Karl Lagerfeld’s aptly named Karl “masstige” (that’s the portmanteau meant to denote almost-luxury items at a relatively-not-terrible price) line debuted at Net-a-Porter to much fanfare and hype on Wednesday, and I do have to admit that there were a few items I considered picked up: the faux leather pleated skirt, sequined collar, leather moto gloves, silver high-tops…okay, maybe there were more than a few. I like black, just like Kaiser Karl. But what of the handbags? And what of that slightly batty video of Karl interviewing himself, which we have provided for you after the jump? It’s Friday, after all.

The collection included a couple of black leather bags, none of which were of particular note based on their design and price points. What I did kind of enjoy, however, was these two canvas totes, both bearing the visage of Karl himself. At a price point of $25 and featuring drawings of Karl (on in profile, one from the back) on both sides, it’s easy to guess why the Karl Printed Canvas Shopper sold out immediately. If you prefer your Karl a little more abstract (and slightly more spendy), the Karl Large Printed Canvas Tote might be more up your alley if you have $135 to throw toward what is essentially a novelty. It’s a KARL LAGERFELD novelty, though, so that’s something.

And speaking of novel, among the seemingly endless media materials for this launch is this gem of a video from Net-a-Porter, in which Karl Lagerfeld sits across from himself and conducts an interview. With himself. I’d be perfectly content if Karl retired from fashion forever and spent his days making YouTube videos, honestly.

Similarly, when you consider a grocery bag, you probably have one material very clearly in mind – thin plastic, usually white or beige. The Maison Martin Margiela Studded Leather Grocery Bag, on the other hand, takes the expected shape and turns it totally luxurious with black leather and studs.

Thankfully, this incredibly expensive take on the grocery bag doesn’t seem intended to actually carry groceries, as some triple-digit bags of a similar shape seem intended to do. Instead, it’s a thoroughly modern design that takes a wink at another kind of bag that we all carry with great regularity but few of us every think about. Not only that, but because grocery bags are a little piece of everyday functional design that we take for granted, odds are that this bag would be pretty easy to carry. It may not fit everyone’s style, but for Margiela fans, this would be a pretty sound purchase. Buy through ShopBop for $1440.

First Hermes (and then no more Hermes because they got sued), then Chanel and now Balenciaga – tote company Thursday Friday seems like it won’t be satisfied until every iconic handbag under the sun (except any made by Hermes because, well, you know…) has been immortalized on its Thursday Friday Together Tote Bag. This one, naturally, is called the “Moto.” Clever.

I’ve heard no news of a lawsuit against Thursday Friday for its Chanel tote, perhaps because even though it was clearly meant to depict a Chanel bag, there was no outright branding in the photo – it lacked the interlocking C closure or the word “Chanel” anywhere on the tote. If that’s why the brand hasn’t tried to interfere, then perhaps Balenciaga is out of luck if it wanted to stop production of this bag as well; despite the signature hardware and design, there’s no explicit branding on the outside of a Balenciaga Motorcycle Bag.

Come to think of it, that’s probably why we haven’t seen a Louis Vuitton version of this tote – not only is LVMH the most litigious of all the luxury conglomerates, but the most universally recognizable Vuitton bags are all in monogram canvas, the reproduction of which would make a lawsuit a veritable slam dunk. Has your opinion of these bags softened at all? Mine has a bit, if only because they seem to pretty clearly be going nowhere. Were you a fan from the beginning? Are you still appalled? Let us know, or if you so choose, you can pick up one of these bags via ThuFri.com for $35-$95, depending on size.

Today’s start to feel a little bit like Groundhog Day, isn’t it? A few hours ago, we brought to you a story about Louis Vuitton suing a media company for violating its trademarks, and now we have news of a company that thinks it’s a good idea to print the visage of an Hermes Birkin on a canvas bag: the V73 Canvas Printed Tote. The day’s handbag news is downright retro.

For those who missed it, Thursday Friday already had this bright idea, and although the number of people who I still see carrying them in New York City would indicate that it definitely hit one something that people were interested in, it didn’t end well. Hermes sued them for trademark infringement, the lawsuit was settled privately and the bags are no longer available. (Well, at least not with an Hermes print – Thursday Friday moved along to Chanel recently.)

What V73 has used seems to be more of an artistic rendering than a straight-up photo like that used by Thursday Friday, but other than that, the concept is exactly the same and I’m betting that Hermes’ legal department will react similarly and eventually get a similar settlement. If you’d like to own a tote like this, I’d urge you to look for a secondhand Thursday Friday version instead – although the appearance of the leather grain on this version is pretty cool, the price is almost three times what the original version (the original copy? This is so…Baudrillardian) sold for. Buy through Luisa Via Roma for $265.

I will admit to not fully understanding how the Marc Jacobs website works (People kept saying that they were having a 70% off sale yesterday but everything looked like it was full priced to me? What?), and the fact that Jacobs is using it to sell Olympia Le-Tan Book Clutches is just another thing about it that confuses me. I can’t think of another major high-end brand that sells things that aren’t actually its own products on its website.

Which means that as soon as I saw the clutches, I was ready to write a post about how Jacobs was the latest designer to jump on the book clutch bandwagon, but instead, it looks like the brand is using its huge reach to support an independent designer. Kind of a refreshing move, right?

Olympia was the originator of the book-clutch concept, and her items are made in small batches at the company’s Paris studio. Le-Tan tends to choose edgier or darker works than the equally well-known Kate Spade book clutches, and instead of a laminated finish, these clutches are embroidered. Each of these titles comes in limited runs of 16 pieces, so if you have the cash and any of these books are an old favorite (AHEM, TRUMAN CAPOTE), think about picking one up as a Christmas present from you, to you. Buy through Marc Jacobs for $1500.

Pre-Fall 2011 shows and presentations are going on right now, so odds are that this bag will be hitting stores with those collections in a few months. I have precious little other information – price and availability are still a mystery, but with the normally elevated prices for fur bags and the astronomical $34,000 price tag for The Row’s Alligator Backpack, I’d suspect a price in excess of $20,000. Why, you ask? I’m just picking random numbers that seem excessively high, which seems to be The Row’s chosen handbag pricing strategy, even for something that looks as ill-advised as this bag. (Say what you want about the prices of The Row’s other bags, they were all immaculately designed. This one? Not so much.) Care to enter a guess? Check out the full-size picture, after the jump.

Image via Amanda Brooks’ Twitter account

Everyone is familiar with the plastic bags that the Cast of Vices Corner Store Leather Totes mimic, but as I’ve come to learn over my first six months in Manhattan, New Yorkers have have an even deeper connection to these little plastic totes. New York’s healthy population of bodegas, delis and mom-and-pop takeout joints keeps a steady stream of these bags flowing into use in the city, and where suburbanites might find themselves using a Target or Kroger bag to line their bathroom waste baskets or carry their lunches to work, in New York, the odds are that it’ll be one of these generic designs instead. (Or a Duane Reade bag, but I try to pretend Duane Reade doesn’t exist.)

I’m willing to bet that people living in other urban areas have a similar experience, which makes these leather versions (down to the openings in the handles so that they can be racked for quick dispensing) all the more familiar and clever. The embossed black leather give the remade design a decided punk aesthetic, which means that I would absolutely carry one of these bags, even if they are a novelty. I’m just not sure exactly how much I’d pay for one, but if the leather’s as thick and soft as it looks in these photos, then the price isn’t necessarily unfair. Buy the “thank you” or “smiley face” versions through ShopBop for $240 each.