Dilemmas: Never spent more than $35 on a purse...is now the time to start?

I probably need a more grown-up bag.  The one I've been carrying with the cracked handles is, how you say, ghetto.  I've been on the lookout (i.e. gilt.com) for something in the $100 - $300 range that I can use daily, but nothing's really caught my eye, or if it did, then I didn't get to it in time or I was never sure if it was the one.

I feel pretty strongly against the mass-market so-called "luxury" brands (e.g. Coach) and so began poking around etsy.com - clicked "buy," chose the bag category and typed in "leather" as a search.  It returned some 314 pages and I just spent two hours going through about 200 of those pages.  Who knew there were so many talented leather artists?  I like the idea of a) supporting artisans and b) having someting somewhat personalized.  I culled the best of my favorites here.  Yeah, I can't decide.

Dilemmas: Which Rafe bag should I get?

I have never bought a handbag for more than... $35, I think, and that was a black Guess mini-bag (what my friend Jane calls an 'armpit bag' because it fits neatly right under your arm like that).  I liked it a lot and it served its purpose well as an all-purpose bag.  

Being of cheap quality though, the handle has been cracking in many spots for a long time, and I think it may be time to graduate from it, and possibly make the leap into 'designer,' or at least real leather, handbags.  As always, I refuse to pay full price and am looking for something that stays within a sane price range.

A few weeks ago, the Gilt Groupe offered a sale on Rafe New York handbags and I was enamored with the designs. Well structured rather than slouchy, with lots of shiny details, buckles, and embellishments.  And an embossed patent-leather crocodile texture I find very hard to resist.  I also like the fact that the designer has a non-conventional background (he's a Filipino immigrant).  I was too chicken to take the plunge back then, but I found that Amazon is selling the bags for... if not the same rock-bottom prices as GG, at least lower than anyone else on the market.

I'm pretty sure I want to get myself one for Christmas.  I just can't decide which one to get--the front-flap messenger bag for $174 (from $475), the medium-sized trapezoidal-looking tote for $183 (from $495), or the large, roomy tote for $228 (from $595.. probably the best deal)?

Thoughts much appreciated.

This entry needs a new Day of the Week: Fashion-Forward Fridays

I was trolling Urban Outfitters.com to look for other tasty sale items to add to my cart before I checked out (some of the things in there are more than a month old!) when I came across this thing called the "Pocket Bag Belt."  I thought, hey, that doesn't look half bad...and it's useful besides!

But after careful reflection, I realized that I'd been duped by a feat of well-positioned marketing, and that this item is nothing more than a glorified fanny pack.

Observe: the only real difference between the 'stylish' item in the first photo and the unattractive accessory in the second is who is wearing it: one is a thin young woman, the other, a rather heavy-set older man.  Ah, the power of context.

I threw in a third photo of a cute fanny pack that this woman made and blogged about.  At least she had no pretensions and called the thing what it is.