Times are changing and so are style ideals. It’s not only gizmos and designer apparel that express your opulent lifestyle. Fashion trends change as fast as the weather and in today’s day and age little pet dogs have become an expression of style! Today you see fashion-conscious women in metropolitan cities across the world carrying tiny animals in their bags or purses…… a handbag with a heartbeat! The latest New York fashion accessory is a live dog, dubbed as a sleeve dog, small enough to fit into a handbag and to travel to bars, restaurants, and boutiques with its mistress. Once toted by fashionable women inside the folds of their gowns, diminutive pets have been the favorites of nobles from Marie-Antoinette to Elizabeth II. The pseudo- royals of Hollywood also favor them, actresses, and gossip column fixtures like Tori Spelling and Mickey Rourke. Yorkshire terriers, Cavalier King Charles spaniels, French bulldogs, and papillons, which can live in small apartments, are among the most coveted breeds favored by young women and baby boomers alike.
Paige, Lewis’s dog, owns 40 outfits, among them a Hermès coat. Part of Lewis’s closet is designated for the dog. Like her mistress, she likes to make a fashion statement. Muffin, a 3-year-old Yorkie, is a weekend regular at the Cafe Orlin on St. Marks Place in Manhattan. “I like to take her to brunch,” said Alex Revana, her mistress. Revana, a freelance fashion stylist, has provided Muffin with her own doggie garment rack with miniature hangers to hold knitted, fleece, and quilted cover-ups. Designer boutiques, hotels, airlines, and even neighborhood bars are quick to extend doggie hospitality. All kinds of services present themselves that allow people who have pets to travel with them. It’s a DOG’s World!
