Stylish with Substance

With probable fears of crime and hanging on to our dear valuables looming more than ever, combined with who-knows-what untold other little micro-now ways of life, cross body bags have become more appealing than ever.  In a budget-minded style with a twist, I recommend buying only one of this rare and unique style, in a possible statement bag or at least one to last lots of  "every-days"......partially because the new trends follow the new way of life, pairing down. Given that, here are some in "every" pricerange following the *built to last--while budgeting* rule...

Statement Holding ($$$)

Gucci - $1,395

Flaunt your Love ($$)

Kooba - $485

Practical-ly Making $

Fossil - $148

The Elliott Lucca brand's work with leather is usually innovative or at least interesting and usually gorgeous. And this mid-sized clutch slash strap bag is on sale for roughly $106.

With its double-diamond-design in a quilted stitch, in lavender, chocolate, olive and black, the bag is 13" x 6" with two removable straps for different wearing lengths.

Isn't that ... 3 bags in one for one modest price? In these times, that's priceless!

Sure, there are bigger and ultra gorgeous, but more expensive, bags in the Catina collection, too. Check it out.

I'm not in a place to be giving away many things (I fear the site's not in a place to be giving the chance to many people) - but I know many of us are also not in the place to be giving ourselves lovely bags - or perhaps much of anything.

So in a generous giving of hits, at least in spirit, I will be highlighting fabulous handbag giveaways from other websites!

There is no way we could yet offer the fabulosity and lavishness of what the Purse Blog can, and so I really must inform you of their 12 Days of Giveaways, already on 3.

Today is this fantastic stitched skin clutch, the Corset Clutch by Bird Handbags.

To make sure you head over daily to the Purse Blog / Luxeaholics, just feast your appetite on the first two days of giveaways!

[caption id="attachment_1372" align="aligncenter" width="405" caption="Louis Vuitton art from eLUXURY"][/caption]

I absolutely get giddy when Louis Vuitton and eLUXURY create art for/from their most classic bag(s). The "cool" thing is this sculpture looks even more do-able than a simple ball-y snow man! So brighten yourselves up, those in the cold - when the flurries have fallen, make yourself something better than an angel!

Besides, a bag made of snow is not just priceless, it's free!

FOSSIL has a new line of finer leather bags, but the style boost is only minimal from their ever-classics for everyday. The cutest purse in their current collection is quite trendy though, and will accessorize you well right through Autumn. The multi-colored strips on the canvas version of the Julianne Clutch are not only fun and eye-catching, but the unique pattern of color-changes makes you want to run your fingers along it. You won't find what appear to be stringy pieces of strippy fabric, but you'll probably love the newer, more luxurious leather - goat skin, precisely. The canvas clutch also sports strips of brown leather trim and another trend of a turn-lock clasp, as is the Julianne style.

Haute skins and a more contemporary look boosts this collection to $125 for this canvas clutch. The entire new line ranges from there up to $465.

They're bras with ... breastises inside (check 2nd picture--mature)! This is the most inventive handbag creation since the first person correlated purses with vaginae (probably the first man to see a woman with one, and I vouch for the concept).

What a riot! This custom Money Bag (different bras/skin tones) is available from Freckleface for only $35. Beyond a steal for a must in any purse collection!!

And for more fun, check out the beyond saucy baldie lady, the Britney - it's the um, other part. ;-)

How? They've collaborated with the new creative director of Mulberry, Katie Grand, to produce a jersey fabric version of the house's famed "Roxanne" handbag, in the name of "charity" for (Product) RED.

And I want you to turn red with outrage. Why?

(That's great, put out a highly exlusive handbag, so that unrelated parties can make profits without giving any proceeds to help! Ridiculous [and 150% foreseeable].)

What can we do, besides go along with this or ignore it?

First of all, Fashionistas must make being Patriotic mean we'll support politicians who will turn our poor, laughable economy around. We also must create an uproar in response to designers catering to the fancy European cities (what about Anya Hindmarch's original release of "I'm Not a Plastic Bag" only being available in the UK?)!

Then, when the bags start showing up on eBay, perhaps we should chastise the sellers and/or request they give 100% of their final listing value, minus fees, to the same charity. I bet they won't do it! But we'll hopefully leave an impression in some of their minds.

To sum up, and most importantly: It is just not right for a company or the designers to not take a pay cut when producing for charity. To pass the act of donating 100% toward the consumer, mostly poor fashion fans, is not quite right. Even at $85 American, it would be a tad overpriced. Sure, there's the designer's name and of course the great, recognizable shaping, but it's a fabbing jersey material bag! (From Gap!)

Part of what makes designer purses worthwhile is the quality of genuine leather! One can't get the same use out of a simple nylon bag (sorry Prada, NOT) or, in this case, fabbing t-shirt material! Besides, it was probably manufactured by Gap, not Mulberry!

Ridiculous!!! Unacceptable!

(And for a similar matter, do not send me any more invites to NYC events. Geesh! -- Unless you pay for the plane tickets. And no - I do not want to offer reports on NYC's sample sales to my worldwide readers. Gah.)

*Via Fashion Week Daily*

The bag is sized 10" x 7", made from iridescent silk dupioni, and currently going for a holiday sale price of $57.60. Buy it soon for the holidays at www.ebags.com! (affiliate)!

(By the way, it's also great that it comes in blue; the color of Hanukkah!)

Last week would normally have been Thanksgiving week but the holiday was early this year. So what, I still give thanks to the Best Blogged Bags! Thanks for some nice eye-candy window shopping during the first official shopping week for the Giftgiving holidays. (Something to do besides worry about actual shopping, is read the blogs!) My pick posts...

And our top pick of the week is not from a strictly handbag blog, congrats! The Fashion Police likened this Dolce & Gabanna bag (above) to ... Yoda. Love that relation more, I couldn't.

We could get soo excited about model Lydia Hearst's new bag for Puma, a re-do of last year's now called the Lydia 2 Holiday Bag, a multi-function bag in either black with blue trim or silver. The bags aren't too expensive at $120, and yet they are for "environmentally-friendly material" or pleather? (Unconfirmed.) Which actually isn't eco-friendly, due to the manufacturing process of plastic. Hmm.

Right photo from TheRunwayScoop

Let's get right to it. The bag looks totally cute and fresh with that very Miu Miu/Prada ruching, until one sees it from just the wrong angle (left). The ruching part sticks out in a trés poofy way. It looks weird, but it functions as an outer zipper compartment that even has its own zippered pocket inside.

The generously-sized bag is out today, and available on store.puma.com, just in time for your holiday business/exercise/shopping/gifting.

If you're not sure, this video interview on FlyPaper with Hearst showing off both colors should answer a lot of wonderings!