The job fell through, and Tonello began selling his designer clothes and accessories on eBay to make ends meet. Tonello, a stylist for major companies such as Dunkin’ Donuts and Reebok, relocated to Barcelona, Spain, where he worked for a jewelry manufacturer. Michael Tonello grew up around Boston, and founded Team, the Agency, the Hub’s premiere group of stylists and makeup artists, around the same time actress Jane Birkin was photographed carrying her namesake bag in the early 1980s.
Now, a Brockton-born stylist reveals the key to scoring that Holy Grail of handbags in a clever memoir, “Bringing Home the Birkin” (Morrow, $25.95).
The result is a memoir that is distinctive, fun, page-turning, and as addictive as its namesake.It’s a formula as safeguarded as the recipe for Coca-Cola.įashionistas have pondered how to land a coveted Birkin handbag from Hermes – the waiting list is a reported two to three years – since the accessory became famous in the mid-1980s. Whether he's relating his wining and dining, buying and selling, dodging and weaving, laughing and crying, or schmoozing and stammering, Michael is a master raconteur who weaves together tales of hunting Birkins in the world's most posh locales, memories of meals that would make any gastronome salivate, anecdotes of obsessed collectors with insatiable desires, and sweetly intimate stories about his family, friends, and finding true love. Flirting with danger, Michael recounts the heady rush of hand delivering his first big score to famed songwriter Carole Bayer Sager in Paris how he had to hire thugs to rescue a bag that one of his 'shoppers' held for ransom and, the story of the Oscar-worthy performances that allowed him to snag 'reserved' bags from other, less dogged Birkin seekers. With down-to-earth wit, Michael chronicles the unusual ventures that took him to nearly every continent, from eBay to Paris auction house and into the lives of celebrities and poseurs. But soon the resourceful Michael discovered the truth about the waiting list and figured out the secret to getting Hermes to part with one of these precious bags. Michael's newfound career started with an impulsive move to Barcelona, a vanished job assignment, no work visa, and an Hermes scarf sold on eBay to generate some quick cash.
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