Zhoe is the perfect Massaccesi handbag for me. I love her classic design, her simple shape, her clean lines. She is a chameleon—depending on the type of leather, she can be formal and structured (in smooth or textured black vacchetta), semi-formal (dressed up or down in taupe nappa), or breezy and casual (in marine blue merinos). Marco has the largest selection of types of leathers of all the brands I’ve ever purchased. And, to make one’s decision even harder when customizing a handbag, he offers every type of leather in a multitude of colors. It’s a heavenly shopping experience for people like me who have a passion for the highest quality, beautiful leather handbags.
For the longest time, I had only one Zhoe, in black vacchetta. She fits the bill for every
occasion. I can remove her standard long, adjustable crossbody strap and wear her as a clutch to a wedding or to a semi-formal Christmas party. I can also take her sight-seeing on a vacation, as I did on our first trip together four years ago in San Francisco.
Our most recent trip was this past summer to Germany, where she proved again that she is a first-class travel handbag.
What makes Zhoe an ideal travel handbag? She’s good-looking and stylish. Her gorgeous
Italian leather beats the ubiquitous black nylon crossbody bags seen on travelers all over the world. She’s fairly light because she’s a smallish medium size bag. My Zhoe is probably the heaviest because she’s made of vacchetta, but she is still comfortable to wear, especially worn crossbody. In my opinion, the most ideal leather on Zhoe for travel is nappa. Nappa is light and maintains a nice structure, which makes her versatile for both formal and casual activities. My mother-in-law (MIL) can attest to this because she took her Zhoe in black nappa to Germany and raved about how perfect her bag was for walking tours as well as for a fancy dinner night out.
My MIL’s Zhoe has an extra feature, which is the top handle from the Mia handbag. With the long crossbody strap removed, Zhoe assumes a more elegant look when carried by the Mia top handle.
What’s Zhoe’s setup? She comes with two handy interior open pockets on one side and a single, longer zippered pocket on the other side. I put my key case in one open pocket and my smartphone in the second open pocket. Not only does Zhoe in scrumptious Massaccesi leather elevate your look 1,000% better than a nylon bag, but she also guards your belongings well. Her top zipper closure underneath the flap makes her very secure.
Zhoe is an ideal everyday handbag, too, if you leave behind all the extraneous items we all tend to carry in case of emergencies or if we’re taking care of young children. Zhoe can carry a long wallet if necessary, and things like a packet of tissues, small cosmetics pouch, key case, smartphone, pen case, small notepad, and a not-too-bulky sunglasses case laid on top of the other items. Zip! and Zhoe is ready to work for you.
Your article made me pull out my own Zhoe to wear today and you are absolutely right about this being a really great bag. It's probably my favorite MM design to-date because it carries a surprising amount yet maintains such elegant lines. It looks equally great on me (far from skinny) as well as my tall and slender friend so it seems to work for a variety of body types. Pretty amazing bag.