Christopher Kane Aqua Gel-Filled Clutches, $720 via Neiman Marcus in green or pink

There are plenty of indications that I’ve fallen a little too far down the fashion rabbit hole. The foot-long neon pink feather earrings that I searched out for a month? A telltale sign. My urge to apologize to both friends and strangers for the sensible shoes I’ve been wearing since I hurt my ankle a few weeks ago?

Halston Heritage Susan Cluctches: Metal Mesh, $295 via ShopBop. Watersnake, $195 via ShopBop.

For how small they are, it can be difficult to find a reasonably priced box clutch. I’ve yet to figure out exactly why it is that they seem to be marked up more than their soft counterparts; does the rigid structure cost more money or use more manufacturing time?

I’ll be the first to admit that I appreciate a dose of absurdism in my life. I like weird movies and funny hats and people who wear bowties to daytime events without a note of irony. The weirdness that people bring to everyday life almost always makes me think that humanity might be ok after all, which is probably why the Les Petits Joueurs Mondrian Lego Suede Clutch makes me smile.

Proenza Schouler PS1 Linen and Leather Clutch via Net-a-Porter for $735.

This may sound crazy, but I swear that when I first laid eyes on the Proenza Schouler PS1 Linen and Leather Clutch, the room immediately felt a few degrees cooler. Things are starting to heat up in Atlanta, as always happens so quickly after we get those first few perfect spring days, and ceiling fans and air conditioners are working overtime to keep everyone below the Mason-Dixon Line from going outside, lying facedown in the grass and falling asleep in the sun.

When I think of summer and straw clutches, greige is not exactly the first color to spring to mind. Although it’s my favorite neutral (besides leopard print, which is a neutral too, I swear), there comes a time when winter has lasted far too long and the last thing you want to see is another sullen, pallid handbag. For me, that time came this past weekend when it felt like November during my trip up North.

Clutches are always a big hit on the runway because they’re easy to add to an outfit without obscuring the clothes being presented, but for Fall 2011, handheld bags took an even more prominent spot in the season’s shows than is usually expected. In textures from velvet to python (and sometimes velvet and python on the same clutch) and sizes big enough to carry all your belongings or so small that a cell phone would be a tight squeeze, you better make sure that your handheld handbag game is in point this year.

I know I’ve said this plenty of times before, but I still find it absolutely confounding that a former Spice Girl now designs a range of totally luxurious, well-crafted handbags that are sold by some of the finest retailers in the world. Is this real life? Am I taking crazy pills?

Beckham’s aesthetic has come a long way since the days when she was the leather-chap-wearing queen of the British WAGs (wives and girlfriends of soccer players, for the uninitiated), and pieces like the Victoria Beckham Two-Tone Lizard and Leather Clutch demonstrate the classic, heavily tailored look that Vicky B’s been working to great effect for the past couple of years.

If you spend as much time on the Internet as we do (for your sanity’s sake, we hope you don’t), you’ve surely heard that a poisonous cobra has escaped from the Bronx Zoo and is now amusing and terrifying much of New York City. No one has any idea where the snake has crept off to, but now has its own hilarious Twitter account and has taken the place of Charlie Sheen as the Internet meme du jour.

I can’t even begin to explain how excited I am that Charlotte Olympia designer Charlotte Dellal has decided to grace the handbag world with her presence. I’ve been singing that praises of Dellal’s sharp, modern, sexy footwear over at TalkShoes for some time now, and her witty sensibility is a welcome addition to the accessories marketplace. The Charlotte Olympia Pandora Plexiglass Clutch, with its three included inserts and confident lines, is a very promising start for this handbag neophyte.

We all know that Christian Louboutin has the footwear world on lock, but the stiletto master’s results in the handbag world sometimes don’t have the aesthetic consistency of his shoes. Translating success in one design realm to success in another can be difficult, so creating a clutch that appeals directly to the hearts of those who already love Louboutin’s shoes is a great way to turn footwear customers into potential handbag customers.