Totes

The art of Japanese paper folding takes on a new dimension as a fine detail on origami inspired handbags.

Leather is pushed to the limit as it is folded, stitched and glued into intricate folds. I am fascinated with this trend as I continue to discover more and more handbags with various levels of origami detailing. Above are some of the standout origami handbags spotted recently. Some with more obvious origami details than others.

On the more subtle end of the spectrum I came across the delicate cut and folded corners of the Ferragamo single frame satchel and Nancy Gonzalez tote. The tiny folded and stitched corners add a new dimension and interest upon the already texture laden skins. I love the various tones of cocoa leather/skin. These little cut out shapes and patterns will only continue to look better with age.

Read on!

I’ve written rather mercilessly about Donna Karan handbags over the past few months, so I feel like it’s my duty to also present successful designs from the company when I see them. Which is exactly what the Donna Karan Pleated North-South Tote is - casually elegant, not over-designed, and completely successful.

Because of the thickness of leather, few designers attempt to pleat it, since pleats are predicated on the ability to make sharp creases in a material. It appears as though Karan was able to do that in this case, all without sacrificing the leather’s luxurious, soft look. The entire bag appears to be both functional and chic, mainly because the bag’s design elements are derived from the essential materials used to construct the bag, not from adding extra hardware, seaming, or otherwise-gimmicky doo-dads. It’s a basic bag that also manages to have a lot of style, and it’s light years better than anything else we’ve seen form this designer recently. Well played, Donna Karan. Well, except for the price - still too high for what you get. Buy through Saks for $1495.

Karl Lagerfeld is a fashion guru, a mastermind and creative genius in his own right. I can not imagine what sort of thoughts go through his head. To sit down with Karl Lagerfeld would be a dream come true for most. What has the internet buzzing recently is a handbag Karl Lagerfeld has been seen sporting and it is far from Chanel. Karl Lagerfeld has been spotted carrying a canvas Karl Who? Bag which is designed by Naco Paris. Fun fact, Naco Paris won a court case against Chanel over the use of the Chanel logo. One minute they are in court together and the next Karl Lagerfeld is wearing a Naco Paris design and not vice versa.

The Karl Who? Bag will be arriving at Colette and is available now through Arty Dandy for 49€

If you’re a regular PurseBlog reader, then you know we’ve covered the Valentino Rose Vertigo Shopper in the past. I gave it a rave back then in a shade of Barbie pink, and I thought it was worth a revisit for fall.

We don’t normally revisit bags, but this bag demonstrates better than any other bag I can think of how the change of a color can change a bag’s entire look. In hot pink, the bag was like something Elle Woods would wear in Legally Blonde - flamboyant, over-the-top, and ultra girly. When you take the exact same bag with the same sumptuous leather and change it to a medium grey, though, the bag’s mood changes completely. It’s still utterly fabulous, but the effect is very different. Instead of being girly and glam, the bag is edgy and hip, which would appeal to an entirely different consumer. Plus, the wonderful grey would look amazing with jeans and a sleek sweater when cold weather arrives since the color gives the bag a more casual profile. How the bag differs from one color to the next is a reminder to us all how much just one thing can change a bag’s entire appeal. Buy through Nordstrom for $2395.

In all honesty, the Chloe Paddington is probably why I’m here today. It was the first designer handbag to totally capture my attention when I started to become interested in bags circa 2005, and although I never had the funds to buy one back then, I searched eBay daily, hoping for a good deal on my elusive cream-colored Paddy. And I wasn’t the only one that caught the Paddington fever - fashion magazines dubbed it the fastest-selling bag in history and our Purse Forum, then in its infancy, talked non-stop of ways to acquire one.

And now, approximately four years later, I saw a Paddington on Nordstrom’s website today and it got me thinking - how does the purse world feel about this historic handbag a few years down the road from its peak popularity?

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Jimmy Choo is another of the major designers whose fall designs have started to trickle out a bit sooner than some of their brethren. And, from a public relations standpoint, it might have been a great idea for them to arrive a little early. I feel like we’ve all been looking at basically the same group of handbags on every website for the past few months - first at full price, now on sale. And I’ve got some fatigue of those designs, even at their newly lowered prices. I want something new.

And the Jimmy Choo Odette Tote is definitely something new, both for us and for the good folks at Choo. It’s decidedly more “biker” than any of their bags I’ve seen so far, what with the black pebbled leather and silver-hardware harness that stretches down the sides of the bag from the handle attachment in the front (can’t see it in this picture, but I promise it’s there! And it’s cool). I’m usually look at pebbled leather rather sneeringly, but here, I like it and it goes well with the industrial theme. It also doesn’t seem to sacrifice the bag’s slouch, as pebbling so often does, and a good bit of slouch is oh so important in my life. Buy through Saks for $2095.

Forget everything I said recently about how bad things come in threes and that means that there would soon be another bad Valentino bag for me to snark on soon. I have never been more utterly and profoundly wrong on this blog before, at least not that I can remember, because I can’t help but drool all over the Valentino Kaleidscope Stone Tote. Who needs a man - I love this bag so much that I would gladly cuddle with it at night instead.

I fully realize that some of you may look at this thing and think that this is indeed the completion of the trio of bad Valentino purses that I had foretold, but hear me out on this. If all of the sewn-on rhinestones were the same color or the same shape, then I’d be ready to dismiss it a tacky and cheap-looking. But the subtlety of the ombre color change and the seemingly random variance in stone shape (but not size, so that they look somewhat uniform) gives this bag a level of sophistication that perfectly balances its over-the-top shine. I love a statement bag more than anything else in fashion, and this one might rank as one of my all-time favorites. Buy through Neiman Marcus for $2995.

Sometimes, if the material that a designer uses is face-smackingly beautiful, the design doesn’t have to be anything more than basic and functional. Do one thing really right, and it’s ok if the other elements of the design aren’t as attention-getting. That seems to be the guiding principle behind the Marc Jacobs Outsider Tote, which uses a stunning color and gorgeously glazed leather to make up for the fact the bag itself is fairly simple.

I don’t even like glazed leather, but for some reason, I can’t take my eyes off of it here. Purple is, unabashedly, my all-time favorite bag color and more versatile than you’d think when used as a neutral, and the folks at Marc Jacobs have used it to capture my imagination and lure me in. This is one of the first fall offerings to surface, and wouldn’t it look great with a charcoal grey wool coat and dark denim stuffed into vintage-looking leather boots? A bag with such a vibrant but winter-appropriate color is essential when the weather gets cold and clothing colors get dark, and although the color will remain warm for some time, it’s never too soon to start planning for fall. Buy through Nordstrom for $925.

I immediately thought of Indiana Jones (Jane?) when I saw this convertible tote. Not him, really, but his rugged style- he always looks as though he’s ready to jump off a green army truck into some desert to fight some bad guys. Anyways, that is what I thought of while looking at this Jerome Dreyfuss Didier Convertible Backpack/Tote. There are both good and bad aspects to this bag.

I switched from carrying a backpack to using a tote for books when I went to college (late, I know) and I still remember how much lighter my load seemed in a backpack. This bag provides that functionality. Not carrying much? Use it at a tote. Suddenly you have to bring your computer and a bunch of books and papers across town? Simple, use it as a backpack. But on the down side, it’s Indiana Jones-y (not in a cute rugged kind of way, but in a real rugged kind of way). And unless you’re rockin’ that kind of safari attire, I think this looks a little rough to wear with summer wedges. Study abroad in Egypt, perhaps? Was $1095, but get it now through ShopBop for $766.50.

One of the things I hate most in life is having to have a joke explained to me. Usually, I’m one of the jerks that will just laugh right along and pretend that I’m brilliant and that I got it, and then Google whatever reference it was that I didn’t understand later (if I remember, which usually, I don’t. So I stay in ignorance). The deal with writing for an audience, though, is that if you don’t get the joke, then you can’t really pretend you do and write about a supposedly funny bag anyway.

The biggest problem I’m having with the Anya Hindmarch Meat and Poultry Tote, though, is that I’m not entirely sure that there’s a joke in the first place. I feel like there’s some sort of humorous intent with the sizing of the roosters and the meat/poultry dichotomy, but I’m not entirely sure. I could be entirely wrong, maybe the designer just thinks that multisized roosters are cute, and maybe I’m the only one left wondering if there’s some sort of clever joke that’s being told here. But if you SEE the clever joke, for God’s sake, explain it to me. It’s driving me insane. Buy through Net-a-Porter for $98.