As the holiday party season starts to get into full swing, the question of what to wear hangs heavy in the minds of almost all party-goers. Particularly if the festivities are office-related, you might not want to wear things that are too obviously showy or expensive. Workplaces breed resentment, and in most industries, being seen as flaunting one’s wealth can be looked at as gauche.

That doesn’t necessarily mean you have to shy away from a glitzy little holiday clutch, though; you just have to find a way to do the look in an unexpected and fun way. The Rafe New York Erin Clutch provides precisely that opportunity: it’s little and sparkly, but it’s not over-the-top or obviously a designer bag. (more…)

There’s no metallic like a dark metallic. Light silver and gold can look cheap and plasticky even on the best leather, but when shades of dark bronze and gunmetal are involved, the end result is almost always incredibly chic. Embossed snakeskin tends to look tacky when combined with metallics in particular, but the Whiting & Davis Snake-Embossed Leather and Metal Mesh Clutch pulls off the look with considerable style. (more…)

Unless you live and party in the most fashion-forward part of a very fashionable city, it’s likely that you see a lot of very similar outfits when you go out at night. Heavy reliance on little black dresses and little black clutches is a rut into which we all fall from time to time, particularly in the awkward season-changing parts of the year when we’re sick of all of our warm-weather clothes but cold-weather dressing hasn’t quite arrived yet. But don’t forget, ladies, you have options. (more…)

Usually leather gimmicks are really not my thing, but we all divert from our traditional taste every now and then. Normally, I like to see the materials that a bag is made of without pretense or clever trickery altering their quality, since I suspect that that is how some designers get away with cutting corners and using mediocre leather.

I kind of like the gimmick that they used on the Tano Leave the Light On Shoulder Bag, though. The shimmery, distressed effect is just cool enough for me to forget my normal handbag rules. (more…)

Not a lot of news to report on this subject, but I thought you ladies might enjoy seeing a picture of what’s to come from my personal favorite clutch designer – the Celestina Cruise 2010 Collection.

One of Celestina’s strong suits is making clutches out of unexpected, non-traditional materials. Most handbag designers limit themselves to animal skins and maybe some straw or canvas, but beyond that, there’s little creativity. Well, not these folks. They specialize in using materials like wood, shell, and metals to craft incredibly inventive, stylish little bags for every occasion that you could imagine.

Here we have two excellent examples – first, their famous woven box clutch in what appears in be a new bronze iteration (they’ve done sterling silver in the past). The clutch is simultaneously subtle and complicated, a combination that is incredibly hard to achieve. The second clutch appears to be a completely new design, probably made out of sterling silver, which appears to have beautiful, glowing mother of pearl on the bottom. These clutches are typical of the Celestina aesthetic and I can’t wait to see what else they have in store in future collections.

Photo via WWD.com