Celebrities are not often seen with “tupperware” and “commuter flats” stuffed into tote bags. The whole point of being rich and famous is, of course, to be liberated from menial chores, procuring a small team of salaried assistants to do all the things you might need two hands for. I know Rihanna is aware of the British grocery store Sainsbury’s, for example, but she has never suffered the indecency of transporting a multi-pack of toilet roll in a Bag for Life. Her outfits are mercifully uncontaminated by everyday labor.
And then there is Katie Holmes, who, despite being a multi-millionaire, has for decades been positioned as relatable. Someone who regularly strolls around crowded metropolitan areas with just-showered hair and crammed shoppers sliding off her shoulders. Holmes was photographed this weekend with at least three bags bundled over a striped Toteme shirt and bomber jacket–including but not limited to a substantial Bevza and an Eataly tote purchased first at a Boston outlet.
The silhouette of a side plate (?) could be seen bursting from the latter’s surface, while plastic sandwich bags (?) filled with make-up utensils (?) spilled out of its top. This is a woman on the phone, and on the go, risking neck pain, back knots, and bad Buckaroo jokes to get stuff sorted. Holmes’s peers might balk at this kind of thing–deeming her cumbersome schleppers the sorry effects of plebeian life–but surely luxurious living is predicated on a sense of not caring what others do and think? It takes a lot of effort to be perceived as effortless.