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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I am having one of those moments. I keep staring at the Donna Karan Goatskin Loop Pouch knowing that I have seen something familiar from another designer, knowing that I featured it on Purse Blog previously. For the life of me I can not remember and can not find it when searching. So on a random note, whoever finds what I am talking about gets a virtual cookie!

Back to this Donna Karan pouch. Can I just say that I adore it? Hands free is so integral and having a loop pouch does the trick magnificently. I love the rocker edge given to this bag with the metal zipper. I don’t doubt that the goatskin is amazingly supple as well. Once you slide this on your wrist, you are good to go. Dimensions are 7″W X 8″H X 3″D. I love this design! Come on designers, hop onto the wristlet wagon, it is a fun ride. Buy through Saks for $695.

Oh, it’s so pretty. And so functional. And so every-day usable. And so luxurious. In short, the Chloe Python Marlow Bag? It had me at “hello.”

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We’ve covered the Mulberry Mitzy Hobo before, and we generally try not to repeat bags, but I can’t help but be totally obsessed with the ultra-deep blue cracked finish that Mulberry has debuted for Fall 2009.

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Yves Saint Laurent is loving the chain under leather look for this season. First we saw all the celebs crushing on the YSL Roady. The Roady of choice for many of the celebs and customers alike is the black leather with metal chain insert. And that version of the YSL Roady has a very familiar feel to this YSL bag.

The Yves Saint Laurent Nappa Leather Clutch mixes chunky chain metal hardware with sleek gray leather. There is an optional shoulder strap which is always a nice touch. To go hand held or shoulder strap is the question? Sometimes I like to use the optional shoulder strap as a wristlet handle. I know, so bold and daring. Back to this YSL bag.

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I feel like our little Gossip Girl writers are growing up. For the second (or third?) week in a row, we’ve had a theme. A theme and some narrative symmetry! It’s almost like this is a real TV show that we’re watching here!

In last night’s episode, everyone came clean. It was like a confessional up in this piece, for real. Scott confessed to Rufus and Lily (via Georgina), Lily confessed to Rufus, Vanessa confessed to Dan, Carter confessed to Serena, and Bree confessed to Nate (well, she was sort of…found out. But she came clean. Whatev).

Shall the truth set our Upper East Siders free? Probs not, they’ll all just start lying again next week. If they don’t lie, we don’t have a show. But let’s enjoy a brief moment of honesty and transparency, shall we?

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