As luxury shoppers, we grapple regularly with decisions of how much we’re willing to pay and what we’re willing to pay for. $2000 for a leather bag? Maybe. $2000 for python? Seems more reasonable. $2000 for canvas? Not unless it’s Louis Vuitton and you’re already a huge fan of the brand.

But everyone’s shopping agenda is clearly relative to their income and lifestyle, and being comfortable and happy with one’s own purchases should be the chief goal. A “reasonable” price means something different for everyone.

That being said, I’m sure someone out there has purchased the Lanvin Dice Charm Key Ring at some point in the past, but for the $380 asking price, I’m not sure how anyone could be satisfied with what they’re getting for their money.

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I was really hoping to have more to report with the release of more Balmain Handbags to the public, but unfortunately, it looks like they’re sticking with the uninspired messenger bag style that we first saw with the Balmain Crystal Leopard Suede Bag.

Balmain is such an interesting, trend-setting line that I’m disappointed that they didn’t choose to do more with their handbags. This is just their first effort, though, so maybe we can expect more in the future. Buy through Net-a-Porter for $1915-$3925.

As a person with a Questionable Taste Level, I nearly peed myself when I realized that our designers were charged with creating a Bob Mackie-style getup for Christina Aguilera this week. This week’s episode of Project Runway was called Sequins, Feathers and Fur, Oh My!” and, well, YES. EXACTLY.

I was kind of disappointed that there were no other twists to the challenge and that they were simply given $300 to buy enough sequins to kill a pony and told to make something as shiny as possible, but I have such a deep and abiding love for the kinds of ridiculousness that they were charged with making that, ya know, I’m kind of okay with it.

But fantastical tackiness is not the only thing we got this week: we were also given a long-awaited win, a surprise elimination and the anointing of a new lead villain. Move over, Nicolas.

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In my region of the country, we usually get a nice, gentle transition from summer to fall, and the weather is generally mild until the holidays. This year, that’s not the case: one day it was 80 degrees, the next day it was 50, and I’ve had to pull out my winter clothes a lot earlier than I ever have in recent memory. And with that comes one of my favorite vestiges of cold weather: my much-loved but widely reviled UGG boots.

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Sighted tonight in the cold rain, New York City, 5th Avenue, Bergdorf Goodman. Even though it’s just a prop, it’s worth noticing.

How one could not notice it, is the question.

Along with the arrival of fall comes a more practical attitude to dressing. Gone are the easy breezy casual days of summer when I could simply throw on a sundress and sandals. With the arrival of Autumn comes back-to-school, crisp cool weather and a more hectic schedule.

Now that my daughter is in pre-school I find I have to carry many more items while we rush out the door in the morning. I need a practical stylish tote with plenty of room for snacks; hand wipes and sippy cups. A chic and roomy brown leather tote will perfectly match my chunky cashmere sweaters and Burberry trench.

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Ya know, when Nene originally posed the idea of going to Athens on Real Housewives of Atlanta, I naturally assumed that the editors would take the “Athens is the ghetto” editing angle since, well, that seemed natural, considering Nene. Surprise, surprise! They got all creative on us and took the “Athens is the woods! Look at the trailer park!” angle.

In reality, Athens is a college town chock full of upper-middle-class twenty-somethings from the Atlanta suburbs and the bars they love, but I guess that didn’t work as a story arc for the producers at Bravo, so they took footage of some trailers next to the highway outside of town and pretended like that was the hardscrabble beginning from which Nene was able to pull herself up by starring in a reality TV show. Nice try on making Nene’s upbringing more interesting, producers! But you can’t fool someone that actually lives there. I’m on to you.

And for all of those that were hoping for the “Nene is from the ghetto” angle, don’t worry, we got that later! And, really, that apartment complex WAS in the ghetto. And we also got a super morbid and sad engagement party, wig shenanigans, a peek at She by Sheree and a meeting with Nene’s real father.

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Call me crazy, but I can kind of see what Chloe was going for here. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think they accomplished it, but I think I know where they were headed.

See, there’s these people called “hipsters.” They’re the ones that have been wearing skinny jeans since 2003, and Wayfarers as well. They shop for lamé leggings at American Apparel and live in Brooklyn (or Silverlake or East Atlanta or any other number of enclaves) and are responsible for a lot of music, most of it terrible but some of it reasonably good. They also wear some ridiculous accessories and handbags, most of them vintage, and most of them looking strangely like the Chloe Polka Dots Leather bag.

And since these hipster people can be thanked as either the starters or early adopters of a lot of what we see going on in fashion today, I can’t blame Chloe for giving them a nod. The thing about borrowing from hipsters, though, is that you have to be very careful about what you take and how you interpret it, and this particular bag is probably a bit too far over the line to be successful. It’s kind of cute as a novelty piece, but as a bag for a serious purse lover, I don’t think it measures up. Buy through Net-a-Porter for $1450.

Well, first, it has to be said. Taylor Momsen is approximately 16 years old, and this look is perhaps a tad old for her. She could probably be wearing things that are slightly longer, and eye makeup that’s slightly less…well, just slightly less.

But I kind of love her for dressing like this, truth be told. This is how every girl that ever bought a Joy Division album desperately wanted to dress in high school (including yours truly…), and almost none of us ever got the opportunity. I didn’t because I was on debate team and bleach-blond extensions and a whole pencil worth of eyeliner probably would have made me look unprofessional at tournaments. That, and I don’t think my mom would have bought me leather short shorts. But a girl can dream, I suppose.

But obviously, we’re here to talk about Taylor’s bag, the Versace Metal Frame Satchel. We’ve spoken about this bag before, but it’s hard to get a sense of something when you can’t see it carried. Two things struck me this bag after I saw the pictures – it’s a lot smaller than I expected it to be (it’s not nearly the size of a Stam, to which I originally compared the structure) and I like it just as much as I did previously.

It’s legitimately a nice-looking bag, which is not always Versace’s strong suit, and for that I’m excited. The price, however, is still thoroughly unexciting. Buy through Nordstrom for $3995.

It looks like Christian Louboutin might finally be getting the hang of this whole handbag thing, finally. Christian, if you’re out there: it’s perfectly fine to do your best bag work right now in clutches. Once you start producing reliably in that arena, we can move on to bigger bags and concepts.

I believe in you, really I do, despite the fact that I’ve criticized many of your bags in the past (love your shoes though, natch). The Christian Louboutin Loubiday Nappa Clutch, for example? You’re showing tons of potential.

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