That Amazing Grace

WHEN THINKING OF STORAGE OR TRANSPORT CONTAINERS, few things come to mind as automatically as a box does. Typically rigid and rectangular, boxes serve to permanently store or temporarily transport items of endless sorts. Chocolates, cigarettes, jewelry, tools, gifts, lunch, ballots, pizza, cake and perfume, among a world of other items, all come in boxes, proving them to be extremely versatile and functional objects.

In the realm of leather goods, box-type bags lend a dignified air to their carriers, as in the case of briefcases and travel trunks, which traditionally contain legal briefs and personal belongings, respectively. The Grace Box Collection from Mark Cross was inspired by an overnight case: the one toted by Grace Kelly in Hitchcock's Rear Window. The overnight case was in fact an original Mark Cross too, updated into the current model in leather and Plexiglas versions.

Shown here in a muted "Mouse" Saffiano, the pocketbook-sized bag is smart, dainty and luxuriously subdued. It's perhaps the only box I wouldn't keep cookies in, and the only "Mouse" I hope to hold.

They say it's hip to be square. In this case, I say it's sumptuous!

Grace Small Box Saffiano Mouse by Mark Cross, markcross1845.com