How Monica Lewinsky Got Back on Top.(infamous intern now has hand-bag business)(Interview)

The infamous intern has gone from being the President's plaything to a hot handbag designer. How did the most maligned girl in the world pull off such a transformation? Read on.

* It's an overcast Friday morning, and Monica Lewinsky is sitting in a booth of a New York City coffee shop wearing glasses instead of contacts and no makeup. On workdays like these, she explains, she has little time to primp-she's in a mad craze to produce spring samples for her line of handbags, The Real Monica Inc., which she launched more than a year ago. She sets out fabric swatches, color Xeroxes, and plastic baggies full of trimmings next to her poached-eggs-and-banana-bread breakfast and pores over them to find the perfect pattern. "This one's too disco," she decides, holding up a sparkly piece of denim.

The only reason all the other patrons aren't staring openmouthed as she engages in her meticulous selection process (a few do stare, of course) is that Monica is a regular fixture at this neighborhood cafe. She pops in so often, in fact, that she's become good friends with the owner and his wife, who stops by to ask if Monica can suggest a place to get her hair cut. "I've always loved New York," says Monica, looking out the window onto the busy sidewalk. "Don't forget, I was in the process of moving back in 1998. I had boxes packed when my life was," she pauses, "still private."

The exposure of her scandalous affair with former President Clinton put those plans on hold, During the independent counsel's lengthy investigation and the subsequent impeachment hearings, Monica became a virtual prisoner in an apartment in D.C. with nothing to do but watch TV and knit. She started making totes to contain her yarn and needles, which is what led to the idea of making her own line of handbags. When the dust finally settled, Monica came to New York and rented an apartment in eclectic Greenwich Village. "Down here, people are more accepting of things," she says, laughing. "Well, of me."

But the truth is, when Monica first arrived in New York City in the summer of 1999, she wasn't given the warmest welcome. She had to sport a dark-sunglasses-and-low-brimmed-hat disguise every time she ventured outside to avoid being gawked at. The New York Post referred to her almost daily as "the Portly Pepperpot." Monica claims not to read the tabloids, but her friend May Lee, a host on the Oxygen Network, says, "Even after all she's been through, she's very thin-skinned and sensitive." To make matters worse, she experienced a spate of bad luck after she moved. Her gig as a spokeswoman for the Jenny Craig diet company ended abruptly, leaving her still strapped with huge legal bills. And her social life wasn't much to speak of-she was invited to parties, but more as an object of curiosity than an accepted member of the city's glitterati.

Monica's Metamorphosis

What a difference two years can make. Today, Monica's a legitimate small business entrepreneur. "I was limited in the kinds of jobs that I could have because my life still wasn't my own," says Monica, now 27. "Being my own boss eliminated some of the problems-I can be flexible with my hours, and it has also forced me to be disciplined." More astonishing is the fact that she's become the vied-for dinner-guest-of-the-moment on both coasts. Her schedule is filled with A-list events from magazine launch parties to fashion extravaganzas. "I went to a Jeremy Scott fashion show in Los Angeles," she offers. For her, the highlight was that plus-size model Sophie Dahl was in the show--"Love her!" she gushes. Her favorite restaurants are highbrow Manhattan eateries like Pastis, Da Silvano, and Rhone, where she often dines alongside New York City power brokers and supermodels--even if she does have to be shuttled out the back door occasionally to avoid the paparazzi. The New York Post, once her nemesis, now calls her an "It girl." "She's an exceptional kind of celebrity because everyone knows who she is regardless of who they are or where they come from," says Lee, who has accompanied Monica on her nights out on the town. "She's also very funny and a lot fun to he around."