It is very hard, if not impossible, to pass by an Isabella Fiore handbag and not notice it. These handbags are shocking, so one can either love them or hate them. It seems there’s no middle way. I’ve recently heard somebody referring to those clutches in the latest 2009 collections as being multicolor tacos. Tacos or not, these handbags are surely something to talk about. Older handbags collections were also remarkable, but the style changed a lot, from those “Baroque a Go Go” totes decorated with side tassels to the newest collections such as “Once Upon a Tattoo”, “Geometrics” or “Mosaic”. What’s with mentioning here is that even though the style has changed, Isabella Fiore handbags managed to preserve that “artistic” appearance that brought them the fame and appreciation of the public.

The designers behind the Isabella Fiore brand are two ladies from LA, Jennifer Tash and Tranh Huynh. They managed to bring Isabella Fiore into the attention of several celebrities who became their clients, among them being names like Katie Holmes, Madonna or Kate Hudson. I think Halle Berry was spotted wearing Isabella Fiore handbags, too.

Latest Isabella Fiore Handbags Collections

Watermark

Watermark includes three bags: Sara, a python patchwork clutch with detachable crossbody strap, Rania, an oversized shoulder bag with outside pouch pocket and Mia, a double top zip tote with outside slit pocket fold out.

Geometric

The Geometric collection features Leila, an oversized hobo, Suzanna, a top handle tote with woven flap closure and Amalia, an oversized fan-shaped clutch.

Mosaic

In the Mosaic collection we meet again Amalia, the clutch, this time with a different kind of pattern and with a cute tassel attached. Leila, the Isabella fiore oversized hobo, has now an embroidered side panel. The last piece of this collection is Serena, a double handle top zip balloon tote with woven handles. But these were only the three flagship bags of the collection that we can find featured on Isabella Fiore's website. In fact, the collection also includes the Isabella Fiore Mosaic Susanna Tote, which is as beautiful as the other ones.

Mesh

These handbags are a little bit more sophisticated, suitable rather for evening outfits, although the shape and size of Leila and Francine suggest all day usage.

Once Upon a Tattoo

These three purses are really cute. Liz is a mid-sized shoulder bag with a very nice floral embroidery and with a beautifully rounded shape, Mia is a top zip tote with outside coin purse and Amalia is the same taco-shaped clutch with an exquisite whip stitch detailing and a jeweled leather tassel.

The price range of Isabella Fiore handbags falls within $200 - $700, thus being quite affordable compared with other designer handbags.

A clutch is a must-have in any woman’s wardrobe, not because you can stuff a lot of items inside, but because over-sized bags and purses don’t match very well formal outfits. Can you imagine yourself wearing a tote bag or a shopper bag with a cocktail dress or with a formal business outfit? I doubt about that. On the other hand, there are a few items which we might need, so this is what a clutch is for. Alexander McQueen Blue Kaiser clutch is made of patent blue leather with silver frame. The frame is embossed with the Alexander McQueen logo and it is applied only on the two flips that open the two compartments of this oblong and elegant purse. The cotton and leather lining is of the best quality, making this bag a good choice for elegant women who are concerned with quality as well as with their overall look and style. The Blue Kaiser clutch costs $925, the same as the Black Kaiser clutch, which is identical in shape. The third purse in this series is the Satin Stripe Kaiser clutch, which is made of blue and red striped satin and which costs $950.

If we were to define Alexander McQueen’s work with one single word, that would be “theatrical”. Unconventional and shocking, his art attracted a lot of controversy. Shocking or not, his ideas managed to ignite the imagination of enough fashion experts, as to be the youngest fashion designer ever who was awarded the British Fashion Designer of the Year. Actually he won this award four times, the first time being in 1996, when he was only 27 years old.

The Dazed & Confused Episode

Dazed & Confused is a fashion magazine about models with physical disabilities. Alexander McQueen accepted to work as an art director for one of the issues of this magazine. The show that was inspired by his cooperation with Dazed & Confused featured Aimee Mullins, an athlete who had suffered an amputation of both her legs from the knees down at the young age of only one. For this show, Aimee wore a pair of hand-carved wooden legs, which everybody in the audience mistook as wooden boots. Aimee Mullins herself was impressed by this show and by its spirit of empowerment, as she confesses in this following video:

Alexander McQueen’s Spring 2010 Show

You don’t know: it’s a skin, it’s a dress, it’s a costume? Or maybe it’s the exteriorization of an attitude. The almost scary makeup and hair styles make those otherwise beautiful models look quite threatening. Move your sight from their head to their toes and you’ll understand: cuteness and smiles have nothing in common with walking on these monstrous hills. Despite all these, if you take away all drama and effects, you end up with perfectly wearable outfits for all moments of the day. I think this is the real art in fashion: make a memorable show, but give me something I want to buy and wear in my daily life. I’d wear many of the dresses in Alexander McQueen’s Spring 2010 show any time. Based on electric blue and black, the fabrics remind of an exotic bird’s feathers. One could easily believe those girls were born in their dresses, that’s how well they are tailored to fit.

Alexander McQueen has died! Long live Alexander McQueen!

On February 11th 2010, Alexander McQueen was found dead in his home. He committed suicide. When private persons die, their name continues to live only on the funerary stone. Public persons’ names have a life of their own, so when such a person passes away, the name keeps on living as if nothing happened. And if you happen to be the bearer of a name that’s been bought by a company like Gucci, you can be sure it will last long after you’ll be only a far away memory in the minds of a few people.

Despite initial uncertainty, the parent company of the Gucci Group, PPR, announced that there would be an Alexander McQueen show in Paris in the spring of 2010, and that the brand would continue without its founder, setting off speculation over who would succeed him. (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/m/alexander_mcqueen/index.html)

Bags by Alexander McQueen

Although he is mostly famous for his clothing creations and for his spectacular fashion shows, Alexander McQueen created several lines of handbags featuring amazing shapes and colors and top quality materials and execution. Here are a few of what I consider being among his best creations:

• Love Red Faithful Satchel
• Blue Kaiser Clutch
• Red Medium Faithful Tote
• Black Python Faithful Tote
• Midnight Faithful Tote
• Ziggy Mercury Chain Bag

This awesome "intrecciato" woven leather bag belongs to the latest Bottega Veneta collection for spring – summer 2010. Its strange name comes from the mix of colors: cigar is the stylish brown, gladiola is the purple and yolk the shiny yellow that makes this bag noticeable from far away even at dusk. It’s simply a memorable bag.

The lambskin leather is woven in two different patterns: the top of the bag has smaller weaves than the bottom, this separation being also realized through the color change from dark to light, crossing a very dark, narrow section where the two patterns coexist on the same color. The Brunito finish hardware is neutral, minimalist and simple, in line with the overall look of the purse. Cigar Gladiola Yolk Intrecciato Acquarello is a shoulder bag with adjustable handles. It features an interior zip pocket and suede lining.

The bag is available in the Bottega Veneta online shop for the price of $1780.

Founded by Michele Taddei and Renzo Zengiaro in 1966, Bottega Veneta is a luxury leather goods designer and manufacturer based in Northeastern Italy, in Vicenza. The company was acquired by Gucci in 2001, since then being a subsidiary of Gucci Group. The line of handbags, shoes and belts that made Bottega Veneta famous was the Intrecciato woven leather. This leather goods line is still in vogue today, but models are, of course, different than the original ones. The Bottega Veneta Ready-to-Wear clothing collection was introduced by the British designer Giles Deacon, and it was the company’s first step on the way of claiming their position in the luxury segment of the fashion ware market. After Gucci bought the company, they appointed the German designer Tomas Maier creative director for the leather goods division.

The fashion design company has boutiques in Italy, Spain, France, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Germany, Russia, Japan, Hong Kong, Guam, Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Kuwait, the United States, and the United Arab Emirates.

Bottega Veneta managed to capture so many hearts (and wallets) with their simple yet elegant line, with their light-toned natural colors and with their obsession for detail. One of the noticeable features is that they label their bags on the inside, not on the outside like most handbags designers do. Celebrities such as Jennifer Aniston and Nicole Kidman are among Bottega Veneta’s clients.

Bottega Veneta Bags for Spring Summer 2010

The Spring-Summer 2010 season brings a lot of color and amazing combinations that make decisions very hard to make when one wants to buy only one-two purses. Many of these new handbags are so cute that choice is really hard to make. This new collection uses a lot the intreciatto details leather that made Bottega Veneta famous, as in the following purses:

• Cigar Gladiola Yolk Intrecciato Acquarello (color combination of yellow, purple, brown; price: $1750)
• Orchid Intrecciato Nappa Bag (color: purple; price: $980)
• Paille Shiny Calf Cabat (color: paille; price: $7800 – available only with pre-order)
• Orchid Paille Intreccio Sfrangiato Nappa Aquatre Bag (color combination: purple with paille accents; price: $3250)
• Cigar Ivory Moro Tie-Dye Nappa Umbria Bag (colors: brown and ivory; price: $7850)

Other handbags feature other interesting leather patterns, like this Cigar Origami Plume Leather Tejus bag which really looks like a big brown origami. However, at $8500, it can’t be just origami made of Japanese paper, it has to contain some damn fine leather.

This new collection of bags and purses from Bottega Veneta features also a series of crocodile leather bags. They are interesting, but one can’t buy them online for two reasons. First, they can be bought only with pre-order (that’s good for the crocodiles, not to be killed if there’s no real interest in these purses). Second, I doubt people are willing to pay online amounts that exceed $20,000. I’m not yet prepared to spend that on a bag, but if I were, I’d go to the brick and mortar shop to make the payment.

This Nappa leather clutch can be an excellent purchase because not only it fits a lot of clothing styles and occasions, but it’s also one of the affordable designer handbags (I found it at $185 on several websites). Well, that’s not exactly what I’d call a bargain, but still, it’s affordable compared with other designer handbags which are sometimes way overpriced, in my opinion. Another point for buying a clutch is that we really don’t need to carry all those items with us all the time. Just take a look inside your purse and you’ll see what I mean. I bet you didn’t even know you were carrying half of that stuff. The DKNY Soft Nappa Rose leather clutch features a flap closure with a nicely shaped rose detail on its front, which gets shaped from leather folds on the purse. This makes it look very elegant, just what a girl needs for a cocktail party or other fancy evening events. The ivory color is easy to match with stronger colors, so you don’t have to worry you won’t be able to find suitable accessories or shoes. Besides, I think I spotted it also in black in one shop, so you can get a black one if it suits you better.

DKNY bags are true classics which can get you out of trouble when in doubt what purse to wear with your brand new dress.

DKNY stands for Donna Karan New York and it bears the name of Donna Karan, who is also the chief designer for the fashion house. Founded in 1984 by Donna Karan and her husband, DKNY became a publicly-traded company in 1996, then in 2001 was bought by LVMH, Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton who owns it to this day. Donna Karan developed a fashion concept for the modern woman, in which a few interchangeable pieces of clothing and accessories can create a wardrobe that fits multiple occasions and moments of the day.

The idea of her fashion collections is that you never know where a day is going to take you, therefore you have to be prepared to take on all opportunities that may arise. Thanks to her creative approach and to her high-quality creations, in 1993 Donna Karan was awarded the Fashion Group International Superstar Award . She was the first American fashion designer to receive that distinction. In 2007, Donna was nominated one of the Women of the Year by Glamour magazine. DKNY is a design driven company, their stated mission being “to represent the international pulse of New York in the design, marketing and delivery of a complete lifestyle system to a global customer”.

DKNY Bags

As our website is about designer handbags we aren’t going to enter into many details about the fashion house itself and its clothing or shoes collections, but we are rather going to focus on the bags. We won’t find at DKNY the diversity and abundance of models which we encounter at Coach bags for instance, but there surely are enough models to cover several styles, thus offering a solution for any occasion or time of the day.

New DKNY Bags for Spring 2010

DNKY enriched its collection of purses with six new models:

• Soft Nappa Rose clutch (color: Ivory; price: $185)
• Large Pleated Nappa Leather shopper (colors: black, ivory; price: $345)
• Croc Leather Large Tote (colors: Stone, Caramel; price: $295)
• Croc Crossbody (color: Caramel; price: $195)
• Town and Country Crossbody (color: black; price: $165)
• Town and Country Satchel (color: black; price: $245)

As you can see, there’s a bag size for everyone and although there’s not a huge variety in colors, the chosen ones are universal, matching basically anything else. This falls within the DKNY concept of creating lifestyle rather than fashion. One can dress herself from DKNY from head to toe, starting with the underwear and finishing with the fragrance.

Made of crinkle black Italian lambskin, the Venice crossbody clutch features a top zip closure, fold-over flap detail with long tassel pulls and with a signature logo charm.

It’s a casual-chic bag, not too big, but surely enough to hold a few items such as wallet, mobile phone, lipstick and keys. Such fold over flaps seem to be the latest craze in fashion bags. The bag doesn’t have handles, but only a single, 24” long strap which is most suitable for crossbody wearing. The two exterior front pockets have zip closure, with the same long tassel pulls. The interior is fully lined and it has a zip pocket on the back wall, handy for keeping things you want to find fast inside the bag. Venice is one of the most appealing bag lines of Botkier, so it’s nice to see they are still in vogue for spring 2010.

You can buy the Botkier Venice Cross-Body, Crinkle Black clutch from Endless

As a photographer for fashion magazines such as Mademoiselle and Surface, Monika Botkier spotted a niche that was still uncovered in the fashion design world: approachable designer creations. Always in search for the perfect bag, Monika ended up by creating her own line of handbags, which were a happy marriage between style and functionality. Her downtown Manhattan style made this first handbags collection a success, although when she started, she only wanted to make those bags for her personal use. Actually, Monika did create a few purses for her personal use, but many women in her entourage expressed their interest in buying such handbags, so she started considering this more seriously. From here to the international recognition Botkier has managed to acquire in 2007 when she became a member of the Council of Fashion Designers of America, there was only one more step, translated in passion, creativity and hard work. Fashion magazines like Glamour, Vogue, Marie Claire or InStyle published articles about Botkier handbags and shoes collections and even featured them on the front cover.

After seven years of building her reputation in the fashion accessories industry, in January 2010 Monika Botkier opened her first flagship store in New York, in NoLIta district. In designing her boutique, she collaborated with interior designer Valerie Pasquiou for creating a modern and sophisticated atmosphere. Cool and chic, Botkier handbags are luxurious without being expensive, “an independent brand that marries luxury with utility” as Monika herself states on the Botkier website. Indeed the prices are in the $500 range, way less than what we’ve been used to when we talk about designer handbags.

Many celebrities such as Beyonce, Halle Berry or Megan Fox were spotted wearing Botkier creations.

Botkier Bags Collections

Here are the latest creations, covering various bag types such as satchel, hobo, crossbody, shoulder, tote or clutch. Detailed reviews of many bags in these product lines will make subjects for separate articles and will be published as we manage to write them.

Venice: 

Botkier Venice crossbody clutch

Rio:

Botkier Rio Tote Bag

Dion

Harper

Howard:

Botkier Howard Street Satchel Bag

Brooklyn

Logan

Botkier Logan Satchel

Noa

Aiden

Tao

James

Sasha

Trigger

Sydney

Uma