Bally isn’t a brand that we often mention here. Sure, they make nice handbags. But so do a lot of people, and in the past, I’ve had a hard time finding Bally handbags that I have something to say about either way. Sometimes ugliness isn’t the worst sin; sometimes, it’s worse to be utterly unremarkable.

What isn’t ugly or unremarkable, though, is the Bally Multi Zip Hobo.

If this bag was made to appeal to anyone in particular, it was made to appeal to someone like me. I like buckles, I like industrial stuff, and I like copious amounts of black leather in whatever texture it may come. And just in case anyone was wondering – no, this does not extrapolate out to my personal life.

But the Jimmy Choo Bardia Shoulder Bag just isn’t doing it for me, and it’s mostly because the whole idea for the bag seems a little bit half-baked.

I’m kind of shocked, really – a Prada leather bag for less than a thousand dollars? At first I wondered if the price was correct, but it hasn’t changed in the couple of weeks that the bag has been on the Saks website, so it must be correct. I doubt this is the brand’s response to the recession – Prada doesn’t seem like the type of brand that intends to acknowledge it at all – but for whatever reason they chose to produce the reasonably priced Prada Vitello Shine Hobo, and I’m pretty pleased with it.

One of my favorite parts of every new handbag season is waiting for the new Balenciaga colors to start hitting stores and websites. They’re my favorite brand and consistently product some of the most vibrant leather colors of any high-end designer. Since their bag shapes are simple and iconic, it lets the ever-changing leather shades take center stage, where some become highly sought-after and collectible.

Under normal circumstances, I hate a gimmicky bag. With a normal designer, the need to make jokes in order to make a bag interesting always makes me think that whoever is behind that brand’s handbags is out of good ideas. The thing with Maison Martin Margiela, though, is that he’s not your average designer. Not by a long shot.

The man has reportedly not been photographed since the 90s, yet he continues to churn out increasingly popular collections of edgy, current clothing and accessories.

Logo bags are kind of five minutes ago, right? They’ve been kind of five minutes ago for a couple of years now. But despite the fact that I’ve never been a big fan of bags with branding all over them, I’ve always had a soft spot for Gucci. I like the pattern that their traditional logo fabric creates, and I like how it looks when it’s embossed into their Guccissima leather.

Well, isn’t this just the ray of sunshine I’ve been looking for! Here in South Florida, we are in the midst of our rainy season. While I have become accustom to afternoon storms, the past week has been full of doom and gloom. Rain in the morning, thunder in the afternoon and a nice combination of the two in the evening.

Just a heads up to all of you who loved the Diane von Furstenberg Stephanie Hobo, it is back! Shop Bop is carrying it in both the large and medium size. I have the large and absolutely positively love it. It can be a tad heavy at times, but this handbag looks entirely different from every other in my closet.

Leave it to Anya Hindmarch to find a way to combine metallics and lots of woven leather without being over-the-top, gaudy, or flashy. That she was able to do it at all is impressive, and that she was able to do it in such a sophisticated, usable way is even more so.

This bag would make a great everyday bag for cold weather – the gold wicker-weave pattern is beautiful and would coordinate with virtually any outfit, and the black trim looks supple and soft.

I’ve mentioned this phenomenon both here and on PurseBlog Savvy, and I’m surprised that I haven’t seen it written about on many other fashion websites, but the Fall handbag collections are making it obvious: black is back. Big black bags (BBBs), small black bags, any kind of black bags – they’re everywhere and in a variety of looks. Industrial details seem to be the prevailing trend among them, though, and all I can say to that is HALLELUJAH.