The "4-Leafed" Edition

Mar 17, 2024

Dear all,

For the readers who did not venture a guess as to my carry-on luggage decision, here’s a recap and an answer. Á la the NY Times real estate quiz, “which would you choose and which did they choose?”: I liked the variety of brands you chose, most of which weren’t any of these three:

A) Away

B) Beis

C) Rimowa

As for me, the answers most guessed were A) and B). That made me feel good, for some reason. A very slim minority guessed C). They were right. I still felt good!

Essentially, it boiled down to Away being a youth brand that I thought would be silly for me, albeit that has never stopped me before, whether sneakers or yoga pants or avocado toast. Beis seemed like the right choice, but I hadn’t heard of it before this article which spurred the whole thing, and I have particular thresholds for being marketed to not quite enough and then overmarketed-to. And voilà, C) Rimowa. They got me.

LVMH, which has owned (the majority of) the brand since 2016, seemed to take their time getting started with their behemoth marketing machine til after Covid. Now it’s still just very very slightly on the iykyk side of conspicuous consumption. While kookily expensive for an empty synthetic box which will never, ever, decompose and will likely end up on a trash heap on Venus, it is about the same price as it would have been to replace my ancient, tattered, shabby, maybe even downright sad, Tumi.

And here comes the real reason I went for it, expense-wise. I figured if I had my last bag for close to 30 years (and btw it still works even if it screams 1994) and this one lasts about as long, I mean honestly, am I going be buying another carry-on bag? I mean like, ever?

Before you all go “oh don’t be so morbid! You’ll be traveling til you’re 105!” the first thing is — no, I probably won’t. And also, I know this is on many of your minds, at least the still-sharp minds of those who are a bit past the half-century mark. A friend and faithful subscriber told me that she put a new roof on their house a few years ago - they asked the contractor how long it would last. The the architect said - 30 years. Why, do you need it to last longer?

Ouch.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day. Cheers to Grandma Joan, marching somewhere up above in nearly head-to-sensible-shoe kelly green.

In between your sips of Guinness or your extreme avoidance forthwith, enjoy this week’s news of the week in review, especially curated for, and about, women. From politics to pop culture, please enjoy.

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See you next week,

The LZ Sunday Paper

The "4-Leafed" Edition

The Pic(k) of the Week:

POLITICS:

BUSINESS & TECH:

THE ARTS & POP CULTURE:

HAPPY ST. PATRICK’S DAY:

OBITUARIES:

…AND WHAT’S NOT TO LOVE ABOUT…?