With the recent Fab or Drab activity, it is time we make our Fab or Drab category a more active part of PurseBlog.

Today’s installment comes from an eclectic (and sold out) evening bag. The Celestina Espasol Filigree Clutch has every aspect of an ornate evening piece that may meet your fancy. The box shaped clutch is silver-plated and shows off cutout filigree design. The design is in the detail of this bag, so don’t just glance over it. The clutch needs a better look.

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Is it possible that we don’t give Michael Kors his due when it comes to handbags? I think it might be. Or perhaps the problem is that his brand doesn’t emphasize it enough – I’m not exactly sure what the issue is, but the brand hasn’t “caught” as a major power in handbags like one would expect when you consider the huge financial and marketing arm that the brand has behind it.

I talk about Princess Michael Kors himself every week in my Project Runway recap, but it’s much more rare that we sit down and discuss one of his handbag designs in a serious way, despite the fact that His Royal Highness’s brand put out a big line of bags every season. By the looks of the beautiful and reasonably priced Michael Kors Tonne Leather Hobo, we should do it more often.

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I’ve found a new way to tell the difference between the Stephanies! It’s only the second episode of Kell on Earth and I’ve already figured it out, I’m so proud of myself. Really, it’s very simple: there’s a smart one and a dumb one.

Looking back, this should have been more obvious to me in the first episode, but you can only learn so much about an office full of people in the first sixty minutes. Last night’s show, though, was basically A Tale of Two Stephanies: one of them works hard and wants to get everything right and feels terrible when she screws up. That’s the one that we like. Then there’s the other one, the one that looks like she’s probably from California, and increasingly looks like she might be headed back there. She can’t even delegate correctly, and when something goes wrong, all she does is complain. Andrew, the gay/goth/glam assistant in the one-shouldered top, is not amused with her, and neither am I.

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When you were young, do you remember dreaming about all sorts of grandiose events you would attend when you were a “grown up”? I know I did. It wasn’t about money, it wasn’t about what it stood for, it was, well, about being a grown up. Now that I am a grown up, I’m still not attending the kind of events I used to dream about. I’m not complaining but I just am not there yet.

I remember being young and watching my mom get ready before she went out to a huge event with my dad. I remember her slipping on a gorgeous evening gown, fastening her necklace and any other jewelery. But more than anything else, I remember her grabbing a gorgeous evening bag and packing just the essentials into that bag. I thought about that night for myself for a while. Now I am a grown up and I think of carrying a Judith Leiber bag to one of those events.

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In December Glamour chose me as one of their Blogging Babes. I was thrilled to be chosen and kept in such great company on Glamour’s website. Other Blogging Babes featured include Natalie from Fashionista, Julia from All about the Pretty, Leslie from Racked, and Wendy from Nitro:licious.

Glamour has been a longtime favorite fashion magazine of mine so this was a great honor. You can read my interview with Glamour on their website, in which they ask me some questions to find out more about me and what PurseBlog is about. This was such a fun piece to be part of, thank you to Glamour for including me!

Read the full interview here.

As I mentioned last week, finally, oh finally, the retail stores are stocking their shelves with all sorts of amazing new handbags. My must-have bag of the day has to be the Michael Kors Skorpios Pleated Crescent Hobo. I’d like to even say that it could be my bag pick of the week, but seeing as though it is Monday, I don’t want to jump the gun yet.

All I do know is that this bag is a staple, a must-have, a classic.

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I fully admit that I’ve never been the recipient of a Valentine’s Day gift from a real Valentine; this is excluding the bouquet of wildflowers my lovely father sends me every February 14. And just last week, I received a wonderful care package from my mother including a plastic lunchbox with a printed smattering of pink and white hearts. That was very interesting, but in the case that I do have a real, live Valentine this year, this is what I’d love him to get me. But keep in mind, pals, the flowers are enough. Remember that you’re talking to (erm, reading about) a girl who was massively excited by a plastic case.

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Through the miracles of modern medicine and heavy-duty antibiotics, I have thrown off the chains of the worst bout of strep throat known to mankind (or at least to Amandakind) to come and recap the latest episode of Project Runway (sorry, Real Housewives fans – I was face-down in a bottle of Nyquil while I was supposed to be recapping that, but it will be back next week, swears).

This week was another mash-up of classic ProjRun challenge archetypes, this time with “real women as models” on a collision course toward “unacceptable and inappropriate product placement.” We’ve seen challenges in the past where a designer made a “real woman model” cry and where the designers had to incorporate a paid sponsor via car-part dresses, so the bar has been set high for a challenge of either type, let alone one that combined elements of both. Did it live up to the car-crash possibilities? Eh, not quite, but there were a few fantastically ugly dresses.

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This week we will be bringing you a variety of bags that make perfect Valentine’s Day presents. And just in time for this Hallmark Holiday, Burberry has been releasing a line of heart print bags.

The line of bags ranges from totes to small shoulder bags. There is still the quintessential nova check pattern that can be seen on each item. The hearts then take over the foreground of each item, which gives us a splash of love.

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So this week (and in particular, this weekend) are all about red, right? Well, according to the people that have a vested interest in selling you (or, perhaps more accurately, your significant other) lots and lots of Valentine’s Day swag, anyway. We’ll have more on V-Day throughout the week, but for a moment, I’d like to celebrate something that’s red that has blissfully little to do with anything other than good taste: the Valentino Premier Bow Hobo.

Everyone that reads this blog has probably picked up on the fact that I have a strong personal bias both the color red and almost anything made by the fine folks at Valentino, so of course I can’t help but fall for this bag.

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