More than any other major handbag designer, Dolce & Gabbana goes out of its way to experiment with making bags in non-traditional luxury materials. We’re not just talking a bag here or there; Dolce has done entire lines made out of textiles like crocheted wool and tapestry, and for Spring 2013, the Italian brand has gone all-in on raffia bags.

Around here, we’re not necessarily of the opinion that an “inspired” bag is a bad thing. Most bags are inspired by some other bag, after all, and as long as the new version has some kind of unique take on the original, I’m not mad at it. I can also understand why lower-priced brands go the “inspired” route – if a design connects to consumers but is cost-prohibitive to almost all of them, naturally an opportunistic company is going to fill that market gap.

In summer, a lot of things get smaller. Clothes shrink to help their wearers deal with the rising temperatures, women cut their hair, men shave their beards. The feeling of lightness is paramount mean the weather itself often feels oppressive. We’ve long talked about the functional advantages of paring down your essentials and picking up a smaller bag when spring and summer come along, and it seems as though designers have been listening – an unprecedented number of brands have turned out miniature versions of your favorite bags for Spring 2013.

There’s just something about warm weather that makes me positively frantic to stray outside of my sartorial comfort zone. Although I almost always dress in dark colors and have what I like to think is the world’s largest collection of black sundresses, summer does something to me that requires me to occasionally splurge on something that looks more than a little out of place with my usual array of blacks and greys.

I’m a bit too young to have been dating back in the days when, “So, what’s your sign?” was a hot pickup line (thankfully), but I’ve seen enough movies to know that there are probably still awkward bachelors out there, plugging away with that same old cliche at a bar near you. Without a doubt, when the Charlotte Olympia Cosmic Collection asks the same question, it’s a much more interesting proposition.

I’m on vacation until Wednesday, so unfortunately, that means no Real Housewives of Orange County recap this week. We still like it when you guys drop by and chat amongst yourselves, though, so feel free to share your feelings about the episode in the comments. Things will be back to normal next week!

In scouring the Internet for our article on the Internet’s most expensive luxury handbags, one thing became clear: even if a brand doesn’t do much to actively promote its most expensive pieces, almost all of them have those bags waiting in the wings for the right client. Under previous creative director Stefano Pilati, Yves Saint Laurent was one of the brands that mostly dealt in regular leather, with an occasional snakeskin or ostrich bag here and there.

We reported last week on the second, or maybe even third, wave of flared-gusset bags to hit the market in the wake of industry-wide Celine obsessiveness, and although most of those bags do have their charms, few combine the striking geometry of the originals with the kind of price tag that makes buying something other than Celine so appealing. The MICHAEL Michael Kors Selma Tote is one of those few winners, and so is this similarly proportioned Z Spoke Zac Posen Eartha East-West Tote.

Louis Vuitton is at it again. The brand is known for its striking ad campaigns, featuring everything from romantic train scenes to Muhammad Ali and his trusty Louis Vuitton Keepall, and for the classic Louis Vuitton Alma Bag, Vuitton creative director Marc Jacobs has tapped models Karlie Kloss, Daria Strokous, Jac Jagaciak and Iris Strubegger to take the bags for a city stroll.

I feel like I’ve delivered the “spring is coming” message a lot over the past six weeks, and although I’m sure I sound like a broken record, this winter weather has gone on so long that I feel as though I’m repeating as much to convince myself that it’s true as to talk about spring fashion. As I write this, it’s 45 degrees in early April and I’m about to set out toward warmer climates for a bit of a vacation, but to make it this far, I’ve had to completely give myself over to the delusion (it certainly feels like a delusion) that one day, the Gucci Leather and Raffia Holdall will indeed be a weather-appropriate choice for a weekend beach trip someplace local.