Perhaps it’s merely the inevitable grind onward of the fashion industry that’s causing me to feel this way at the moment, but I’m really sick of winter clothing. We’ve all been looking at the bags, shoes and clothes that are currently on the sale circuit since they debuted at the various global Fashion Weeks nearly 10 months ago, and although resort is starting to slip into stores, it’s stil winter outside and in our closets. Frankly, I’m done with it.

Cold weather may bring with it lots of great texture for accessories, but it usually means darker colors, more neutrals and less fun. What’s the best way to cure that ennui with something that is still totally appropriate to carry right now? Winter white, darlings. Winter white. May I suggest the Gucci Soho Medium Boston Bag?

This is a slightly different Gucci Boston Bag than the one we all know and love, and I think it’s a worthy alternative. The details are a little simpler, the lines a little cleaner, the overall feel a little bit more modern (and, it must be said, more high-end). This slightly ivory shade of white fits in well with winter’s darker mood, but it still stands out as a shining beacon of hope that one day, sometime in the next few months, we’ll all once again be able to wear graphic white with abandon. You know, if you’re not prone to spills. Buy through Neiman Marcus for $1395.

Over the past couple months, I’ve written about a couple different Gucci Boston Bags – one had logo fabric, the other had a signature check flanking the webbed center stripes. I liked both, but I don’t make a habit of buying bags that cost more than $300 or so if the main material isn’t leather, so neither option was on my radar for personal use.

This version of the bag, though? This I can use. And would use. And maybe will use? $1350 isn’t a price tag to sneeze at, but for a classic, functional leather bag (with a little bit of flair) from a highly sought-after handbag brand, it’s not as bad as it could be. Particularly not when you consider how much a Louis Vuitton bag with a similar design would go for. (Hint: three times as much.)

Comparing this bag to the Sofia Coppola x Louis Vuitton collection is perhaps not entirely fair, but the similarities are inescapable. The Vuitton bags don’t feature the webbed stripes down the center, which are a Gucci signature, but I think I actually like it better this way. Solid leather mini duffels aren’t hard to find, even if finding them in leather as nice as that of Coppola’s bags can be a bit challenging. Gucci uses perfectly reasonably materials, though, and the center stripes give the bag a preppy-traditional flourish that an all-leather option would lack. Buy through Net-a-Porter for $1350.

I’ve made no secret of my largely negative feelings toward monogramed bags in the past, but that doesn’t mean that logo-decked designs can’t be done well on occasion. It would seem as though the Gucci Striped Monogram Boston Bag is one such example of logo fabric used in an attractive way. Credit where credit is due!

The key to this design, of course, is that your eyes don’t go straight to the double-G monogram fabric. Instead, the multicolored webbing in the middle takes your attention immediately, minimizing the logos to little more than a border print. The traditional, neutral color combination also helps this bag look more dignified than the logo bags that gained favor in the mid-2000s, so if you just can’t help yourself and have to carry something with branding all over it, you could do a lot worse. If you’d like to take this look a step further in the right direction, though, try a similar bag with an archival Gucci check print instead of the monogram canvas. Trust us on this one! Buy through Net-a-Porter for $1095.

Have any of you ladies ever seen Life with Father? It’s a 1947 movie starring Irene Dunne and a 15-year-old Elizabeth Taylor, and it is absolutely hysterical. If you’ve never seen it, it’s a great movie to watch with your mom while visiting over the holidays, if you can get your hands on a DVD copy. I can personally promise that you’ll laugh more than you ever have at a classic movie.

The reason that Life with Father is relevant to a post about the Gucci Oliver Pug Dog Key Chain should be obvious to anyone familiar with the movie – in it, Irene Dunne has an unbelievably funny argument with her long-suffering husband over how she intends to get their son a suit of clothes for free from a department store by returning a ceramic statuette of a pug (which she calls a “pug dog” each time she refers to it), and the idea of returning one item to justify the purchase of another and convincing yourself that you’re getting the second for “free” should sound familiar to most shopping addicts. I’d never return this cute little pup, though. Not a chance.

This charm makes me smile even more than it would on its own because my mom and I refer to the idea of returning an ill-advised purchase to get something else “for free” as the Pug Dog Principle, but even without that little bit of personal attachment, this Gucci pup is still one of the cutest bag charms I’ve ever seen. If he had popped up in time for my Guide to Bag Charms last week, he would have undoubtedly had a starring role in that post, and as it is, he should still be on your gifting list. In fact, if you wanted to get one for me, I’d be your friend forever. I’d even promise to not return it and put the money toward a pair of Alaia shoes. Buy through Net-a-Porter for $185.

I wrote a post on this topic approximately 800 years ago, which I cannot find at the moment, but I think it’s a topic worth revisiting in light of the handbag world’s continuing trends. A commenter over at TalkShoes mentioned late last week that she didn’t care for the shoes that match the Gucci 1973 Python Bag because she only likes natural-colored python, and I used to be the exact same way. Clearly, that’s changed.

With Women’s Wear Daily reporting that we can expect to see rainbow reptile accessories well into 2012, you’re probably either full of joy or disappointment at the prospect of seeing more candy-colored python on store shelves for at least six months. Even though I was a naysayer in the past, when the colors are as well-chosen as those in the current Gucci collection (and this bag in particular), I’m glad this trend came about.

I like this combination of shades so much that any material or design that could make it happen is probably cool with me. In fact, it was one of my favorite fall runway bags from the very beginning, and Gucci isn’t usually a brand that jumps out and grabs me with its catwalk accessories. The interior, lined in blue leather, is neatly compartmentalized to make the most of the modest amount of space inside this ladylike bag, but it’s not the interior that I care about. With so much pretty going on outside, how could you? Buy through Net-a-Porter for $2900.

I’ve got a pig obsession. Even if I attempted to explain the story to you, it would never make sense and you would seriously think I am some sort of crazed person. All you need to know is the love of pigs comes from an inside joke between my sister and I and now she calls me pig.

I literally squealed for joy when I saw this little Gucci accessory pop up on Net-A-Porter. Some kitschy accessories are released from time to time and many of them are far too absurd for me to ever want to splurge on them. But today I’ve got a major itch for the Gucci Little Pig Leather and Canvas Coin Purse and I plan to buy one for me and one for my sister.

At first glance, this doesn’t look entirely like a pig. But there is a snout! And a tail! And two piggy ears! Is that not so absurdly adorable that you can barely contain yourself? The dimensions are tiny, a mere 4″x 2″x 2, but this is the perfect little pouch to throw some essentials into your bag and be able to transfer from bag to bag.

For me, my inhaler and Benadryl will find the perfect home in this adorable coin purse. I have to carry both of these at all times for my asthma and allergies, so might as well hide them in a cute way. The backside of the pig has GG-canvas which I otherwise steer clear of, but in this case I can totally make an exception. Also, this is a GREAT stocking stuffer (hint hint). Buy via Net-A-Porter for $250.

Will the hobo be making a comeback for spring? If Gucci has anything to say about it, the answer is “yes.” Ladylike satchels and small crossbody bags have been the currency of the accessories industry for the past several seasons, so much so that Gucci Spring 2012‘s stable of chain-strapped hobos was more than a little surprising to see.

In a move that was more in keeping with current trends, most of the hobos were done in an exotic of some sort, but they were all the same familiar, triangular shape that all of us probably have somewhere in our closets from a few years back. I would have liked to see a larger variety and more of the compact exotic clutches that graced a few model’s hands, but as it is, the collection makes me wonder if we’re going to see a shape-shift in the handbag market anytime soon.

Designing for kids is all the rage lately. Brands who haven’t had children’s lines in the past are all lining up to expand into the marketplace, with Lanvin in particular launching a much-lauded collection for tots in the past few months. Which, naturally, brings about lots of questions about what role luxury goods should have in the lives of kids.

I’m not here to tell anyone how to spend their money (well, actually, I guess that is part of my job), but things like the Gucci Zoo Children’s Bag make me a little uneasy. Part of my love of designer bags came as a result of my parents’ insistence that I save my own money to buy my first one when I was in high school; working toward being able to afford a special item that you want is a great lesson for children, no matter the tax brackets of their parents.

Of course, it’s still fully possible to teach your kids that lesson and still buy them expensive things from time to time, and the absence of designer handbags marketed to kids doesn’t necessarily meant that parents aren’t still going to buy regular luxury bags for their kids. But something about the idea of marketing a handbag to a demographic that doesn’t have a wallet, keys or cell phone to carry just seems extra cynical to me, not to mention fundamentally different than buying a young girl a little Lanvin dress for a formal event, where the purchase would fullfil the exact same purpose for the child as a Lanvin dress would for a grown woman. Handbags are functional, at their core, and telling a little girl with nothing to carry that she needs to have one (and that her mom needs to spend hundreds of dollars on it) seems like the worst kind of consumerism.

The fact that Gucci’s kids bag is half covered in logos makes me even more reticent to endorse its existence; what exactly does that teach to a five-year-old? If you’d like to teach your daughter to value nice things, wouldn’t a nondescript bag made out of fine leather be a better choice than $500 worth of logos with a pig face on one end? There’s plenty of time for children to learn those other lessons later, one would think.

Gucci can make whatever bags it feels like making, market them to whomever it wishes and reap whatever profits may or not come its way. Similarly, people will spend their incomes how they see fit. I merely hope that those who have the means to give their kids everything realize that it may not always be the wise thing to do so.

What say you? Would you buy a designer logo bag for your elementary school-aged child?

You can buy the bag pictured via Gucci.com for $495.

Clothes may get all the love on the runways and in magazine editorials, but when it comes to keeping a business profitable, handbags, shoes and accessories are a company’s bread and butter. Because of increased season-to-season durability and few to no issues with fit, the audience for those items is far broader than it would be for a cocktail dress from the same collection. Brands know this, which is why bags and other accessories always feature so prominently in their advertising.

Gucci’s Fall 2011 ad campaign, shot by photography duo Merte & Marcus, shows just how well-acquainted the Italian brand is with the importance of bags, shoes and eyewear. Only a couple of the dozen shots feature ready-to-wear clothing by itself; all the rest shift their focus to the real objects of desire. Just as it should be. The rest of the shots, after the jump.

Images via Fashionologie

I remember a couple of seasons ago when Louis Vuitton debuted detachable fox tails on the Spring 2010 runway and everyone threw a fit over how silly and tacky and unreasonable they were. Well, it’s a year and a half later and now it looks like Vuitton and Marc Jacobs were, once again, more than a full calendar year ahead of the curve. It’s gotten to the point that I don’t doubt the brand’s vision anymore; if Vuitton produces a bag I don’t like, I just assume that I’m not yet advanced enough to understand its brilliance.

And that may have been the case, if the industry’s sudden embrace of fox tail accouterments is any indication. Both Gucci and Henry Beguelin have produced bags adorned with tails (or tail-like furballs) for Fall 2011, and Gucci will sell you a loose tail charm to add to any bag in your collection as well. Suddenly Louis Vuitton seems like it was on to something. Would you wear this trend? What if the “fox tail” were faux? Mostly, I’m jealous that Megs picked up one of the hot pink Vuitton charms a few seasons back and I didn’t. Also, if any of you guys see a faux option out there, let us know.

Henry Beguelin Croc-Embossed Tote with Fox Charm, $1645 via Neiman Marcus

Gucci Smilla Top Handle, $5200 via Neiman Marcus

Henry Beguelin Fox Detailed Tote, $1520 via Neiman Marcus

Gucci Fur Charm, $590 via Neiman Marcus