Ladies and…well, mostly ladies, we have a winner. Marchesa has shown the PRETTIEST collection that I have seen in quite a while. In fact, Georgina Chapman may have stuffed her collection full of enough ‘pretty’ to choke a horse. In serious fashion, being described as “pretty” can be somewhat of a backhanded compliment – it implies a lack of innovation and an appeal to the fashion customer’s baser instincts. Pretty doesn’t make headlines. And then again, what we’re seeing here might just be way beyond a simple description of “pretty.” It might be way, way better than that.

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As many of you who read my Fashion Week posts know, I’m a major Marc Jacobs apologist. In my eyes, he can do almost no wrong and his main personal export is fabulousness. So it’s only natural that my huge personal bias towards His Excellency may be clouding my vision when I look at the Marc Jacobs Jeweled Stam Satchel. Because I was doubtful of it at first, but I seem to have somehow convinced myself that it is really fantastic, in a bling-tastic, bedazzled, Liberace sort of way. The bag’s quilts are covered in zillions of light blue Swarovski crystals against a backdrop of dark blue suede (may this be the first suede Stam?) with the traditional gold chain for even more shine. I think we all know that MJ is only continuing to make new versions of the Stam to capitalize on its former status as an It-Bag, but my 2005 black leather version is still one of my favorite bags, so I can’t hate on those that continue to snap them up. This particular wild-n-sparkly version would have to be for a very specific, very bold customer however, given its assumed ability to completely overpower anything else you’re wearing. I give Beyonce two weeks before we see paparazzi photos of her carrying it. Do your thing, girl. Buy through eLuxury for $2350.

The first thought that came to my mind upon viewing Narciso Rodriguez’s Fall 2009 collection was “meh.” He recently lost his financial backing from Liz Claiborne, which is surely enough to shake any designer’s vision, and that seems to be at least part of the problem with Rodriguez’s most recent offerings. He’s known for his sleek, modernistic clothing with little adornment and painstaking attention to fitting a woman’s body. Tailoring is paramount, and that’s certainly not where this collection falls flat. To find out where it falters and see for yourself, make the jump.

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If nothing else, Oscar de la Renta knows his ready-to-wear customers. They are not ladies that have felt serious effects of the recession, unless they were personal friends with Bernie Madoff. They are not ladies that have driven themselves through a fast-food drive-thru in the past several decades. They are not me. Or most of you, probably. They are the traditional “ladies who lunch.” They also may sit on the boards of philanthropic organizations, have silly heiress names (anyone remember Shippy Shipman from Sex and the City?), and actually need ball gowns for practical purposes. De la Renta’s clientele is a rarified group of women whose taste is refined and who demand the sort of classic perfection that only vast amounts of money can buy, unless you happen to extremely handy with a sewing machine. Fall into neither category? Neither do I, so make the jump and live vicariously through the pictures with me.

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Allow me to continue to wax poetic about Marc Jacobs for a moment. In addition to being knock-me-over-with-a-feather brilliant, he might be the hardest working man in fashion. Not only is he the creative director of Louis Vuitton, a huge fashion house in and of itself, but he has multiple brands under his own name that each include clothing, shoes, handbags, and accessories. Anyone that knows the industry knows that he’s obviously not designing every piece of every line himself, but he is the person responsible for holding all of the conflicting ideas about all of these lines and their directions in his head at once. And anyone that saw his Collection show from earlier in the week can attest to the massive difference in direction between that line and his diffusion Marc by Marc Jacobs line. But you’ve got to make the jump to find out why.

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A couple weeks ago we announced our fabulous giveaway partnership with Who What Wear. During the month of February you have the chance to register to win gorgeous Louis Vuitton Luggage over at Who What Wear. We knew this would be a big hit. I mean, who doesn’t love a great giveaway, especially a giveaway where you can win designer luggage? Of course we’ve received plenty of feedback mentioning how excited so many of you are. At the same time, we thought we would give you a couple chances to increase your chance to win. After you’ve registered over at Who What Wear, you can continue to enter your friends email addresses on that site. There is increase your chance number one. Now for your second chance – today, Thursday, February 19th (comments open at 9am EST Thursday, February 19th, 2009 and will close at 9am EST Friday, February 20th, 2009) and , enter a comment in the comments section below telling us why you love handbags and why you want to win! It is fun, easy and hey, if nothing else, it’s going to increase your chance to win.

GOOD LUCK!!!
**Note: You must have already registered to win the giveaway. Simply entering a comment below will not register you to win. If you haven’t already, click here to visit Who What Wear and register.

You haven’t seen much of me on Purse Blog in the last few weeks. The coming together of this wedding has been completely and totally all-encompassing and time consuming. But I could not be more excited or thrilled to have our wedding day fast approaching!!!! Our wedding is Friday evening and we have a weekend of events planned for our guests. All of the details are ironed out and we are ready to go.

We will share some details of our wedding afterward, especially my bag of the Big Day shot!!

…So we’re going to the Chapel and we’re gonna get married!

When we began compiling information for the Valentine’s Day features we started to notice a trend. Many of the designers we talked to mentioned that more than anything else, Valentine’s Day is about love. No surprise there, right? At the same time, many designers talked about how love should be spread throughout the year. Since everyone here at Purse Blog definitely agrees with this statement, we thought, why not spread the love a little longer? Enjoy the insight Bryna Nicole shares with us!

Do you have a Valentine this year, if so, who? Yes, my husband of just over a year, Ben McMills.

What did you get your Valentine? Every year I get myself some fun lingerie but its for him too.
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I know we said we were done with our special Valentine’s Day features and I know Valentine’s Day is over. However, we have a couple more awesome mini-interviews to share with you. Today we bring you the uber glamorous Mary Norton!

Valentine’s Day: Hallmark Holiday or Real deal? In my opinion, any time that makes us stop and take a moment to thank and appreciate those who bring us love and joy in our lives is a worthy event. Therefore whether Valentine’s Day has it’s origins from a saint or from a retailer is meaningless to me. What matters is that it reminds me take one day a year to shower with appreciation and love those who give me their love the other 364 days of the year.

What gift would you love for Valentine’s Day this year? If I could have a Valentine’s wish, I would ask for a little cash windfall to take my husband and kids on a fun family vacation.
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Fashion Week can be a hard for us handbag lovers. Because of the placement of photographers at the end of the runway, it’s often difficult to get a halfway decent look at the bags we might be seeing in stores at the end of the summer. Thankfully, though, we’ve rounded up some bag pictures from the Marc Jacobs show after the jump.

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