Clutch Day 2023! Lucky #7!

Ode To Accessories!

Accessories have always been so important to me.

Growing up, babysitters would call me “Mr T” because of how many necklaces and bracelets I would wear. Pretty Pretty Princess (remember that game?) was my favorite board game to play and I loved collecting the entire set of jewelry (also, I loved that black ring that you weren’t supposed to get. I wear a black stone ring daily to this day) 

During summers on Cape Cod, the highlight of my trip would be to get off the beach and go to the bead store in Hyannis to stock up on cute charms of all of my favorite things and buy supplies to make as many charm earrings, necklaces and anklets as possible. When making a list of what i wanted for my birthday, I remember vividly saying that all i wanted was anything as long as it was “jazzy”! 

In high school, I would save up all of my ice cream scooping and snowboard instruction money to be able to go to the Marc Jacobs store and buy any accessories that i could afford. One winter, I saved up all of my teeny tiny paychecks to buy adidas boxing boots, the same ones that Gwen Stefani wore on the rock steady tour, and I still to this day wear them anytime I see her live.

I would read Vogue and Bazaar gearing up for fashion school in the city and make crafty dupes of various accessories I would see highlighted on models, sometimes out of cut up tee-shirts and strands of necklaces. I would wear as many belts as I could fit around my waist at school, and while playing field hockey after-school, it was always about how I could accessorize my stick and where I could find the cutest sweat bands (the answer was always hot topic. It was the early 2000s). While scooping ice cream on summer break, it was always me who had the fanciest tip cup (even my accessories were accessorized!)

My first business was a bag business. I collected juice pouches from other people in the lunchroom (my town was small and i definitely stood out) and went home, cleaned them out, and arranged them into various shapes, sewed through all of them and created a line of capri-sun bags- i even used the clear vinyl of Kool Aid Jammer packs as ID slots for wallets.

In college, I debated changing my major from fashion design to jewelry, but then after taking one metal class and not being able to cut a single thing with a jig saw or solder anything, I decided to stick with fashion.

Now, as an adult, my accessories are personal, they have history, they share memories with so many people in my life, and they also have a very distinct sound. you can hear me jangle from a mile away. 

Accessories are so important to my life. It should come as a surprise to noone  that I am an accessories designer now, but somehow it shocked me when I was becoming one. In my head I was supposed to be a fashion designer.  I never planned on being a bag lady, you all chose that life for me and I am so so so grateful for that!

Friday is Clutch Day, and I cannot believe it’s been 7 years since I sold my first clutch. I feel so lucky to be celebrating 7 years in the bag business and am eager to see where the business goes in the future! I love what clutches have brought me- people, experiences, travel, creativity, a studio, a team. I am eternally grateful for clutches and eternally grateful for the journey that brought me to this point. 

See you Friday! There will be tons of new releases, a big huge one-day sale, a virtual scavenger hunt, giveaways, an IN STUDIO SOIREE! (NYC! You are invited!) and every single purchase made on clutch day will come with a Julie Mollo scratch-off card full of insane prizes for SEVEN of you!

I can’t wait to celebrate with you!!! See you Friday 8.25.23!