, etc. We raised our son here with our values and he learned that people have different views and that is ok too

    9. I am in nearly the exact situation as you and my solution was to switch my voter registration from my city rental to my vacation home. It makes me feel less powerless and since I plan to retire there I really do care about the future of the community.

    10. Wow. Just wow.

      It’s pretty clear how you feel about your neighbors in this little town and, despite the quite vibrant picture you painted of the locals, your post says much, much more about you. It’s not pretty.

      I can’t imagine why you ‘d want to stay when your disdain is so obvious. You really should sell and find a new vacation home in a place where everyone is more like you. Heaven forbid you should entertain the idea that there are people who don’t live or think like you.

      Oh, and kindly GTF over the idea that just because somebody isn’t college-educated, they must be stupid. It’ll serve you a lot better when you need a mechanic, plumber, electrician, or other skilled tradesperson.

  7. How do you organize passwords? I have personal passwords (bank accounts, social media, Gmail), work passwords that I’m supposed to keep to myself (i.e., operating system/login), work passwords I need to share with others (i.e., my assistant who e-files under my ID), and volunteer organization passwords that I don’t care if (i.e., login to our website and check your shift times). Probably more, but those are the subsets.

    I know there are things like LastPass but I haven’t used. Any tips?

    2. lastpass is amazing and worth it. I pay for a mobile subscription as well; desktop only is free. I also appreciate how it generates strong passwords for you.

      1. You don’t need to pay for a mobile subscription for lastpass! I HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend it.

        I work in security and I can tell you there literally is no other way to securely store your passwords. Keychain in iOS is next best but that has more attack vectors than a password manager. I guess you could randomly generate passwords and then write them down and keep them at home – then your primary security risk would just be a physical break-in. But this is cumbersome and it’s useless if you ever need to log in outside of your home.

    3. I use the same password for everything that has nothing sensitive/financial, which helps. For passwords I only need 1x/month and therefore NEVER remember (like logging in to pay a monthly bill) I literally write them down in a notepad at home.

    4. I recently started using LastPass and like it a lot. Big advanage for me is that previously I used easy-to-remember passwords, because I had to remember them all. Now I just use long strings of randomly generated letters and numbers, so my passwords are much more secure. And LastPass remembers them so I don’t have to. It took a while to set up, I think I spent the better part of a weekend changing and inputting all my passwords, but now it’s great.

    5. LastPass. I held off forever and am now a super fan. It’s so easy. So, so easy.

    6. LastPass including the mobile service part…which I really thought I had to pay for at the time, but maybe that’s changed.

      I have my master pw (and my phone pw) written down and stashed somewhere physical. My sister knows where to look if something happens to me. As an estate planning attorney, I urge you to do this as well (though if your kids don’t get along 150%, use a third party you trust (like your executor) instead of one of the children).

      Also, set up the designated successor through gm*il and FB. Other online services may also have it–if so, use it. It is the best way to get into accounts after someone’s death or in case of incapacity. Finally, your estate planning attorney should prepare a document for you that specifically grants authority to access electronic records–I believe the same statute is in place in most states.

    7. I use a password formula. It has a number that I can remember on the front, a standard word at the end, and in between the two are the first four letters of the account entity as they appear in the entity’s proper name. For example, say it always starts with 987 and ends with Lilly. Nordstrom would be 987NordLilly, JCrew would be 987JCreLilly, and so on. Obviously my last part is not actually Lilly, but if it were and the account required a symbol, it would be L!lly.

  8. Looking for recommendations for outfits for our family for a wedding we will be attending (me + DH + 3.5yo DD + 3 month old DD). Part of our division of labor is that I do all family clothes-buying and outfit shopping, including for DH, who wears a uniform to work.

    I will be wearing this dress: http://www.nice-clothing.com/wilfred-beaune-dress-lslv-black-flame-scarlet-hotsale (but because I am short, the dress is more of a midi length, almost ankle length, on me). The good thing is I can layer long spanx underneath to stay warm :)

    Mostly looking for DH outfit ideas. I’d like our clothes to be complementary because, honestly, we will be in pictures and we are never dressed up/spiffed up in pictures together, so I’d like to take advantage!

    Wedding is “farm casual” in the PNW and outside, so sensible shoes are needed as well as a jacket for the chilly evening. Bride and groom are VERY outdoorsy/casual. So for DH, no suit pants or jacket, I’m thinking button up + non-jeans + tie + quilted jacket or similar.

    Also looking for ideas for DD clothes colors.

    TIA!

    1. I’d probably go with olive as the predominant color for your husband (I’m thinking olive twill pants, a black quilted jacket, and a blue or blue-gray button down) and red or dark pink for your daughters (hard to tell on my monitor which your dress really is).

      2. Thank you! Yes, it’s the black dress with red/pink flowers and a bit of olive/green leaves

  9. Any recommendations for slim fit non-denim pants for work? I got some from NY & Co and they didn’t hold up well. I’m looking for pants I can wear with flats and booties. Thanks in advance!

    1. Just go the Everlane Work Pant and I love it. More on the business casual side, but not jeans. I even managed to do some light yoga with them on in the morning while listening in to a conference call!

  10. The Gap skinny ankle pant is pretty good and comes in multiple colors.

  11. What are the optics of dressing more formally than most other colleagues at work? My workplace recently underwent an (unofficial) transition from a business casual to dressy casual/casual dress code when our ED left. Now colleagues at my same level (mid-management) wear anything from dark jeans and sweaters to joggers & white tees, upper management wears blouses & slacks. I don’t quite feel like replacing my business casual wardrobe (especially when we might soon have a new ED who might enforce the old code), but is it snooty to dress “nicer” than my colleagues, especially those who are 10-15 years my senior? It’s especially apparent on “casual Fridays”. FWIW I work in an office setting in a hospital.

    1. I say, dress in a way that feels right to you, and it sounds like that means dressier than your colleagues. You’re being judgmental toward your own instincts by calling it “snooty.” Personally, I think it shows respect to dress more formally, but especially if thats’s the tone set by your new ED. But maybe I’m old fashioned!

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