Zagliani is known for injecting their handbags with silicone to add a super buttery feel to the bags. This is true of their python and crocodile bags. But what would make a suede bag from this line special?

I would assume the suede is super soft, as the brand continues to strive to be known for the way they finish their bags. But suede is suede. Soft to the touch but hard to care for as it shows wear and gets dirty easily. I am trying to decide my thoughts on the Zagliani Suede One Handle Bag.

The actual design of the bag has a very Hermes/Fendi look. I typically prefer two handles on my bags, not one like this Zagliani bag has. However I do find the bag to have a laid back downtown feel. There is a pouch pocket with a twist fastening that sits in the front and deep pockets that sit at the back of the lining. The brand is known for their super soft python and crocodile, so I wonder if their suede is unbelievably soft as well. Buy through Browns for $1,764.46

What do you think: Worth the price or over-hyped?

Here at Purse Blog our yearning for more supple leather almost always leads us to Bottega Veneta. We adore the understated simplicity of the designs and can not get enough of the super soft and luxurious leather. When our bank accounts grow to exorbitant levels, we will have our office and homes decked out in Bottega Veneta leather. That is how much we love it.

If you are looking for the most classic design from Bottega Veneta you need to check out the Bottega Veneta Maxi Veneta Hobo. The Veneta is the house staple, a chic hobo that brings together a simple yet timeless look with buttery soft woven leather. Intrecciato, the technique of weaving the leather, is synonymous with the brand.

The Veneta comes in multiple sizes, with the large size being the Maxi. Dimensions are 22″W X 15″H X 2½”D with a 5″ drop. The bag sticks close to your body while draping perfectly off your shoulder. Nothing about this bag is totally out of the box but everything about this bag is perfect. The braid trim finishes off the bag ideally while the sumptuous suede lining is as divine as the outside leather. Our color choice is Ash, a subtle gray color with some taupe. Also available in Bianco (white), Dark Ebano (deep brown), and Truffle (brown with red tones). Buy through Saks for $2,380.

I’m underwhelmed, and I hate being underwhelmed. I’m not a huge fan of Prada’s Fall 2009 offerings, and I’m even less of a fan of Prada Spring 2010. So much so that it kind of makes my head hurt.

Memo to the fashion industry: no one wants clear vinyl bags. No one. You guys tried this crap a few seasons ago and thought it would be cute, and they all ended up on the sale rack at the end of the season, and they didn’t even move particularly quickly once discounted. A clear, architectural hard plastic clutch meant to hold three things for a night out, a la Fendi’s Spring 2010 presentation? That’s clear done well.

But a vinyl gray-tinted clear satchel meant to hold the dreck of everyday life, like tampons and your ATM receipts? No thanks. Do not want. Ever. But that, with some jewels stuck to the top and a canvas tote or two thrown in for good measure, is basically what we got. Since Prada does such a big bag collection for every season, this is probably only the tip of the iceberg and several other non-runway mini lines will eventually surface, but if this is any indication of what’s to come, I’ll take a pass.

The Fendi Spring 2010 Handbags Collection is the very definition of a “mixed bag.” Har har, bag pun. I know, it was bad. I’ll stop.

Anyway, yes, the bags! Some were amazing – the new soft leather Peekaboos with wood or clear plastic handles were among my favorites, and the addition of exposed stitching, combined with the different handle textures, gives the shape a sense of style that it was missing in its more staid initial iterations. The bags look touchable and a bit vintage, just like the rest of Karl Lagerfeld’s breezy, Parisian collection for the brand.

Other standouts were the Perspex beveled clutches, some completely clear, others with slight tints or exterior studding. The bags were, of course, shown with nothing inside of them, and putting anything in them would be kind of a shame, but how else are you supposed to carry them? They were beautiful and a tad whimsical as art objects, and if the stuff you carry inside your clutches is very beautiful, they might be a workable choice.

And on the other hand, some things just didn’t work at all. We saw leather totes in a variety of colors with an odd, pansy-embroidered snap-on linen cover that was not only puzzling but also not particularly attractive, and Fendi would have done well to omit those completely and add more of the delicious Peekaboo styles, along with a few of the other wood-framed clutches and bags, to the collection instead. They were almost distractingly bad, but ultimately the preponderance of beautiful bags won out.

Today, Vlad and I took a trip to Jungle Island off of Miami Beach. There we mingled with our friends; the colorful, loud, and beautiful parrots. Our friend, Sky the Macaw, was chatting with me about my Gerard Darel Midday Midnight Hobo.

Truth is, Sky was more concerned with how to hop off her beam to gnaw at the wood on the pole next to her.

I was a long time lover of Gerard Darel bags and finally nabbed my first a couple months ago. The Midday Midnight Hobo is an excellent bag. The shape of the hobo is roomy, yet not oversized and the leather is thick and smooshy. The stunning purple hue pops out but will match practically anything. The only problem I ever have with this bag is getting the chunky top zipper to open when I have the bag on my arm. This is an inconvenience as it is always nice to have an easy opening zip. Buy through Delcina in other color options.

Get ready to vote! I’ve been hung up on the Emanuel Ungaro Studded Leather Clutch for over a week now. Net-a-Porter is one of my favorite sites to peruse. I love all of the amazing designer bags that the site consistently has in stock. Oh, and when I say “has in stock” I really mean tempt me to the point of Carrie Bradshaw spontaneous shopping sprees. Anyways, this clutch has got me all twisted around and I cannot decide if it is an edgy unique hit or a disastrous miss.

I’ve always resorted back to making “pro” and “con” lists when I find myself in this kind of predicament. So, I am going to do virtually the same here except it looks like my “pro” list is much shorter. I have total appreciation for the edginess that seems to ooze from this clutch. Black textured leather and brazen silver-tone stud embellishments all over the front, and just a splash on the back of the bag. The detachable chain handle shows how a bold statement can be carried from the bag through the shoulder and back. Chain detailing everywhere you look and bright fuchsia satin lining rounds out the bag.

So what do I not like? Pretty much all of it. I don’t think this is a look I can pull off, it is far too much. If you have that pushing the envelope side to you, then this could be a great addition to your closet. Oh and one more thing, it is uber expensive. Buy through Net-a-Porter for $2210.

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post’s poll.

Oh, the Gossip Girl writers are so cute. This week’s episode even had a theme! And it was identity and if anyone ever changes, and anyone that’s seen much of the series so far already knows that none of these people ever turn over a new leaf. So, a bit predictable. But still: renewal! Change! All things that people think college will afford them, but everyone, including our Upper East Siders, eventually finds out that a change of scenery doesn’t mean a change of self. And these folks didn’t even really change scenery.

So things went as they usually do: Blair and Chuck were narcissistic, Georgina plotted malignantly, Dan had no idea what to make of the women in his life, Secret Brother Scott continued to want to skin Dan and wear him like last year’s Versace, and Serena had poor taste in men. Carter continued his three-episode streak of not wearing a belt.

First and foremost: Dan and Georgina are so on! Sort of. He doesn’t want to get, you know, tied down or anything. Which is accurate – 18-year-old guys are, by and large, jerks! And 18-year-old girls are often clingy psychos, so Georgina naturally has a picture of the two of them as her computer wallpaper, despite the fact that they’ve only been boning for, what, a week? Two? But Dan likes getting laid and Georgie is happy to oblige him, so he was willing to pretend that she isn’t actually a complete psycho until he was forced to confront further proof of what he already knew, which came from Serena, via Blair and Chuck.

You see, Chuck is trying to become a little businessman, and that requires him to wheel and deal and not bone his girlfriend (the sexing, after all, is what this show is actually about). So in order to impress some club owner with whom he’d like to work, he needs to win an auction of a totally unartistic and Facebook-looking picture of the guy and some chick in a costume in order to impress him. Like his billions of dollars aren’t impressive enough. He eventually realizes that they are, in fact, all that matters and cashes out his shares to buy a hotel, on a whim. I’m not kidding.

And, as luck would have it, Blair wants the exact same mediocre photo. Why? Well, because some secret society with a French name that I can’t remember (I took Spanish, German, and Italian in college. Why can’t they choose one of those?) needs her to win it so she can be a member, of course! Because that makes perfect sense.

But really, Blair should have known better when the invitation she got looked like it was scrawled by an eight-year-old, but she’s so down-and-out because no one at NYU likes her and her boyfriend won’t have sex with her that she doesn’t even realize that, duh, it’s totally fake, and Georgina totally set her up to rip her and Chuck apart, nevermind that there’s no way she could have known that Chuck needed that photo as well. Wait, did she orchestrate that too? I’m at my parents’ house without a DVR and I’m confused. If she did, then extra points for her, I suppose. Ya know, if we were assigning points.

Even Serena took one look at the invite and knew that it was Georgie up to her old tricks, and when Serena is figuring out social trickery more quickly than Blair, well, the very thought makes my head spin. Plus, she figured out that it was Blair and Chuck setting Carter up to look like he was still a whoring deadbeat – are we experiencing a Serena renaissance? She did step in and buy the photo out from under Blair and Chuck, a move that actually made me LOL. Like, in real life. Not just in letters.

And Georgina isn’t the only problem in Dan’s life – he’s also got a stalker-y half brother that faked an admission to NYU and seduced his best friend in order to get near him and, possibly, kill him and steal his identity and inhabit his carcass. Well, Vanessa finally figured out that Scott isn’t actually going to classes and as soon as he was confronted with that information, he spilled the beans about his Dan brotherdom and then used the totally undermine-y “If you have feelings for me, you won’t tell” line on her that has so many variations that we’ve all heard from insecure, weasely guys at some point in our dating lives. To Vanessa’s credit (wow, I don’t get to say that very much), she immediately told Dan that Scott’s a lying SOB; she just didn’t tell him exactly what it was about.

So Dan, realizing that Georgina is devious and wicked (and he’s banging her anyway – another scarily accurate detail about dating in college), goes to her with his limited information on that lying liar of a Vanessa-smoocher and they do some Googling and figure out that he’s the same kid that wrote Dan the fan letter about his New Yorker article, and they decide that Scott’s a stalker. For some reason, the writers treat this conclusion like it’s not true, but, well, it totally is. He fake-transfered to NYU, he’s dating Dan’s best friend, he’s taking cheesy guitar lessons from Rufus in Lily’s apartment. The kid’s a stalker. Being a blood relative doesn’t negate the stalkeration!

But when the time comes to cough up the genetic information to Dan and Rufus, he just can’t. His crazy adoptive mom who lied to Rufus and Lily about their child being dead shows up out of nowhere, which probably is what makes him balk, and he instead tells them that he’s the adoptive brother of Rufus and Lily’s dead son, which makes this whole thing obnoxiously difficult to explain in any reasonable string of words.

Vanessa knows, though, and now so does Georgina, because she doesn’t actually go to class, ever. She just spends her days being a creeper outside of people’s dorm rooms so that she can gain information to use against them later, which is where she overhears about the brother scandal and her mind reels with what she might do with that information. You see, when Serena told Dan about Georgina’s Blair/Chuck stunt, Dan tells her that he thinks they should take a “break,” which is silly, because they’re not actually dating, they’re just screwing in a dorm. I know that when you’re 18, that might seem like dating, but it’s not, and no “we need a break” conversation is required.

But for whatever reason, Georgina books a train ticket to Boston to chase after Scott as he returns home and figure out some way to use whatever information she has to screw with the people around her. Oh, and she also deletes the totally creepy Dan Humphrey wallpaper from her computer – no need to sully the MacBook Pro with that foolishness, G.

Oh, right, and Nate. Still with that Buckley girl. She knows Carter somehow. Her family doesn’t like him, which, you know, Carter hasn’t always been a very likable guy. This subplot still has no bearing on the rest of the show. Even if it eventually does, I doubt I’ll care by then.

Particularly next week, when we get ultra-crazy person Tyra Banks to distract me. Oh, and Hilary Duff.

I look through a lot of fashion shows and various accessories presentations. It’s an occupational hazard, particularly at this time of year, and it can be a little hypnotizing after a white. Click. Belted shift. Click. High-waisted trousers. Click. Oh, a cropped jacket. Click.

If the show isn’t wow-worthy, it can be easy to flip through Style.com without really absorbing what I’m looking at, much like I did with my textbooks in high school (and, let’s face it, college). But I looked through Gucci Handbags Spring 2010 twice, with rapt attention – not only is this Frida Giannini’s best collection of clothing since her era at the brand began, but it’s also the strongest lineup of accessories that I’ve seen from the brand in years.

The collection’s clothes have a way of being minimal and ornate simultaneously, and that’s the only way to describe the bags as well. Even the lean, angular clutches are fashioned out of candy-colored crocodile skin that makes me want to say “I’ll take one in every color,” hand over my credit card, and not look at the total on the receipt.

And that’s just the beginning. There’s texture galore by way of exotics like crocodile and python and Gucci’s signature logo embossing, and a few of the company’s classic details, like bamboo handles and horse bit hardware. The collection was varied and nuanced, containing a little bit of something for everyone; it was perhaps the most wearable, beautiful bag collection I’ve seen grace the runway in several seasons.

Images via Style.com

I am constantly looking for a great black clutch. I am sure you are all too familiar with my absolute adoration for clutches. However, when I was looking in my closet over the weekend, I realized sadly enough, that I don’t have a good black clutch.

Of course my next thought was, do I need a fancy one or more of a casual one? Well, clearly the answer is I need both, but I think I’ll get more use out of a casual black clutch than a fancy one right now. Ask me again around the Holiday season and you are sure to get a different answer. So, going with the casual idea, I want to make sure it is fun and not boring.

This Tylie Malibu Runway Clutch is just what I need. Durable yet luscious black leather and hand laid pyramid embellishments play off of one another just as I would like them too. In fact, this is one of the few bags I’ve come across that has studding that isn’t a huge contrast against the leather. Certainly the studding is noticeable, but the idea of using dark colors adds a bit of mystery and intrigue. It is great to see a rocker vibe that is different from others that try to obtain the same look. Buy through Tylie Malibu for $564.

I am constantly looking for a great black clutch. I am sure you are all too familiar with my absolute adoration for clutches. However, when I was looking in my closet over the weekend, I realized sadly enough, that I don’t have a good black clutch.

Of course my next thought was, do I need a fancy one or more of a casual one? Well, clearly the answer is I need both, but I think I’ll get more use out of a casual black clutch than a fancy one right now. Ask me again around the Holiday season and you are sure to get a different answer. So, going with the casual idea, I want to make sure it is fun and not boring.

This Tylie Malibu Runaway Clutch is just what I need. Durable yet luscious black leather and hand laid pyramid embellishments play off of one another just as I would like them too. In fact, this is one of the few bags I’ve come across that has studding that isn’t a huge contrast against the leather. Certainly the studding is noticeable, but the idea of using dark colors adds a bit of mystery and intrigue. It is great to see a rocker vibe that is different from others that try to obtain the same look. Buy through Tylie Malibu for $564.