The Love Red Faithful satchel is a beautiful bag with lots of zippers and pockets and with a fold-over flap zip opening featuring two zippers which meet in the center, thus making it possible to open with either the left or the right hand. The dark silver button detailing looks stylish and expensive. Expensive it is, as this bag costs $1480, which is not exactly what many of us would call pocket change. The purse has cotton lining and an interior zip pocket. The 8 cm top handle drop is thick enough to be comfortable, even in case you’re the kind of girl that carries heavy stuff in her purse. The Alexander McQueen Love Red Faithful satchel also has a 34 cm shoulder handle drop, welcome if you need to use both hands.

If red is not your color but you still love this purse, you can get the Black Faithful satchel which looks just like the red one and which is slightly cheaper: $1450.

Bag size: 38 cm width x 25 cm height (for both the red and the black one)

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 graffiti fabric with metallic leather trim, the new Poppy Graffiti pocket hobo is a bag that can’t pass unnoticed. It’s once more a proof that Coach bags can be appealing also to young generations of girls, and not only to those of us who are already using expressions such as “when I was young…”. Silver makes an excellent background for the vibrant red and orange, giving this bag a fresh look.

The new Poppy Graffiti pocket hobo can be worn as a handbag, thanks to its 16 3/4” handle, but also as a shoulder bag or crossbody, as it comes with a detachable 37 1/2” shoulder strap. The bag features zip-top closure, fabric lining, multifunctional inside pockets and two cute outside pockets with hidden magnetic snap.

Bag size: 13 3/4" x 11” x 4 1/4"

Bag price: $268

Rambler’s Legacy is one of those Coach bags that one could recognize on the street from the first glance. It’s a kind of Coach icon, in the same glove tanned leather that made Coach famous since such a long time ago. In my view, the mahogany color version of Coach Rambler’s Legacy looks much better than the black one. It’s probably the golden hardware which plays a role in my preference for the mahogany, but actually both versions are elegant and perfect to the smallest detail. The turnlock closure is typical for older Coach bags, with its nice, oval shape.

The gusseted pockets are roomy enough to accommodate pretty much everything that a modern girl would love to carry around with her every day. This shoulder bag has a 48” adjustable strap.

Bag size: 9 5/8” x 8 1/4" x 3 3/8”

Bag price: $258

One of the main keywords in defining the Stewardess Coach bag is convenience. That’s because flight attendants need to be able, for instance, to access certain items inside their bag by using only one hand. The open pockets are just perfect for that, as well as the turnlock closure which doesn’t require two hands to open it. But of course you don’t have to be a flight attendant to love this purse. It’s one of the Coach bags classics we love to have in our collection and wear from time to time. I can see myself wearing this bag even in ten years from now, without worrying that I’d look old fashioned.

The glove tanned leather is smooth, yet resistant. Moreover, the brass feet prevent bottom scuffing, in case you have the bad habit of putting your bag on the ground. The stewardess bag is available only in black color and it features an adjustable 26” strap, which can also be detached, if needed.

Bag size: 11” x 10” x 4 1/2" (L x H x W)

Bag price: $298

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