Bag lady
What to do if you can't afford the real thing
“You want to buy a bag?” The woman darted her head from side to side, looking up and down Chinatown's bustling Canal Street, presumably for signs of New York's finest. I nodded tentatively and followed her to what looked like a health clinic, with a chiropractor's sign and opening hours on the door. Inside, shelves filled the room from floor to ceiling with bags, wallets and belts from designers such as Louis Vuitton and Kate Spade.
Discover more
1843 magazine | A journey through the world’s newest narco-state
Drugs transformed Ecuador from a Latin American success story into a war zone
1843 magazine | The radioactive flood threatening Central Asia’s breadbasket
What it’s like to live with nuclear waste on your doorstep
1843 magazine | Why I gave up trying to delete myself from the internet
An enjoyable trip down memory lane soon became a boring full-time job
1843 magazine | True believers built Trump’s social-media company. They feel betrayed
The inside story of Truth Social
1843 magazine | Why aren’t Harris and Trump listening to Pennsylvania’s steelworkers?
The candidates oppose the takeover of US Steel. But employees want it to go ahead
1843 magazine | The Democrats want Tim Walz to speak to rural Americans. They aren’t listening
Voters in his old congressional district have gone off him