Satchel Bags (Page 10)

It’s here, it’s here, IT’S HERE!!!! The Alexander Wang Coco Duffel has decided to finally, FINALLY grace us with its presence in online stores after months of rabid anticipation from handbag enthusiasts. The bag first came to our attention months and months ago when one of its first iterations was worn repeatedly by Mary-Kate Olsen, who had obviously been gifted with a very, very early version of the bag by the designer.

And it was a brilliant move on Alexander Wang‘s part – I can’t remember another bag that’s been so desperately hunted since the It-Bag heyday of Fall 2005. It disappears online virtually as soon as it’s posted, so the ShopBop link I’m about to give you may not work when you click on it. If you want the bag, though, bookmark it – that’s where you’ll be able to find it when the store restocks, as they have several times in the past day or two.

As far as the bag’s design goes, I adore it – the leather is plush and soft-looking with a ton of texture and the multitudes of gold studs that cover the bottom are both hilariously irreverent and really cool-looking. It’s not for everyone, by any stretch of the imagination, but bags with a lot of style and personality never are. Plus, for an It-Bag, the price is really reasonable; he could be charging twice as much and a lot of people would still be clamoring for it. Buy through ShopBop for $850.

I make a lot of fun of Versace, and it’s for a lot of good reasons. They make largely unattractive handbags in weird shapes and with odd stuff stuck to them, and then they charge prices so high that they verge on insulting. They’re not a brand that’s famous for their quality handbags, nor are they widely carried by tastemakers or celebrities, so it’s hard to say why they think they can get away with such ridiculous designs and pricing. They end up in the sale section a lot.

And maybe, just maybe, someone at Versace has been paying attention, because the Versace Croc Embossed Satchel is decidedly unoffensive. It’s not the best bag I’ve ever seen, but it has a structure that subscribes subtly to the recent origami bag trend without being unnecessarily complicated. The structure is classic Versace, but it lacks the obvious, gaudy branding and enormous, shiny gold hardware that have characterized so many of the brand’s less-successful bag ideas. The color is gorgeous, as is the variation of the croc-stamped leather, and it all comes together in a reasonable, tasteful way. The best part, though, is the price. It’s still too high, but compared to some of the brand’s recent price points, it’s fairly unoffensive. Buy through Nordstrom for $1770.

I said not too long ago that I was experiencing some ennui in regards to the Marc Jacobs Stam, but as it turns out, I was wrong. That’s right, I’m a big, fat liar. Because I’m in love with the Stam again, and this time it’s because of the Marc Jacobs Stardust Stam. If this is an It-Bag gone wrong, then I don’t want to be right.

Not only do I love the name (it reminds me of Las Vegas, a city which I am newly obsessed with thanks to The Hangover), but the updates are subtle enough to retain the charm of the original Stam while still being interesting enough to catch the eye of any handbag fan that’s familiar with the line. Studs are a somewhat trendy bag accent, but the ones here are small enough to not overpower an already iconic design. Plus, there’s the color – a beautiful, bright teal that will add a pop of color to any drab winter outfit. I’m usually not much for gold hardware, but I still think that it’s the only way to go with the Stam, and the combination here is beautiful. Buy through Nordstrom for $1450.

No matter how much it goes in and out of style, my dedication to animal print persists. In the hands of unskillful designers, it can often go sadly awry, but when done correctly, I enjoy it so thoroughly.

And some may disagree, but I think the Yves Saint Lauren Animal Print Muse II is done absolutely right. In order to temper a strong statement like leopard, it’s important to keep a bag’s other lines and features sleek and clean, which is exactly what the folks at Yves Saint Laurent did. The Muse II was a fabulous candidate for the animal print treatment because of both its inherent simplicity of design and also its status as a must-have It Bag. That way, if you don’t like the animal print, there are plenty of other versions available. And if you do, not only is it an It Bag, but it’s one that everyone who sees you will notice immediately. For better or for worse. But I think it’s for better. Buy through Net-a-Porter for $2295.

Ask anyone that knows me (including Megs and Vlad) – I’ve never had much of a problem forming an opinion. About pretty much anything, in fact. I was captain of the debate team in high school. I took lots of comparative lit classes in college because their assignments usually involved forming an opinion on a book and then arguing it in a paper. My life is exceedingly wordy and over-articulated. I talk too much.

Having said all of that, I can’t decide for the life of me what I think about the Yves Saint Laurent Y-Bow Suefe Bowler. I’m in a Yves Saint Laurent mood lately, partly because I like the way that they unconventionally combine materials and textures in some of their recent bags. I like that they stamped suede to look like lizard skin here, it’s a technique that most designers wouldn’t use in this combination. I also think that I might like the little bow ends coming out of each side, but I’m not sure. It might not work, and I have no idea how to decide if it does or not. As with the texture, I like that it’s unexpected, but instead of doing something interesting with the bag’s form or structure, it’s just a stuck-on decoration to a basic satchel. But maybe I’m okay with that – I just can’t decide. Buy through Neiman Marcus for $1695.

According to a graphic design professor I had in college, the vast majority of the US population chooses blue as their favorite color, and it’s relatively uncommon to find someone that chooses differently. Before she shared this factoid with us, she went around the room and asked everyone in the twenty-person class what color they liked best. Indeed, 19 people said blue. I was the lone holdout – my favorite color has been red for a long, long time (when I was very little, it was black). And not just any red – more specifically, scarlet. Not quite dark enough to be maroon, but darker and richer than a fire engine. I am endlessly in search of bags (and anything else) that fit this criteria, and in my experience, a good red bag is unfortunately hard to find.

Which is why I was so pleased to see the brand new Burberry Leather Satchel. Because of the nature of red pigmentation, in can be really difficult to get a rich color on leather and red bags often lack the pop that I desire. Not so with this purse, though – the red is deep and lovely (patent or glazed red bags usually have better luck getting this effect) and the bag’s design is simple enough to show off the great color. The hardware details are also great, but not overdone – the chain and the handle attachment are both subtly imprinted with Burberry’s signature check pattern. Buy through Nordstrom for $895.

If the old adage that bad things come in threes is to be believed, then there is one more terrible Valentino bag out there that’s I’m going to have to hate on before the brand returns to it’s normally fabulous self. First, a few days ago, there was the Valentino Petale Satchel, which was too squished and not the right color. There was also the Valentino Bow Shopping Tote that Anna didn’t like, but I’m not counting it in my personal list of unfortunate bags since I didn’t write about it (although perhaps it does count cosmically, I don’t know if the powers that be consider bylines when dealing with triads of bad bags). Regardless, my next entry in my list of three is the Valentino Houndstooth Fleur Bag.

I think I understand what they were trying to accomplish here (theoretically, that would be a bag that Charlotte from Sex and the City would wear with some pearls), but the combination of the tightly wound patent leather flowers and the woven nylon houndstooth (I died a little bit typing that) fabric is not luxurious in the least. In fact, it strikes me as almost costume-y, although I’m not sure what costume it would go with…maybe if you’re going as a WASP this Halloween. Buy through Nordstrom for $1395.