Today's fashion news!

[Margaret Ronkin]

Handbags insulting "president" in French sell like hot cakes in US
Mon Apr 26, 5:42 PM ET
	
SEATTLE, United States (AFP) - There is no doubt that sales are hot for handbags bearing an insult -- in French -- aimed at "our president." The question is: Which president?


AFP/File Photo

	
The bag's designer Tom Bihn never guessed that purses with the message, "We're sorry our president is an idiot. We didn't vote for him" -- inscribed in French -- would be blowing out of the stores.

"It is a mystery, but since we launched the bags with the label sewn, sales have doubled," said Bihn, 43. "It is a record in the history of the company."

He denies the message is targeting US President George W. Bush (news - web sites).

"It depends on either your nationality, or the president you think is an idiot; you choose."

Clients throughout the United States have flooded his offices in Seattle and Port Angeles with calls and e-mails to order for the bags, he said.

The company received "varied reactions" including "hate mail from a French citizen who thought the label was addressed to (French President) Jacques Chirac."

But 80 percent of the Americans think it is an amusing message, he said.

On his company's website, he said: "Everyone seems to have a 'president' that they think is an idiot. Take your pick: Jacques Chirac, Bill Clinton (news - web sites), George Bush."

Neither Bihn nor his 10 employees have yet taken the situation seriously, but have launched a series of T-shirts, selling at 20 dollars each, with the same message, with funds to go to a war veterans' center in Seattle.