<p>I never heard of Kooba until oldfort mentioned the name. Now I crave one, but it is out of my league financewise. So I’ll stick with my Calvin Klein. :)</p>
<p>This weekend Saks Fifth Avenue has a Friends and Family sale. Everything (even online) is 25% off. I have a Marc Jacobs bag that is perfect (zippered top etc) for you, but I don’t know if it is still available. The Marc by Marc Jacobs line may have a similiar tote. (Their price point is 60% less than the Marc Jacobs line, excluding sales which I considered a necessity.) I understand that Loehmann’s has a good selection of handbags from time to time. I would also try Macy’s (with coupons) or Bloomingdale’s when they have sales.</p>
<p>I have some Michael Green bags- ( he was one of the Coach designers), but I really like Roots.
[Roots</a> USA - Leather Handbags,](<a href=“http://usa.roots.com/]Roots”>http://usa.roots.com/)
I like the leather and the styling better than Coach ( and the price 
).</p>
<p>Oh for the good ole days of Coach bags! I never even look at their stuff anymore. </p>
<p>I’m glad to see I’m not the only super picky handbag shopper. I’m constantly complaining about how nothing has all the features I want. Perhaps handbags should actually be designed by women who use them! At any rate, I’m probably in the minority here, but I can’t stand the current trend of huge handbags – looks like you’re constantly carrying around a suitcase. I usually buy small leather shoulder bags – although I did have a couple of Vera Bradley bags. I currently have a Fossil bag with a zip top. Even when I’m not actively looking for a new bag I often check out the handbag department of whatever store I’m in, since it takes so long to find the right one.</p>
<p>I have a whole closet that’s dedicated to my bags. They are treated like jewelry. They are all put away in dust bags. I have designer bags that go 10 to 20 years back. For years, every xmas my H would buy a bag and a scarf for me instead of a piece of jewelry. When he traveled to Europe and Euro was weak, he would pick up a bag for me. Now, after many years of marriage, I have picked up the slack and started to buy my own bag. It is always a long process - I find THE bag first, then I’ll search high and low for the best price.</p>
<p>D1 and I started a tradition a few years back when she started dating, whenever she broke up with a boy I would send her a new bag to make her feel better. Subconsciously, I would buy her a more expensive one if the heartbreak was worse. Now it’s become a joke, when she is sobbing on the phone about a particular boy I would say, “So is this one going to cost me a lot?” It’ll usually make her laugh a bit.</p>
<p>alwaysmom,
Is your purse organizer a Hobo? D has two of them and can keep all the money, credit cards, her phone, and her camera in hers. She can actually carry them as a clutch if so desired.</p>
<p>I’m another former Coach customer who has been cut off by the change in style; they do still sell a few of their good classic styles online but in very limited colors. Still, if you are looking for one of the real standbys in British tan or black you will find it on the Web site after some searching and thus be able to buy it new.</p>
<p>Cole Haan makes a few decent leather shoulder bags that are fairly neutral in style and have compartment; my daughter has one or two and uses them a lot but I don’t think they are quite as nice as Coach when it was at its best.</p>
<p>I’ve been using Longchamp bags for the last three years–two styles, same color combination of black nylon and brown leather trim. One is essentially a large hobo style with one interior zip compartment, one large nonzip, and an exterior cell phone or sunglass holder. In combination with my Hobo clutch/wallet, which is something of a purse organizer, it works reasonably well if I also want to carry reading material in my purse, since there is so much room. Most of the time I use a smaller Longchamp shoulder bag with a snap flap closure and two exterior pouches–not as secure but a very practical size and again the Hobo clutch serves as the wallet. I would say my Longchamp bags are ot as nice as leather ones but are classic and adult. Longchamp also makes leather bags in appealing simple styles, but they are of course way more expensive than the nylon ones and still lack multiple interior zip compartments in most cases–but they are attractive.</p>
<p>If I could go to a Coach store and find the old selection of simple leather shoulder bags, I’d go back in a minute; I find the present lineup at Coach trashy despite how expensive their shiny purple leather satchels are (to cite one recent example).</p>
<p>2vu, mine isn’t the clutch type, although I have seen those. Mine is designed to form a circle/rectangle inside the purse with a space in the center for your wallet. There are lots of different sized and shaped pouches to put things, other than the wallet, in. It’s easy to move it from purse to purse.</p>
<p>This thread made me start looking at websites late last night as I watched the Yankees game. I found a gorgeous red Balenciaga bag that I’d love to have. I better buy a lottery ticket! :)</p>
<p>Brighton. I like Brighton. In the past few years I’ve taken to using just their little “organizers” as my purse. [Brighton</a> Runway Organizer - Free Shipping](<a href=“No results for Brighton runway organizer | Zappos.com”>No results for Brighton runway organizer | Zappos.com) </p>
<p>I wear it cross body so I don’t need to use my hands to keep it on. It holds the money, credit cards, a pair of reading glasses, but not make-up or the book I’m reading or an extra pair of shoes. I started doing this because I got tired of carrying both a large purse and a briefcase/tote. I always thought that when I was carrying both, it looked as if I was going away for the weekend!</p>
<p>H claims that my ideal purse is bigger on the inside than it is on the outside. He has a point!</p>
<p>My dislike of large bags is partially a reaction to all those years when D & S were small and the diaper bag was pretty much my handbag. Honestly, I kept saying there would be a ceremonial burning of that bag when S got old enough that I didn’t need to carry it.</p>
<p>I carry only the essentials in my handbag – wallet, cell phone, glasses, pen, lipstick, and a few other very small items. I don’t carry any makeup, or even a checkbook. I usually like having an adjustable strap on the shoulder bag so that I have the option of wearing it cross body. I just really can’t see the need to carry everything around all the time.</p>
<p>As a friend once told me, the down side to those classic Coach leather bags was they never wore out, so it would be hard to justify buying a new one. </p>
<p>Also, back in the day when it was more popular to match your bag and shoes (is my age showing??) I always hated changing everything from one bag to another. Now I just use one bag, and only “change” for special occasions when I use an evening/dressier bag.</p>
<p>I agree with previous poster…ellebud, I believe.
I have a Marc Jacobs bag. It was not cheap. But it is my winter/fall bag. I bought it two years ago, on sale and with a Bloomies coupon. Also look at the Marc by Marc line. Both of my daughters have bags from this line and they have lasted very nicely. </p>
<p>I am a believer of buying a very nice bag and using it for a long time. I do by lower priced “fun bags” and get a lot at thrift shops for rummage sales. But for my main bag I am picky and plan on having it for at least five year.s</p>
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</p>
<p>Exactly! Plus it should be made of gorgeous leather that not only has no weight of its own, but which subtracts weight from the contents.</p>
<p>I think I am going to get this bag. It’s a little bit (13x13), but gorgeous. I’m going to wait for the chocolate color.
[Must</a> Have Bag- the best Tano retailer online! Tano 4306 Stop in Your Tracks](<a href=“NameBright - Domain Expired”>NameBright - Domain Expired)</p>
<p>MOfWC, go for it. It looks gorgeous, and the leather looks luxurious and very soft. I’ve bookmarked the site :)</p>
<p>EK - I also had a Michael Green bag! A black Coach shoulder bag replaced it when it fell apart. Since the “death” of that bag, I have never found anything Coach that I liked! Coach marketing people, you really should read this thread!</p>
<p>I can’t believe all the responses! Thank you all so much. I also can’t believe how many people share my feelings about how important it is to have the right bag, and how hard it is to find it. </p>
<p>I have learned of many handbag lines that I didn’t know about before, and I am madly checking them out. I have not had time to look into the more recent suggestions. I am also a bargain shopper, and almost never pay full price. </p>
<p>Several people mentioned Cole Haan - I actually bought a CH bag last month! It was the Genevieve hobo bag, originally $495, on sale on their website for something like $249 (I think it’s still there). They were, and are still, offering another discount which brings the price down to just under $200. (Type in FALLSALE20.) They offer free shipping at $200, and when I called to ask whether I could get it, as my purchase was going to be something like $199, they were very nice and arranged it. The bag was absolutely beautiful, woven leather in a nice brown (saddle), but I was shocked at how huge it was. I ended up returning it to a store. The bag did not meet a couple of my criteria - the woven leather is not simple, and it is one big open compartment inside, but for some reason I like it. They do have a Genevieve small triangular tote which is on sale all over the place, but it is open at the top.</p>
<p>Other things I hate: grommets, zippers that show, contrast stitching, studs.</p>
<p>I have not considered cross-body bags, because I thought that they would not be attractive on a middle-aged body that is not as slim as it once was. Thoughts on this? </p>
<p>I am also looking for a wallet. I have a great Coach wallet that is finally dying after a number of years. I got this one on Ebay, where I buy a lot of things (only new; I can’t stand used stuff).</p>
<p>Last year I broke down and bought the most expensive handbag of my life. It is a jerome dreyfuss bag. It is the softest leather. My sister owns a high end handbag store. The Jerome Dreyfuss has been my one and only purchase from her. Even at wholesale it was by far the most I have ever spent on a bag. I like the bag but I wouldn’t buy it again.
Through my sister I have learned there are women who love handbags and have multiple expensive bags and think nothing of spending up to $1000 on one bag. I had never heard of Kooba till I went to a handbag trade show. There are some absolutely beautiful bags out there if you have an unlimited source of income. My sister said what many women love about buying handbags is that they always fit.
Momofwildchild the Tano bags look similar to the Jerome Dreyfuss but at half the cost. I also am going to look into them. I love a soft leather bag. I don’t have the shoulders to hold up a shoulder bag so I prefer a bag that can go cross body.</p>
<p>My best wallet is also a Tano. It has a zillion compartments but isn’t heavy. I have it in a soft turquoise leather.<br>
My most expensive purse was/is a Tod’s and I still use it. It is just about perfect. Soft leather, handbag style with a bunch of pockets inside and out. It looks like baseball glove leather.</p>
<p>I want to be buried with one of these:</p>
<p>[Createurs</a> Deluxe](<a href=“http://www.createursdeluxe.com/browse/catalog/product/218]Createurs”>http://www.createursdeluxe.com/browse/catalog/product/218)</p>
<p>A nice, unused Tano bag is being sold on Ebay, auction ending later today, no bids yet. Now at $35! The seller has 100% positive feedback, over 200 transactions as seller.</p>
<p>I am not drawn to the Tano bags; for some reason I don’t like really soft leather… I want more structure.</p>
<p>[TANO</a> SHOULDER STRAP HANDBAG BROWN ? NWT - eBay (item 260490018977 end time Oct-18-09 19:42:40 PDT)](<a href=“http://cgi.ebay.com/TANO-SHOULDER-STRAP-HANDBAG-BROWN-NWT_W0QQitemZ260490018977QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUS_CSA_WH_Handbags?hash=item3ca66a40a1]TANO”>http://cgi.ebay.com/TANO-SHOULDER-STRAP-HANDBAG-BROWN-NWT_W0QQitemZ260490018977QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUS_CSA_WH_Handbags?hash=item3ca66a40a1)</p>