Ring a Ding Ding: Betsey Johnson's Telephone Tote

I saw this several months ago on Fashion Addict Diary, and then just the other on Smith Street, I saw a girl carrying a similar Betsey Johnson telephone bag, and I almost chased her down and asked her for her number just to call her to see if the bag itself rings. I know it's absurdly gauche (consider the source), but I have little problem with over-the-top bags.

($98, Betsey Johnson)

It reminds me of my beloved Paul's Boutique peacock bag, RIP.

($118, Paul's Boutique, Asos.com)

I say RIP both because I wore mine into the ground and because the top had an unfortunate incident with a lit cigarette in Las Vegas (err... not that I was on the filtered end of that cigarette, nor that I, nor alcohol, had anything to do with the events of that evening... remember, what happens in Vegas... happened, as I like to say), which melted the plastic zipper, rendering the bag zipperless and unusable. I had the zipper replaced, but the bag had just seen better days. It is available again at Paul's Boutique, but I'm holding out in hopes that A CERTAIN SOMEONE READS THIS, IN CASE HE'S WONDERING WHAT TO GET ME FOR MY BIRTHDAY, WHICH IS LESS THAN A MONTH AWAY, AND ALSO ASOS.COM HAS REALLY GOOD, FAST, RELIABLE SHIPPING TO THE US, MATT!

Annnnnnyway, my willingness to carry garish handbags does NOT extend to Betsey's cute but overly literal telephone bag:

($65, Betsey Johnson)

Cute, sure, but a little too kawaii for my likings. Also, a direct reference to those '60s novelty telephone bags, which, again, are cute, but are best left to the '60s:

($295, Lapochette.com)

Oh, so back to the Betsey bags, I could totally use this Betsy cosmetics case:

($39, Betsey Johnson)

Because what I really need is something to help me overpack even more than I already do.

And speaking of tacky bags:

($29, Whatonearthcatalog.com)

Finally, my prayers have been answered!

Lastly, an appropriate vintage video to go along with Betsey's "Call Me" bags:

And, speaking of calling, listen to this guy completely unravel into a downward spiral into the deepest, darkest recesses of loserdom in this series of depressing phone messages:


(Thanks to Las Vegas Pam -- who had nothing to do with the Paul's Boutique bag incident -- for the chicken bag and depressing phone messages link! Airkissesloveyameanitnoyouarenoyoudoseriously!)

** UPDATE: Clothes Line Finds previews Betsey Johnson's Fall 2008 RTW collection.