Saturday, Sep 6, 2008
And so, after one long day, do I.
Mar 23, 2000 | This was the ad. A quarter-page in the New York Times Sunday Styles section, illustrated (somewhat incongruously) by a sketch of a rail-thin woman with a dark-haired flip cut, reading: "Meet Monica Lewinsky as she personally presents her spring collection of handbags and totes available exclusively at Henri Bendel. Wednesday, March 22, 12 - 2 p.m."
Of course, I go.
11:15 a.m.: The "trunk show," as the signs describe it, is being held in the fourth floor atrium. The bags department is small, overheated, luxurious and directly overlooks the four-story chasm in the middle of the Bendel store. At this point, the media outnumbers actual customers by a margin of about 3-to-1. I try to appear inconspicuous, but am wearing a casual wool car coat, jeans and am carrying a messenger bag. The woman from Newsday has a Prada purse. Decide to pretend to shop.
11:25 a.m.: More journalists arrive. The six people standing in line are so picked over I am embarrassed to ask any questions.
11:27 a.m: The Monica bags are actually pretty cute. Square, shaped like the cloth bags the Strand gives out, but made of thick, expensive fabric. Brocades. A kicky lime green and black zebra stripe. Very now. Very Spring 2000. Would go well with Capri pants and a sleeveless blouse.
11:30 a.m.: I glance over the balcony and notice that more reporters have arrived; I mention this to the people in line (all women, none wearing black), estimating that the press-to-line ratio is now more like 10-to-3. Several of them run to the railing to see for themselves. They seem to be just as excited about the press as about Monica. I'm sure Henri Bendel feels the same way.
11:32 a.m.: By now, my scribbling is noticed and Jill -- visiting New York from New Mexico -- asks me who I'm working for. She tells me that she's been here since 9 a.m. and that she's already seen her twice this morning. "We know more than the reporters," she grins. I smile back wanly. I ask her how she got to be here, and she says that they heard about it while watching TV in their hotel room.
But why would you come? "Well," she says, "We're from Clovis, New Mexico," as if this would explain it. Then she continues, "I don't really know why we're here. We think she's neat. She went through a really terrible thing and turned it into something good." I ask Jill if she "identifies" with Monica, and she is slow to reply. "Well," she starts, "I'm not sure how to answer that." It's OK, I tell her. She holds up her black-and-white Bendel's bag. "I already got one." She laughs. "I spent $192 on a bag," she says not quite believing it. "I just thought I'd tell you that."
11:40 a.m.: I overhear the woman from People confirming an exclusive. I feel a vague pang of jealously initially, but then I think, "What is there left to ask?"
11:42 a.m.: Do an actual head count of the press. Thirty-six people -- maybe more, since I only counted people holding TV cameras or notebooks. One more person has gotten in line. Still all women; one is wearing a fluffy sweater embroidered with hearts. I find out that she's visiting from North Carolina. Another reporter asks me if anyone in the line is from New York.
11:43 a.m.: A male person gets in line! I pounce.
He's originally from Virginia, but he lives here now. He's an aspiring actor, been here seven months. His name is Dallas. I tell him that with a name like that it's only a matter of time before he's a soap opera star. "I know," he replies.
He's getting a bag for his mother for Mother's Day. Is his mom a Monica fan? "No, she just saw them on the Internet and thought they were cute." Is he a Monica fan? "I like her," he says, "She was on the cover of Jane and I just think it's really cool the way she's handled it." "It." So vague. During the time I'm here, only one person I talk to mentions exactly why she's famous, and then only to scold her. Others talk about "it," or "the scandal."
Dallas asks me where I'm from. I tell him, he nods but shows no recognition. Then he brightens. "I can't believe 'Access Hollywood' is here!"
11:50 a.m.: Four more people get in line. As I finish scribbling the last of Dallas' words, another reporter slides up and whispers, "Are you done with him?" "He's all yours." I feel like we are women waiting in line for bathrooms at the Super Bowl. The normal rules of etiquette are suspended in cases of extreme demand.
11:55 a.m.: A dozen photographers are ushered into a roped-off press box about 3 feet by 9 feet. It is about 4 feet from where Monica will be playing salesgirl (showing individual customers their choices before they are shepherded off to the register). I sneak in behind them just in time to hear snippets of a statement that the VP and general manager of Bendel's is giving to the press. "What Bendel's looks for is people who have good design sense ... hip, young, fresh looks. And Monica's bags are very in keeping with what's hot right now." Would she be here if she weren't famous? "We did test the bags over Christmas we did it blind. No press about it, no signs. Nothing to identify the bags as hers except the tag that says, 'Made especially for you by Monica.' They did very well."
There are another 30-plus reporters standing behind a glass door directly across from the official press box, behind and to the left of Monica's perch. They are squeezed into the door; it looks like that "Star Trek" episode about the overpopulated planet that needs to introduce new diseases to kill off some of their own.
Quick conversations with the few other print reporters here ("You know she's not making a statement, right?" we are reminded regularly by various Bendel and Monica reps) prove that there are no political reporters here. One of the cameramen, though, is wearing a souvenir badge from the Straight Talk Express.
Noon: I go to size up the line. It reaches around the purse department, and all the way down the four flights of stairs to the first floor. And there are clearly natives scattered among the slightly louder, slightly more excited tourists. There's a murmur through the crowd and I make it back to my post just in time.
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