Cole Haan

Is it just me, or does the Cole Haan Ruched Leather Satchel look a good bit more polished and sophisticated than your average sub-$400 bag?

It doesn’t have a great deal of personality, but it does have a rather clean, simple look to it that I think a lot of women would find attractive, but it’s not too rigid and stuffy to be usable outside of an office setting. I’m pleased. Are you?

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I’ve been really pleased with the recent Cole Haan bags I’ve come across. I started giving Cole Haan bags a bit more of my time once I bought a pair of great CH pumps, with Nike technology. They might just be the most comfortable and fashionable pumps I own. So, as my love for that pair of shoes grew, I thought it was time to start looking a bit more at the bags. I really loved the Cole Haan Prudence Small Satchel but I am on the fence about the larger version.

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Above all else, it’s important for what a designer adds to a material to bring out that material’s natural beauty, not detract from it. Handbags are a celebration of what they’re made with – soft leather, tough hardware, polished exotics – and if a designer ruins a material because he or she just can’t leave well-enough alone, then in my mind, they’ve committed one of the cardinal sins of handbags.

Which is exactly what happened with the Cole Haan Sloane Woven Suede Tote.

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While I just covered a great Cole Haan bag yesterday, I couldn’t help myself when I came across yet another great Cole Haan. As much as I love bags that push the envelope or offer all sorts of amazing detailing, I also have a very special place in my heart for bags that are nothing less than classics.

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Just as there is a good chance you have your favorite little black dress hanging in your closet, there is probably a decent chance that you have a go-to black handbag.

You know the kind I am talking about. It goes with anything, it is timeless and it is always faithful. This is the bag that can dress up or dress down an outfit based on what you need it to do. And of course, while you might have a black bag that you want to carry for years and years to come, you know that one day you’ll take a look at it and need a replacement.

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Anyone that reads this blog with any regularity (instead of, you know, just looking at the pretty pretty pictures) knows of my deep and abiding love for the color grey. It’s the perfect neutral – modern, sophisticated, versatile, and with a small bit of inherent edge. It can go with black, brown, navy and any number of other colors that may be omnipresent in your wardrobe. Shades of grey don’t clash with each other. It’s absolutely sublime.

And it’s even better when it’s combined with soft leather and a subtly slouchy shape, as it is in the Cole Haan Prudence Small Satchel. I’ve been a fan of this shape ever since Cole Haan introduced it last season, and it’s even better with the thick pieces of matte woven leather. These handbags are light as a feather but still made of thick, durable materials and the color and texture are perfect for cold weather (some of which I wish I was experiencing right now. I’m sure I’m not the only one). Buy through Bloomingdale’s for $495.

Love the studded trend but afraid it’s a tad unprofessional and not suited for the office? Then this Cole Haan Stud Detail Messenger Bag is your answer. It’s a classic messenger, so it won’t draw too much attention. But the genius is in the details here. The studs are carefully placed along the flap’s edges, giving it a slightly Old-Western style- but not too much that you need to break out those cowboy boots in order to feel ok wearing it.

The reason this element is balanced out, I think, lies in the inherent slim shape of the bag. It’ll lie flat against your hip rather than bulging out and looking messy. The shape and mini-studs, plus the faintest shine in the grained leather, make this is fashionable bag. Even if you work in the most conservative of offices, that’s no reason to shun your stylish gear- simply sleekify your wardrobe with subtly sophisticated items such as this. Buy through Bluefly for $225.

I spent some time this morning assessing my handbag collection. I am getting ready to move so I’ve decided a little spring cleaning is in order (even if it is mid-July). One area of handbags I’d like to expand is my daily-go-to bags.

You know the kind I am talking about: functionable, affordable and fashionable. However, I don’t want to pick up some random just “ok” bags. So, you might be able to imagine my excitement when I came across the Cole Haan Raleigh Small Triangle Tote. The color of the bag is breathtaking, the shape is sturdy and the over all feel is one I wouldn’t mind having on my arm. What do you think? Is this the kind of bag you could see yourself carrying day-to-day? Buy through Saks for $348.

Sometimes I think it might be harder to skillfully design a simple, minimalist bag than it would be to design something over the top and with lots of elements. When you have less to work with, the need to perfect every detail becomes magnified, as do any potential missteps that the designer may make.

Which is why I find the Cole Haan Raleigh Small Triangle Tote particularly impressive. There is little in the way unnecessary distraction in this bag’s design, but it’s nothing if not chic and well-realized. The lines are clean, from the construction of the gussets to the handles, and the bag’s rugged, pebbled leather provides just enough visual interest to keep the bag from being boring. The minimalist theme continues on the bag’s interior, where instead of a traditional cloth lining we see the blue leather’s soft suede underside and a few electronics pockets. If you’re looking for a simple, stylish bag, you can’t do much better than this. Buy through Saks for $348.

Sometimes when I look at a bag, I think “If only they had made this in a different shape, or for a different purpose.” That’s kind of how I feel about the Cole Haan Biscayne Hobo. Which is weird, because it’s a hobo, and hobos are usually my absolute favorite. I’m much more likely to like a hobo than, say, a tote.

But in this case, I think it would be much better if this bag was a tote. A pattern like this, with this many colors, is going to be really difficult to match to an outfit in order to go shopping, out to dinner, etc. A person would have to wear an outfit with no patterns and very few colors, and what’s the fun in that, particularly if you don’t change your bag every day? It might have worked well, though, as a big tote bag. One that you could use for your laptop and papers for work or school. Bags that serve that kind of function have less of a need to go with every outfit that a person wears, so a crazy pattern isn’t so prohibitive. Buy through Nordstrom for $228.