The London Handbag Shopping Centre

I remember back in April I was flipping through the pages of some glossy when I first learned about a rising star family-owned Swiss fashion label Akris. Head designer Albert Kriemler and his team create the most beautiful pieces for those who crave gorgeous, modern, feminine handbags. What I love most about the bags, besides the unique [...]

My Balenciaga fangirldom is by now common knowledge around these parts, and despite Megs’ ongoing inability to find her perfect Balenciaga bag, I just keep discovering things from the brand that I need in my closet with a fierce urgency. Funny how that works, eh?

The latest object of my lust is the Balenciaga Giant City with rose gold hardware, and although I’m late to the rose gold party, I hope that I still get bonus points for earnestness. I brushed off the rose gold color choice as too “niche” when I heard about it, but after encountering this very bag in person, I can ignore it no longer.

At first I assumed that rose gold hardware would clash with most of my jewelry and my general sense of style, since I mostly associate the metal with expensive, gaudy jewelry that is very much not my style. In typical Balenciaga fashion, though, the designers behind the hardware gave it a weathered, gritty appearance that transforms it into something that fits right into my wardrobe.

Only the front zipper has a bit of shine to it, and the contrast is an interesting before-and-after demonstration of what the studs and buckles used to look like. It might prove more difficult to match rose gold hardware with Balenciaga’s famous bright leathers, but the rose and black combination works just fine for me. Buy through Matches for $1551.

It seems as though there are few animal-derived materials from which a designer has not attempted to make a handbag at some point. We’ve seen a zillion different versions of leather and fur, comprising almost any animal you can somehow raise on a farm, plus eel and stingray. Missoni makes a bag partially comprised of the skin from chicken feet. There is nothing new under the sun.

Except for maybe horsehair. It’s been used for centuries to make bows for string instruments, but Akris appears to have cornered the modern market on luxury horsehair purses with their line of Akris Ai Tote Bags. As far as I’ve been able to find, other brands have used horsehair to accent their designs, but this is the first bag in a while to use the material as the main attraction. The upside is that using the material doesn’t harm the animals in any way; the downside, unfortunately, is that the medium version costs a whopping $4400.

Horsehair is an interesting material for sure. I played classical strings for the better part of a decade, so I know how even and uniform it can look when treated and pulled tight, and it’s more or less endlessly renewable. The weaving on these bags looks impeccable and the simple style of the bags has already inspired lots of knockoff totes in less interesting materials. For the price, perhaps one of those is your best bet. The idea intrigues me, but I can skip it for that kind of money. With $4400, you’re well on your way to a Birkin. Buy through Saks for $4400.

Just in time for National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Coach introduces the 2010 Coach “Think Pink” Breast Cancer Awareness Watch with a portion of the proceeds going to the cause. Coach will donate 20% of the proceeds from each watch sold from October 1, 2010 through December 31, 2010 to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, [...]