Match those heels & 'hails'

Time to retire the classic two-fingered whistle and let down that skirt!

A Manhattan designer has created a new, classier and far more fashion-forward way to hail a cab.

Regine Basha's "taxi clutch" features a personal yellow taxi light -- spelled out in capital gold letters that can be set to flash on and off -- embedded in a black suede handbag. The lighted bag works wonders for flagging down cabbies -- especially at night or in the rain.

"Originally, I made bags with glow-in-the-dark piping," Basha said. "And I would use my bag to hail cabs because it stands out. Then I thought, how cool would it be if I had one that actually said 'Taxi' on it?"

Fashioned in homage to the classic taxi lights that once adorned many white-glove Upper East Side and Park Avenue buildings, the slick black clutch recalls a more genteel New York -- one in which ladies wore white gloves and weren't forced to run for cabs, in high heels, in the rain.

The $225 taxi clutch is one of many handbag styles in Basha's new 2Enlight10 collection of light-up purses -- which come with purple, pink or white lights embedded in metallic suede and embossed leather.

While buyers will have to wait until next Thursday for 2Enlight10 to launch its e-commerce site, they can check out the bag in action tonight. Taxi-clutch-wielding ladies will be out in force hailing cabs for Fashion Night Out attendees outside major department stores and at party hubs like the Meatpacking District.

"Our girls will be wearing the taxi bags and helping people into cabs," Basha said. "They'll have umbrellas too, if it rains. It will be a nice, do-good-type of thing."

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/match_those_heels_hails_yprmW93l1ZGkFJp5rsKIoJ