Valentino Bow Hobo

In stark contrast to my enthusiasm for embellishment of all types (and of the industrial type in particular) for fall and winter, I can’t help but swoon upon seeing the Valentino Bow Hobo. It’s incredibly simple, monochromatic, without external hardware, and conspicuously lacking some of the outer intricacies for which Valentino handbags are so often known. And despite all of that, or perhaps because of it, I think I’m in love.

Of all the bags on display to molest at fine department stores, Valentino bags are my favorite to pick up and feel. The quality of materials used in their bags continues to surprise and delight me, even after eight solid months of writing about handbags for 40 hours per week. And when you combine their obscenely soft leathers with a design so deconstructed, so slouchy, so irresistibly French-looking (despite the fact that the brand itself is Italian), you come up with a bag like this: gorgeous, casually elegant, and not trying too hard in the least. The amount of style contained in this simple hobo clearly adds up to more than the sum of its parts. Buy through Saks for $1895.