YOU COULD get anything you wanted at the Ultimate Girls’ Day Out in the RDS at the weekend.
There were stylists, nail artists, massage therapists and hairdressers. Oh yes, and a handbag therapist.
Women queued up to spill the contents of their handbags all over Debbie Percy’s sofa to hear what their bags said about them.
“Your handbag says so much about your personality and your lifestyle,” she said. “It will tell if you are spreading yourself too thinly. Is it all about work? Is there any room for you?”
The handbag therapist and life coach was at the Kildare Village stand since Friday and estimated that she had examined the contents of more than 200 handbags, as well as a few men’s bags.
“Oh yes, I’ve had some man bags. Men are quite selfish with their bags. You won’t find dummies for their sons or daughters or chew bars for their dogs. Everything they carry is about them.”
But apart from one harried man running after a toddler with reins, men were difficult to find at the three-day event, organised by Harmonia publishers.
Celebrity hairdresser Dylan Bradshaw brought his salon to the RDS and was offering the much-talked-about 12-week blow dry at a 20 per cent discount.
It normally costs between €200 and€300, depending on hair length, a member of staff explained, as people lined up to watch the hairdresser in action.
More poignantly, another stand was offering help to women who had lost their hair through chemotherapy. The Look Better - Feel Better programme is a free service provided by the cosmetic industry with the Irish Cancer Society.
Beauticians visit hospitals and give beauty workshops and gift boxes to women who are trying to cope with changes to their appearance caused by cancer.
All over the RDS, women were lying prone as they had their feet, backs and heads massaged by therapists.
Threading, an Asian art of hair removal, sounded less relaxing, but you could numb the pain at the Style Bar where women with glossy hair were sipping cocktails with names such as The Fashionista and Killer Heels.
A Harvey Nichols fashion show displayed Jimmy Choo bags costing €870 and Louboutin boots at €720.
Organisers said the recession had no effect on visitor numbers. Some 10,000 attended last year’s event and organisers estimated that attendance was up by one-third this year.
Handbags won’t be the only ones needing therapy when the credit card bills arrive.
