First, a little bit of background: the PurseBlog team is obsessed with bulldogs. We love dogs in general, of course, but we have a collective fascination with English Bulldogs that leads to us exchanging adorable pictures and videos of the scrunchy-faced little nuggets throughout the work day. (Our favorites will be embeded after the jump, because it’s Monday and we could all use a puppy video, right?) When I first met Megs and Vladi in person after knowing them via the Internet for years, I brought them two bulldog cartoon prints to accompany the big bulldog already on the wall in their apartment.

It’s an interesting time to be in the fashion industry. Spheres of influence are shifting, new markets are opening up, it’s a whole new world out there for brands with the foresight to see opportunities emerging. If you’re a street style fan, you’ve probably noticed a growing number of Russian women who are gaining an increasingly large portion of the spotlight, and that’s no coincidence – newly wealthy Russians, stretching their legs after decades of political and economic isolation, are buying up everything from the priciest of Manhattan real estate to entire Chanel couture collections.

It’s been a big year for the Brits. Everyone’s still obsessed with Kate and Wills more than a year after the royal wedding kept us all up into the wee hours of the morning trying to figure out who would design Kate’s dress. The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, celebrating Elizabeth II’s 60 years on the throne, got huge international media coverage and resulted in what appeared to be a weekend-long party for Londoners.

What better way to start your afternoon than with some weird Chanel items? Chanel Sport has been around for a few years now, and every now and then, the brand adds some items to it to confuse and delight. The items are always in stark black and white, they’re always festooned prominently with the Chanel logo, and they always get plenty of press attention, assuring that Chanel gets exactly what it wanted out of the whole proposition.

We already gave you our picks for which handbag you should be giving mom for Mother’s Day, but what do you get for the mom whose handbag closet is already stacked with every bag she could ever want? Or the mom who would feel guilty accepting a four-figure gift? Or the mom who thinks half the fun of handbags is hunting down the perfect one, stalking her prey and then going in for the kill/purchase herself?

I’ve been staring at the Kate Spade Wicker Armadillo Shoulder Bag for over two days now, trying to figure out what to say about it. Words are my thing, always have been, and usually the problem is that I have too many. In this case, though, I’m having trouble coming up with anything that seems even vaguely appropriate. Except that whoever designed this bag has some, err, cojones.

As I mentioned earlier today, we’re proud to say that you can find some extraordinary things on our PurseForum if you dig around a little bit. The goodies don’t stop at what our members are able to find, though – sometimes what blows me away the most is what a diverse, interesting, talented group we have. From doctors to lawyers to small business-owners, our purse lovers run the gamut and we’re proud to call them all part of our community.