The fashion industry is always finding new ways to surprise, delight and confuse me (sometimes all at the same time, which might be the case today), but yesterday’s news from Women’s Wear Daily that Target, the suburban bastion of cheap leggings and toilet paper that we all know and love, would soon be moving into the high-end boutique business caught me particularly off guard. We all know Target for its now-discontinued line of Go! International collaborations with up-and-coming designers (although more collabs with established brands, like the one with Jason Wu, are forthcoming), but the megachain’s newest venture, The Shops by Target, takes the idea to the next level. Get ready for some swanky stores-within-stores.

Most of the early articles I read about this launch yesterday seemed to assume that high-end brands like Celine, Yves Saint Laurent and Balenciaga would be part of this collaboration, simply by virtue of their existence on the shelves at The Webster Miami, a luxury clothing boutique and one of the venture’s launch partners. That doesn’t seem to be the case. Instead, The Webster and other high-end retailers in a variety of product categories – Privet House housewares, Cos Bar cosmetics, Polka Dog Bakery pet stuff – will set up shop inside of Target stores for limited six-week runs, with new boutiques being introduced every two to four months.

In keeping with the business model that has made Target gazillions (that’s a business term, folks) of dollars over the past half a decade, the boutiques will offer lower-cost versions of the wares that they stock in their regular stores. It remains to be seen what that means for an operation like The Webster, whose website boasts a large selection of Lanvin, Proenza Schouler and Givenchy handbags. It seems as though the most likely solution will involve the store’s buying or creative team working with Target’s designers to come up with a line that demonstrate’s the store point of view at an attainable price, so if you were hoping for a $99 Balenciaga bag…too bad. A girl can dream, though.

Are you excited for these new collaborations? Who would you like to see debut a collection with Target?

These are the images we’ve been waiting to see for what seems like years (but has actually only been months) – the Jason Wu x Target lookbook is here! And for once, at long last, the handbags that have resulted from this collection aren’t utter crap. Leave it to Mr. Wu to finally do right by the accessories lovers in the audience.

The lookbook, which can be found in its entirety after the jump, features 16 full looks, 10 handbags and three cute square scarves. Some of the bags, like an oatmeal-colored canvas tote, are pretty standard, while a few of them (most notably a cream and black satchel and a north-south tote emblazoned with the image of the little black cat who inspired the collection) are standouts. The best part? Nothing in the collection will retail for more than $49.99. The collection launches at Target stores nationwide on February 5.

We know that Louis Vuitton is willing to sue anyone and everyone in order to make sure that its logo or name isn’t used in any ways of which it doesn’t approve; after all, the company sued Hyundai last year over the brief appearance of a monogrammed basketball in one of its commercials. The ball didn’t even have an “LV” on it, but that didn’t stop Vuitton from filing a trademark infringement complaint against the Korean carmaker. When it comes to trademark issues, LVMH is perhaps more steadfast and humorless than any other company on the planet.

The latest target in the crosshairs of the LVMH legal department is Warner Brothers, the production company behind The Hangover 2. The movie apparently contains some faux luggage that one of the characters refers to as real, which has Vuitton brass none too pleased.

I haven’t seen the movie, but according to Gawker, Zach Galifianakis says at one point, “Careful, this is a Louis Vuitton.” LVMH believes that the line has become a recognizable catchphrase (I feel fairly confident that they’re wrong because I’ve never heard anyone say that, ever, but what do I know?) and that the ensuing notoriety of the scene has caused the brand damage. (I’m also fairly confident that they’re wrong about that too.)

What’s interesting, though, is that Vuitton isn’t claiming that the movie used counterfeit goods. Instead, the lawsuit claims that Warner Brothers used luggage made by a company called Diophy Handbags, which produces those heinous “almost-Vuitton” bags that you see hocked at carts in the mall. For their part, Louis Vuitton also has a pendling lawsuit against Diophy for trademark infringement.

So what do you think – does LVMH have a legitimate case? Should the movie’s production staff have sourced real Louis Vuitton to borrow for the film, which would certainly have been easy to do in Los Angeles? Or should a fictional character in a fictional movie claiming that a prop is made by a brand that didn’t actually make it be a total non-issue? Share your thoughts in the comments.

If you were to ask any handbag lover what the most expensive handbag to ever sell at auction was, I’m pretty sure that we’d all guess the same thing: an Hermes Crocodile Birkin with White Gold & Diamond Hardware. It just makes sense; not only are Hermes bags (and Birkins in particular) notorious for holding their value and doing well at resale, but a crocodile Birkin with diamond-encrusted hardware is one of the most elusive and expensive collector’s items in the world.

When a friend alerted me a few weeks ago that a Dallas auction house was set to put a group of rare Hermes bags on the auction block, I told her than the estimated $80,000 price for the “Hermes Exceptional Collection Shiny Rouge H Porosus Crocodile 30cm Birkin Bag with Solid 18K White Gold & Diamond Hardware” (as the auction house called it) you see above sounded a bit low; I guessed that it would go in the $100,000+ range. That being said, even I am a bit shocked at the price this bag actually sold for earlier this week…

$203,150.

To an anonymous bidder, of course. Women’s Wear Daily reports that this is the most expensive bag ever sold at auction, which is almost comforting – if this were instead a run-of-the-mill price, I’d be concerned. Although because this bag isn’t special beyond the obvious ways – it wasn’t owned by a celebrity, for example – it’s possible that these are merely the numbers we’re going to be seeing for this design in sought-after colors from here on out. Or maybe there’s just an heiress out there who couldn’t restrain herself from this particular shade of red?

Also a part of the auction: a 35cm Matte Brighton Blue Porosus Crocodile Birkin with Palladium hardware, which sold for $113,525 (strikes me as a bit high for no diamonds!), a 35cm Shiny Braise Red Porosus Crocodile Birkin with Palladium hardware for a cool $95,000 and a 30cm Himalayan Crocodile Birkin, also with Palladium, for $80,663.

We have some very exciting new to share on this Friday afternoon! Start at the beginning of next month, you’ll now be able to put your American Express away and use your Visa or MasterCard in Neiman Marcus retail store. If you, like me, have ever felt the slight burn of shame when it comes time to pay for a purchase and you realize that you don’t have your AmEx on you that day, this will surely be good news.

NeimanMarcus.com has long accepted a variety of credit cards, as have Last Call outlet locations, but brick-and-mortar main line stores had resisted coming on board until now. To me, this feels like a long time coming. In a rough economy, why turn down potential sales? Remember: If you need some help being patient until you can shop in stores, NeimanMarcus.com is always open.

Our community PurseForum is teaming up with Rebecca Minkoff in a project the likes of which handbag lovers have never seen before. Starting tomorrow, Monday the 10th of October, PurseForum.com will launch a three-week collaboration that will not only have fans vote on design elements to create an exclusive Rebecca Minkoff bag, but also allow the fans to be an integral part of the design process. This means the finished product will be a new shape and style from the Rebecca Minkoff team that was designed by way of direct user commentary from PurseForum.com members.

The entire three-week process will be hosted on PurseForm.com, so make sure you are a registered member of tPF so you can partake in the voting and design of this bag, which will walk down the runway in February at New York Fashion Week! You can’t tell by this post, but I am seriously jumping out of my seat with excitement over such an amazing project!!

Read all about it on tPF HERE!

I cannot begin to imagine the frustration Joy Gryson and her company must feel over seeing a very similar brand name pop up and cause brand confusion. Many have thought Olivia & Joy is a new offshoot by Joy Gryson, but it is not. Do not be confused, there is absolutely no affiliation, and we wanted to help clear up any confusion that buyers might have.

Joy Gryson is the designer for Gryson bags and Olivia Harris by Joy Gryson bags, both of which have made an impact in the handbag sector. Her contemporary collection, Olivia Harris by Joy Gryson, was unveiled in 2009 and named after her daughter.

Being in the business for a long time, Joy Gryson has worked hard to expand her brand and create her labels. Be advised, there is absolutely no collaboration between Olivia & Joy and Olivia Harris by Joy Gryson. Shop Olivia Harris online.

Denying it is impossible: Even with most of the economy at a standstill, luxury goods continue to boom and the products that make up the marketplace continue to reach higher and higher price points. All of the husbands and boyfriends (not to mention jealous officemates and frienemies) out there who nearly keel over at the price tags on handbags should take a look through the back pages of any major US fashion magazine – accessories are expensive, but clothes are out of this world.

Considering that, it’s no surprise that a recent survey by Bundle and Citi found that Oscar de la Renta’s Madison Avenue flagship is the most expensive store in the country. When cocktail dresses start at more than a thousand dollars and sometimes stretch up into the five figures, it’s not hard to see where the boutique’s $3217 average ticket comes from. Naturally, I have a few theories about these results.

When a survey like this comes out, it can almost always tell you more about the luxury business than meets the eyes, as long as you’re willing to dig a little bit. In this case, the second store on the list, Giorgio Armani’s Madison Avenue flagship, is just as important to my conclusions. What do they have in common? Ready-to-wear business that far outpace their accessories sales.

Think about it: When someone says “Chanel” to me, I think of a bag. The same thing happens with almost any major brand; the bags (and sometimes shoes) are the most recognizable pieces of the brand’s public image to consumers because they have a much wider potential customer base than a $5,000 cocktail dress.

Except when it comes to de la Renta and Armani, that’s not true. Most brands need the revenue from accessories (and cosmetics) to balance out the slim profits that are earned from selling nose-bleedingly expensive clothes to a small stable of customers, but some companies have such a strong name in ready-to-wear (for Armani, I would imagine that menswear – suits in particular – makes a big contribution as a well) that the comparatively modest accessories sales probably push their average sales prices upwards.

In most stores, the opposite is true. I’d be willing to bet that more people go into Prada with the intention of buying nylon handbags or moderately priced small leather goods than people who are shelling out for runway ready-to-wear, but the outrageously luxurious, meticulously detailed suits, cocktail dresses and ball gowns are the things that draw people into Oscar de la Renta. So the next time someone scoffs at you for buying a thousand dollar handbag or $700 pair of shoes, just tell him or her that you’re actually bringing down the average, thankyouverymuch.

The increase – from 20.2% to 21.4% – may seem tiny on its face and to those who haven’t followed the story. In this case, though, context is important. The move comes in the wake of Hermes’ redoubled efforts to block LVMH from gaining additional shares after news that Arnault had quietly acquired a full fifth of Hermes stock without the family’s knowledge shocked the accessories world late last year. Will Arnault and LVMH stop before they own a controlling share in the seemingly boundlessly profitable brand?

That’s the question we’ve been asking all along, of course, and LVMH is only giving us a few crumbs of information here and there. So far, the party line from the company is that it does not want to control Hermes and will not seek representation on the Hermes board, which would be good news with Hermes if it were true. That’s a big “if.”

Bigger lies have been told in the pursuit of profit, and if Bernard Arnault is anything, he’s a stellar businessman who knows an opportunity for growth when he sees one. Hermes has shown double-digit revenue increases year-on-year, and there seems to be no place to go but up. If Arnault sees a way in, not taking it would be throwing away money, and anyone who knows the story of his career knows that it’s not something he’s shown the inclination to do in the past.

This is just speculation, of course – and it’s all speculation at this point, no matter the source, with very few exceptions – but I couldn’t imagine that LVMH is done with Hermes yet. Sure, owning over 20% of a company will make you a lot of money if the company in question is Hermes, but 51%? You guys can do the math on that. I don’t know if Arnault will be able to restraint himself; perhaps more importantly, I don’t know if he even plans to.

Image via Luxuo

And yet, I put my name on a waiting list myself at the beginning of the year in order to wait for the apparent privilege of buying a bag that cost nearly $2,000. Having been in college during the rococo days of the mid-2000s, the opportunity to queue up to buy an It Bag like the original Chloe Paddingtons and Fendi Spy bags passed me by while I stared in envy at the people who were buying their way into the “ungettable get.” Are we headed back there again?

Perhaps this sentiment is unexpected coming from someone whose living is predicated on the lustworthiness of the season’s accessories, but I sure hope we’re not going to see that kind of handbag stampede again. A luxury market where consumers are throwing themselves off financial cliffs in pursuit of the bag of the moment isn’t fun for anyone; it makes popular bags more difficult to find for people who truly love them, and consumers who simply get caught up in the fervor of a so-called must-have end up with a closet full of things that they just couldn’t live without but never really loved. It means dissatisfaction all around, and I like my handbag people to be happy.

And since there’s no group of people on the Internet who is better informed about the intricacies of the accessories business than our readers, I’d like to ask you guys: Is it beginning to feel like 2005 all over again out there? Have you noticed that the bags you want have become harder to find? When was the last time that you put your name on a waiting list for a handbag? Does hearing this kind of talk make you as uneasy as it makes me?