Free Republic

Former First Lady Melania Trump was snapped running around New York City with an extravagant handbag on her arm Tuesday, while her presidential hopeful hubby campaigns more than 1,200 miles away in Wisconsin. Melania, wearing a head-to-toe all-white ensemble, was flanked by Secret Service guards as she ducked into Trump Tower. The former model’s wedding band was on full display as she sported a matching white Hermes Birkin bag — which can fetch as much as $33,000 on the resale market. The fashionista also appeared to be wearing Christian Louboutin flats, which retail for a comparatively reasonable $700.

Michael Tonello didn't grow up wearing Hermès, the venerable French label founded in 1837 by Thierry Hermès as a saddlery. He never coveted Hermès ties or scarves, hallmarks of the upper crust. And the American hairstylist certainly never gave a rat's arse about the world-famous Birkin bag, the clunky, rectangular satchel so elusive that billionaires can't always get their hands on them. For the longest time, Tonello didn't even know what a Birkin was. He just wanted enough dough to live in dreamy Barcelona. But after falling into the resale business, he haphazardly discovered the formula for procuring Birkins. And...