This week I was away on a rare mini-break and of course I spent some time shopping. Important shopping, of course – handbags and perfume! Thanks to the staff at Gatwick airport I got four hours’ shopping in the duty free shop as the flight was delayed.  Still, I had plenty of time to visit the Chanel and Yves Saint Laurent counters, and try their latest fragrances.  Then I found a Designer Handbag shop next to the Harrods airport shop.  This was where I looked at some great Marc by Marc Jacobs bags in black and a gorgeous shade of plum, as well as this cute little Chanel grab bag in red – I just adore red handbags!

Update November 2009 – the handbags shop at Gatwick has been CLOSED!! So if you rae saving up for that loveley discoutn designer bag you will be better off shopping here. Just follow the links to find your favourite designers online at the best prices.
Now I am travelling more often, I am thinking of getting annual travel insurance – I’ll need it to protect all those gorgeous handbags.

The Muse Handbag is unusual among many oversized designer handbags, because it remains ladylike while still accommodating all your possessions in its oversized clutch as well as a multi hang shoulder bag. This is a personalised version from Mimco with a different frame and flat base in sheep glazed leather – well, this is an Australian company. The spacious, versatile bag large enough for everyday use with an attractive Mayan motif: good for Vegas vacations.

An object lesson in the importance of designer handbags in this year’s Paris prêt-à-porter catwalk shows for Autumn – Winter 2008. Or maybe the designers just have a bondage fetish, who knows? The fact is, designer bags have expanded the earning potential of all the big fashion houses and more than half the models carried designer handbags as they strutted their stuff in Paris (March 2008).

With identical short, black, fringed bobs hiding their eyes and dark plum staining their lips, the 38 Yves Saint Laurent models marched through the bright, white, modernist tent in the Grand Palais to a hyper-techno beat with a precision that matched the impeccable and passionate tailoring of their clothes.


There was just one look for each – “I’ve learnt not to try and show every single thing,” said creative director, Stefano Pilati – and not a single handbag on show. “Everyone knows we do bags, why clutter?”. Coco Chanel once remarked “there is no fashion for the old”.

Lagerfeld transformed classic Chanel items into fresh, young looks. In Paris yesterday, Coco Chanel’s successor at the famous French fashion house, Karl Lagerfeld, seemed intent on proving this was true.

As the singer, Rihanna, 20, and the boho-dressed Olsen twins, Ashley and Mary-Kate, 22, watched from the front row, Lagerfeld offered one of the youngest collections ever to bear the Chanel label.
Models with messy teenage hair, sprinkled with gold, and hardly any make-up, save for a slick of gold shadow on their eyelids, appeared in ripped denim mini-skirts with black, knitted ‘sloppy-joe’ boyfriend cardigans.

They wore clingy, girly sweater-dresses in grey, trimmed with baby-pink, and accessorized with berets with a badge on the front, or tight, clubby dresses in black crochet or black PVC. Even the classic, Chanel ‘cardigan suit’, which opened the show, had drunk from the elixir of youth.

In a creamy, pastel tweed, the jacket had its collar tucked under and featured a deliberate “designer hole” in one elbow, while the mini-skirt was decorated with “customized rips” in the same manner as way teenagers tear open and fray the knees of their jeans so they look “distressed”.

The mood of high spirits and youthful fun was reinforced by the catwalk in the Grand Palais, which encircled a pale cream, specially-made carousel with oversized Chanel quilted bags, strings of pearls, earrings, bottles of scent, logos and shoes replacing the traditional, painted wooden horses.

It was possible, however, to discern the occasional item not designed for the under-25 market. The cardigan suit, for example, also appeared in more conventional form, with a belted jacket and maxi-skirt to the ankle. The length had something to recommend it: It hid most of the curious two-in-one tights which were black from the back and nude, textured or lacy from the front.
There were also well-cut tweed dresses with long, egg-shaped, cardigan-coats, trimmed with Mongolian goat-hair, and one classic, tailored black suit, with white cuffs and collar and a white camellia, the signature Chanel flower, at the neckline. The Paris prêt-à-porter season for next autumn/winter concludes this weekend with the collections of Chloé, Hermès, Nina Ricci, John Galliano, Lanvin and Louis Vuitton. Read more »

In 2007 the understated YSL Downtown handbag showed that top designer handbags can include more subtle designs and still persuade customers to pay up to $2000 for the cachet of carrying this sought after designer tote bag by Yves Saint Laurent. With side-zip closures and brass hardware, there is still a moderate amount of hardware on the YSL Downtown, this tote forms part of a wider collection of Downtown designer luggage and bags. I like the fact that the Marc Jacobs clutch bag opens up much wider than you would think, but the contrast stitching and lifeless leather leave you wanting other clutches. Remember, do your market research – you should never buy a handbag if it just makes you think about your next purchase. So the dedicated designer handbag fan can own a co-ordinated set in either patent black leather, grey flannel or leopard printed calfskin, to fit her individual taste while maintaining the classic and stylish appeal for which YSL is famed.