Mark your calendar for Purse Day

WHAT:
Fun and informative sessions, including “Make Your Own Purse,” “Protect Yourself from Identity Theft” and “Develop Your Creative Designs Into A Small Business.”

By Jessica Michault

If it is true that a man’s home is his castle then a woman’s home is her handbag. Or maybe it is more like her home away from home. Filled to the gills with everything she could possibly need in the course of 24 hours. But with the arrival of bags big enough to accommodate the demands of modern women comes the problem of locating anything in a hurry. With women finding themselves digging through their bags like excavation sites to unearth hidden treasures, luxury brands are coming to the rescue by creating accessories that pop in high-octane hues.

Today the staple handbag items like wallets, keys and cellphones have to compete for space with PDAs, diaries, makeup bags, books and sunglasses. Fashionistas who love their sky-high heels but can’t go cold turkey from their flats will inevitably stuff a pair into the bottom of their bag. The same goes for the sneaker-clad businesswoman who does a quick change into pumps before stepping into the office. Young mothers have the unenviable job of not only putting their own belongings into a bag, but those of their children too. This means making room for Kleenex and crayons, snacks and toys and often a change of clothing. All of which is to say that finding those items in the dark depths of a bag has become time consuming and frustrating.

“Bags have morphed into mobile homes, ” says Amy-Ling O’Heney, associate accessories trends editor for WGSN, a global company that provides research and trend analysis for the fashion industry. “By becoming both bigger in volume and predominantly compartment-less they are now open vessels for all our precious everyday junk.”

This season luxury companies known for the quality of their small leather goods have transformed their collections into bright and bold pieces, colors that will shine out like beacons of light from any bag, no matter how big. No more muted tones of black, brown or beige; now its electric blue or gleaming gold wallets (Fendi, Bottega Venetta), hot-pink key chains (Gucci) bright green eyeglass cases (Hermès) and fire-engine red iPhone holder (Louis Vuitton). These are accessories that will never go unnoticed and will also work well in the summer months when designer see-though plastic bags will come out of storage and onto shoulders, turning the accessories into eye-popping colored jewels amongst the rubble of a bag’s content.

One company that has been offering its clientele searing shades for over a decade is Smythson. This year the house is celebrating two major events, the 100-year anniversary of its portable diary and the launch of a new line of handbags.

“Much of our leather business was historically built on core basic colors such as red, dark blue, tan; we thought it would be in keeping with the brand’s irreverence to introduce seasonal, vibrant colors,” Paddy Byng, the CEO of Smythson, said in an e-mail interview. “We did it for the first time 11 years ago and it was phenomenally successful, so we’ve continued with it ever since. The vibrant colors have become as much of an icon for us now as our diaries and bespoke stationery,” he added, noting that the company’s diary business grew 30 percent last year.

To mark the centennial of the diary, Smythson has once again gone with a strong color choice: this time the alligator skin is aqua and comes with a garnet jewel fastening. But the new bag line called the “Nancy,” taking inspiration and its name from the tastemakers Nancy Mitford and Nancy Lancaster, went the classic route in the choice of color (black white, taupe, chocolate).

“With the Nancy, we wanted to design a bag that reflected the personality of our customer: discrete, intelligent and understated, someone who doesn’t require logos or obvious hardware to boost their confidence,” said Samantha Cameron, the creative director of Smythson. But while the colors of the bags might be neutral, the creativity and originality can be seen in the inventive closure and the hand-pleating detail on the front. Thus the bag acts as a neutral backdrop for the company’s now iconic and colorful accessories.

The trend for “small leather goods, the current trend of the oversized ‘colossal clutch‘ and the return of the mini evening bag - which are then all transported inside the shell of the oversized ‘super’ bag – has evolved to become the new trend of carrying high visibility ‘bags within bags,’ ” said O’Heney.

Another fashion brand that has taken to the vivid and vibrant accessories trend is Roberto Cavalli. But the designer has also tapped into the Russian dolls effect of a bag-inside-a-bag phenomenon. This month the designer launched a new pair of sunglasses called the “Eva.” Though the arrival of another designer pair of sunglasses on the market is not groundbreaking, its case is. Creating a “two for the price of one” luxury bargain, the shiny satin and leopard-print case can double as an evening purse, transforming a sunglass case by day into clutch bag for night.

With the plethora of “super-size-me” designer bags on the market, most with little or no closing mechanism, it has never been a better time to invest in colorful accessories. Or as O’Heney succinctly put it, “It’s all about the filling.”

Check out these colorful designer handbags at awesome discounts:

We absolutely love CHANEL handbags and we are especially big fans of today’s featured designer handbag. Made from signature CHANEL caviar leather and boasting the famed CHANEL logo, this is what winter white is all about.

Although the classic FENDI zucca pattern has been around for as long as we can remember, we can’t get enough of FENDI’s signature look. Like today’s featured designer handbag that takes a professional spin on the usually trendy FENDI styles. Perfect for the office and after-work cocktails, this FENDI is the perfect compliment to that killer power suit.

The Times of India

Now that the weekend’s hear we are feeling fun and festive. Today’s featured designer handbag PIETRO ALESSANDRO is just the funky accessory we need to play up our mood.

By Ulrika Jonsson Daily Mail

The truth is that handbags – which were once simply a practical means for a woman to carry around her personal things – have been elevated into objects of lust. They are now more sought after and, in some cases, more expensive than any designer shoe or frock. Three or so years ago, when Mulberry‘s successful Roxy bag came out, it cost £595. True, that’s hardly small change, but even in the short time since it became a must-have arm adornment, the cost of such bags has rocketed.

This year we have the Smythson Nancy at £950, and the Large Chloe Paddington, costing a jaw-dropping £1,016. It seems to me that as the hype surrounding designer bags grows, so, exponentially, do the prices. Funny that. Of course I can understand why a handbag can be an object of desire for a woman. My first ever bag was a gift from my generous, thoughtful stepfather when I was 15. I vividly remember it was brown and probably from Mulberry. The fact that the bag was worth considerably more than the empty purse it invariably housed was neither here nor there – I really treasured it.

At that age of course, I didn’t really have a legitimate use for it – after all, there were no credit cards, not much money, no make-up and no mobile phone to carry around. However, it made me feel rather mature and it was in many ways a rite of passage for me as a young woman. Owning a handbag indicated to me – and hopefully the rest of the world – that I was a woman because I had the right to carry something around.

The bag somehow gave me status and importance, and I loved it. Today, a handbag should be a thing in which I can accommodate everything I need for the day (and if you’re me, that can be rather a lot of stuff). There’s my pill-box, my tub of lip balm, pen, scrap-paper, a mansized wallet, glasses, sunglasses, other emergency medication and, until very recently, the entire baby department from Boots to contend with whatever situation my three-year-old daughter, Martha, could throw at me.

But even in the demanding world of womanhood and motherhood, I could never justify spending £1,000 on a single handbag – no matter how big it is. The latest bag to cause a sensation, the Nancy, has been created by Samantha Cameron, wife of the Tory leader, for posh stationery shop Smythson, where she is the creative director.

The princely price tag of £950 is the equivalent to an average monthly mortgage repayment, and if you want the matching mirror (£85) or any of the other accessories to go with it (a keyring or a hanging photo frame to go on the handles, anyone?), it’ll set you back well over £1,000. What’s more, fancy calling the bag “Nancy”. It’s hardly the name for a large, butch and expensive bag, is it? Unless Samantha was thinking of Ms Dell ‘Olio perhaps, in which case it’s rather suitable.

Bags like this – and Smythson is by no means the only offender when it comes to overpriced accessories – are not only insultingly expensive, they are an outward sign of success which should be beyond the reach of most women, but which cause those very women to spend money they simply don’t have.

The irony is that it’s often celebrities who start a fad for a particular bag by being photographed with it, despite the fact that nine times out of ten they will not have paid a penny for it (they are given them for nothing by designers hoping for a bit of free advertising).

And yet when ordinary women see them with it, they feel instant pressure to have the “must have”, whatever the cost. Those are the women – and increasingly young girls – who stretch themselves to the limit of their credit cards for a bag that will be in vogue perhaps for only a few months.

It reminds me of a storyline in Sex And The City, where the shallow, driven Samantha (played by Kim Cattrall) rushes down to Hermes in pursuit of the much-coveted “Birkin” bag, beloved by Victoria Beckham (who is rumoured to have 14 of them, worth at least £1,000 a piece, in every colour under the rainbow).

When Samantha is told the bag has a waiting list, she virtually has a coronary to hear that she won’t be getting one on the spot. I watched the episode open-mouthed – perhaps it would have been funny were it not so true to life. Never has the fickleness, pointlessness and immorality of the fashion world been better portrayed.

Sadly, I do know what I am talking about because I, too, have been caught up in the fashion world’s bag frenzy. Four years ago, I picked up and rather fell in love with a Marc Jacobs bag. I was deeply unhappy at the time, but somehow bought into the myth that striking up a relationship with Mr Jacobs would ease my pained heart.

Much to my shame, I fell in love with another bag from “Miu Miu” on the same day and, in the delirious state of newfound infatuation, I decided to buy both. I am not proud to report that the Marc Jacobs set me back no less than £600, and the Miu Miu £400. Wallowing in my own disgrace, I took the bags home and have never used either. Now, they would probably be deemed to be hideously out of fashion.

Too embarrassed to return the most expensive bag with the sole excuse that I’d “simply gone off it”, I listed it on eBay, but it received bids of only around £100, and I decided that if it was going to go for that knock-down price, I’d rather grit my teeth and keep it.

So now it and the Miu Miu bag hang on my wall – testaments to the madness that can grip women when they see an “It bag” for sale. So Samantha Cameron can keep her Nancy bag, and I shall keep my £1,000, safe in the knowledge that come Christmas, there will be some other object of handbag lust to turn the heads of women who can’t afford it and simply don’t need it.

Now you don’t have to spend upwards of $1,000 for a designer handbags, check out all the great deals at http://www.efashionhouse.com!

With the preppy look always in, at least in accessories, today’s featured designer handbag from ROBERTO CAVALLI is the perfect combination of preppy meets funky.