The idea must have sparked a few months ago in Texas. She sent me a picture of a vintage Louis Vuitton fringe saddle bag from the Round Top Antiques Fair and said: “Thinking of you”. It’s always nice to hear from Wendy Henry. We keep in touch regularly. It’s been exactly one year since I posted her incredible Tale. It made people cry and smile and swoon and hoot all at the same time. Her husband Cowden had a stroke in February but he’s better now. “He’s talking and walking and still being his crazy old self,” Wendy told me on the phone this morning. “But let me tell you, having a stroke is an expensive ticket. He needs a driver now, and he calls me a hundred and fifty times a day!”

She didn’t sit still though – “You know how it goes; it never ends!” – and the idea she had developed into a full-blown business venture. Wendy started researching and buying old Louis Vuitton bags from collectors and added her own Southern “twist and flare” because she has “always loved fringe!” The result is a line of authentic Louis Vuitton bags with added fringe and two styles of boots made out of vintage leather duffel bags, available on her website. “They are fun, different, and classic,” she concludes, “and the response has been overwhelmingly fantastic!” Contact Wendy with my greetings to know more or use the code “tales” at check-out to receive free shipping.

And if you’re thinking what I’m thinking, I’m just gonna go right on out and say it: you need these for Coachella!