My new favorite purse brand: Goldenbleu

While I was at the Billion Dollar Babes sample sale last year (a FANTASTIC sample sale with really unique designers) I stumbled upon a purse brand called Goldenbleu and absolutely loved it. Shopbop's designer bio says:

"Goldenbleu was born of San Francisco-based designer Rene Huber's desire for something more exciting and original than mass-produced, designer label handbags and footwear. Rene set out to create accessories that exude the quality and sophistication of designer labels while also embodying a fresh design perspective. Celebrity loyalists of the line include Cameron Diaz, Lucy Liu, Rachel Bilson, and Heidi Klum."

I ended up buying a purse from them (at wholesale price!!) and I absolutely love it. I wear it every single day and the leather is fantastic quality and is soft like butter. It is also huge and fits everything I need and more. I have my wallet, phone, ipod, airbourne, scarf, nalgene water bottle, make-up bag, planner, notepad, apple, bag of almonds in there right now with room to spare. As you'll see, a lot of their purses are really big and fit a crapload of stuff, but they don't look bulky and gigantic.

Here are a few of my favorite things from Goldenbleu.

This is the purse I bought. It's called the Delia bag and I got it in Navy. I was inspired to get a odd colored purse (instead of the typical black and brown purses that I usually buy) by a friend of mine who had this great purple bag. I saw an exact copy of this purse at Target made out of this fake leather plastic material, you know you've made it when the knock-offs start emerging.


The Delia and the Jordan bags are Goldenbleu's 2 most popular styles. I almost got the Jordan one but I liked the braiding of the Delia more. The Jordan is really nice though and has zipper closure on top unlike mine. Shopbop has 2 versions which i think vary in size a little. The Jordan Small Travel Bag (left) and the Jordan Satchel (right). Both are $656.00


The Katherine bag has Goldenbleu's trademark basketing detail. I really like this saddle color too. It is on sale for $545.00 from $649.00 at Pinkmascara.


This is the Sophie Bag in midnight. It is $768.00 from Active Endeavors.

Again with the angry models!

Goldenbleu doesn't only make huge purses, they also make cute clutches. Here is the Virginia Clutch. The cream one on the left is from Active Endeavors for $506.00 and the black one on the right is from Pink Mascara for $484.00. I have no idea why there is a price difference, they're the exact same purse. Personally, I like the black one better, it looks so chick and pretty.


The (really nice) ladies who were working the Goldenbleu booth at Billion Dollar Babes told me the brand had just gotten picked up by Neiman Marcus and the was starting to get pretty popular. In fact, while I was flipping through January 2007's issue of In Style, I saw the Goldenbleu Delia bag (the one I have) under one of the top 10 things to get that month. Now Goldenbleu's bags are not cheap but if you're willing to spend the cash they're still cheaper than the Chloe's, Prada's and Marc Jacob's out there and I can 100% vouch for the quality. They also come in very unique colors such as eggplant (a very pretty purple), mushroom (a gorgeous grayish color), saddle (a very rich and deep red hue), Moss (this green color that I don't love but is nice), cognac (brown that is lighter than the typical dark espresso brown), black, and cream. A few examples of the colors are above. There's some other ones too I'm sure. The inside of all Goldenbleu bags is suede also which is a nice touch.

Clutches

Last week a guy friend of mine pointed to the leather clutch i was holding (my favorite which i bought in Italy) and said, "I'll never understand these things." I responded with a tirade highlighting the amazing invention that is the clutch. After all, what other purse can fit your essentials while looking chic (and not taking the attention away from your outfit) and not prevent you from getting down on the dance floor by putting a lot of weight on your shoulders and making you all awkward, well more awkward than most of us look dancing. My favorite clutch fits my cell phone, tiny wallet with cash/credit cards, keys and my digital camera. Plus, I always feel so ladylike and classy carrying one around. It also proves the point that women can survive without purses that make us look like we just robbed a bank.

As with all pieces of clothing there is a diverse price range of clutches around.

For the woman with uh, no budget, there's this beautiful Bottega Venetta Gold Clutch with their signature leather braiding from www.net-a-porter.com that comes with a whopping price tag of $1100.00 (left). Or there's also this Tod's Marlene Clutch (right) made out of brown lizard skin (which might explain it's $1400 price tag)


Faithful Sex and the City watchers will know that Judith Leiber crystal studded clutches are apparently a must-have for any high society woman. But is it just me or are they kinda, I dunno, tacky and ugly? It's like rhinestone city pretty much only for a ridiculous amount of money. For example, this weirdo goldfish clutch which is $4495.00(left) She's got purses in the shapes of cats, birds and poodles too. To be fair, she does have some more understated purses which are more simple that aren't too bad. Like this Slender Curve Pave Crystal Clutch $1495.00 (right)


My favorite are the Lauren Merkin clutches. Her most famous shape is the Louise (left) which comes in over 30 colors, fabrics and designs. Her other famous design Eve (right) comes in over 40 different colors, fabrics and designs also. I can't really tell the big difference though, can you? They both range from $150-$450 depending on which design you choose.


Clutches also come in a lot of different fabrics with great patterns. AMICI Accessories has some great clutches, a few of them look like copies of the Lauren Merkin. I got a purse once from Amici and it was nice, however, the quality wasn't what I had hoped for. I especially like this Black Chain Reaction clutch $54.00 (left). It also comes in white and red. This Vintage Chocolate Clutch (right) is also nice.


Mango also has some great clutches. The one on the left is $35.00. The one on the right is $65.00 and I like how it has a detachable shoulder strap so it is a purse and a clutch. I like it in black better though.



Forever 21, Wetseal, H&M, Rampage and Target all have much more reasonably priced clutches. For example, Target has some great ones. Like this Sparkle Clutch $12.99 (left). Looks familiar doesn't it (cough, Judith Leiber, cough). I actually really like this, hmmm, maybe a new year's present to myself. There's also this Frame Clutch in the ever popular crocodile design for $16.99 (right). Or the Merona Wallet Clutch for $14.99 (bottom). Man i love Target.
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If a clutch still feels like you're dragging too much around then there's always coach wristlets $48-$128. It fits my keys, phone (granted my razr's pretty small), ID, cash and credit card, but that's about it.