There are a lot of things that I love. I love Alexander McQueen. I love black and white patterns. I love challenging design. I love it when function and art collide and something interesting results.

But I don’t love the Alexander McQueen Houndstooth Tote.

I don’t care how hip or insider-y or snobby the Nina Ricci brand has become since handing of the design help to Olivier Theyskens in 2006, I’m not paying $2,700 for the Nina Ricci Calf Tote.

Every fashionista has a line of price ridiculousness which they cannot force themselves to cross, and Theyskens has found mine. Everyone needs a functional black leather tote in their lives, that much I’ll agree with – it’s a wardrobe standard that most people can appreciate, even if fashion (and bags in general) are not a huge part of their lives.

Is the Jimmy Choo Diego Straw Tote new, as it’s “pre-order” status on Saks.com would seemingly indicate? I’ve certainly yet to encounter it, and I check online retailers for new bags every day. And if it is brand new, then why is it just showing up now? August, really? People are surely still taking vacations to the beach now, but hasn’t the time for buying straw bags sort of passed?

It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a Lanvin bag that I wanted to carry everyday. Same for a brown bag – that color just doesn’t jibe well with my mostly black wardrobe, and as a result, I’m not commonly attracted to bags of that color since I know I won’t get much wear out of them. For some reason, though, those two things combine in the Lanvin Amalia Quilted Cabas Tote to make a bag that I’d love to wear.

Despite the beauty of the last Nancy Gonzalez bag that we reviewed, the combination of exotics and non-exotics didn’t exactly inspire all of our commenters. Using multiple materials is difficult to pull off, for sure, but what about using two exotics? Is the whole more than the sum of its parts? I think it is for the Nancy Gonzalez Python/Crocodile Tote.

I both love and hate the Nancy Gonzalez Crocodile Striped Tote. I love it because it is, without a doubt, pretty much gorgeous. The color is listed as tan, which would normally be boring, but the subtle olive green undertones that run through it are enough to make the color something that you don’t see everyday while still maintaining its neutrality.

The Roger Vivier RV Shopping Tote is the perfect example of two handbag design principles that I believe to be true. First, that you don’t need to over-design in order to have an interesting bag. The lines of this tote are incredibly sleek, but the precision shows a great deal of care and thought were placed in to them. The leather-covered semi buckles that form the handle attachments are the perfect finishing touch, and the mirror the buckles that Vivier is so famous for in their shoes.

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a rather critical review of the Derek Lam Elsa Python Clutch with which not everyone agreed. And that’s fine; opinions are like…well, nevermind what they’re like! But there’s no bag upon which everyone will agree, and that’s just the nature of the beast.

But I thought it would be an interesting exercise in criticism to find a bag that does right what that clutch does so wrong: asymmetry.

I’m so split on Prada‘s Fall 2009 collection. I’ve seen some bags from it that look great – a bit boring, but made of nice materials and stylish enough to appeal to a lot of people. And then I’ve seen some bags that are apparently slightly more ‘conceptual,’ and most of those don’t work as well. A new entry on that list is the Prada Velluto Jacquard Tote.

As they say, the devil is in the details. Well, in the world of high-end handbags, sometimes that’s where you can find the design as well. And it’s the details that bring me back to the Gucci Crest Boule Fabric Tote over and over again. We’ve all seen plenty of ho-hum (and some slightly more than ho-hum) canvas totes from this brand over the years; besides their signature horsebit details, it’s probably one of the things for which they’re best known.