Yesterday New York Fashion Week began and I, like majority of attendees, scrambled around the house and pillaged through my closet trying to find something appropriate to wear. During my closet frenzy, Vlad amusedly asked me if all women think we need more clothes in our closets. The answer was a resounding ‘”YES, YES WE DO”.

When not dealing with fashion week and the corresponding sartorial pressure, I am not nearly as concerned with my clothing choices, after all, I dress myself around my handbag.  I am the handbag queen.

In effort to streamline my Fashion Week choices – I decided to apply my day-t0-day ‘dress around the bag’ theory. I opted to start off with a sure-thing, my black Hermes Birkin and headed off to the shows: Nicholas K, BCBG, and Chadwick Bell. I kept the rest of my outfit simple with a 388 cashmere top, red and black floral Mink Pink skirt, a sick Oscar de la Renta coin necklace, and Jeffrey Campbell shoes.

The moral of day 1: Curating the outfit around the handbag never fails.

I’m so excited that I don’t even know where to begin, so let’s just say that there’s a real treat waiting for you guys after the jump. We’ve received images from Chanel of a few of the bags from Chanel Metiers d’Art Pre-Fall 2012, and they are gorgeous. Most of the intricately adorned bags play on the Boy Chanel theme, and the results are a bit tougher than the Chanel that some of you might be used to. In my book, that’s a vote in their favor; I’ve long wanted Chanel’s bags to find a direction like this one, and now that they have, the results are among my favorite Chanel bags in years.

It occurred to me on Wednesday night, while I was fretting over skirts and sequins and my utter lack of shoe options for the start of New York Fashion Week, that I am indeed a very lucky girl. After all, if the biggest existential question you have to ask yourself at work is, “How many bracelets are too many bracelets?” then life really can’t be all that bad. Of course, that doesn’t mean those kinds of questions can go unanswered. (Bracelets – very important.)

Perhaps predictably, the biggest problem Megs and I have when planning our Fashion Week wardrobes is what bags to carry. When people know that you spend your life writing about accessories, they expect you to show up with the best of the best; whenever I tell someone I’m from PurseBlog, their eyes always go directly to what’s on my arm. It’s like daring someone to judge your bag. On top of that, there are a litany of functional concerns to address…

Today is the Rebecca Minkoff Fall 2012 Runway show and of course Amanda, Vlad, and I will be there. But we aren’t just attending, we are going to share the show with you through our eyes. Vlad and I will be backstage and while he snaps photos to share with you all later, I will be taking photos non-stop with my iPhone. And because I am Instagram obsessed, I will be sharing all of these photos on our Instagram while also taking over Rebecca Minkoff’s Instagram account for the day.

Even if you aren’t at the show, be part of the show by following PurseBlog and RebeccaMinkoff on Instagram! And watch the show live today at 3pm EST at this link.

…as seen on Day One of New York Fashion Week, prior to the Chadwick Bell show.

Well, this is strange. Or at least I think it is; you guys can be the final judge. To celebrate the global Fashion Weeks (which kick off today – everyone say a little prayer for me and my sanity) this season, Miu Miu is launching a grand total of 46 one-of-a-kind bags starting with 16 at the brand’s Prince Street boutique in New York. The bags went on sale this morning, with the remaining 30 showing up in London, Milan and Paris over the next few weeks.

All of the designs are a variation on the same theme – a small, ladylike satchel with an oversized frame that made its debut on the Spring 2012 runway. The materials vary from printed wovens to studded crocodile and the prices go from $1495 on up, but I’m not sure that there’s a single bag in this group on which I’d spend the money, not even for something one-of-a-kind from one of my all-time favorite designers. Check out the New York bags after the jump.

Even as someone who doesn’t have an iPhone (Android, grumble grumble), I know full well that the market for cases, sleeves and protectors for the tech toys seems to be a tad, uh, saturated. Not only are there plenty of companies dedicated to making only accessories for Apple gear, but it seems as though every brand that has every manufactured any kind of apparel or tech goods would also like to sell you something to cover your phone. Everyone I know with an iPhone has a veritable wardrobe for it.

I can understand if iPhone owners feel like they have enough cases already, but even those with full tech closets should take a look at Net-a-Porter’s fresh crop of Swash iPhone 4 Cases. They’re a tad spendy at $70, but the feminine, slightly bohemian look of the cases is different than any I’ve seen in the past.