I genuinely believe that pretty much every woman should own a black purse (or a wallet, if you like). Now the question is whether to buy a black purse seasonally (the high street ones tend to be made in line with so called planned obsolescence - read more about the concept here) or to invest in a designer, more costly, however also more durable purse. Let's have a look at a brief run down of questions you should be asking yourself before when investing into a designer purse to avoid impulse shopper regrets.
THE SIZE
One of the key attributes of a purse is its size. What's the size of your every day handbag? Do you plan on carrying your purse as a clutch sometimes? Do you carry a lot of loyalty (or bank) cards? Some purses come in a shape of square, some purses have got slightly different angles and feel less or more comfortable to hold in your hand. For instance in some countries such as in Italy or Czech Republic people carry their ID cards around with them. For some cray cray reason Czech ID cards are the biggest bloody things in the universe and rarely fit into a regular sized purse (I may have cut the edges of mine to into my Michael Kors purse, cough cough).
THE COMPARTMENTS
Similar questions, very different approach. Even if you're buying your purse from an online store, I do recommend you go to a high street store and have a proper look inside. There's nothing as frustrating as spending £100 on a purse and then realising it doesn't have enough card compartments or no coin section. *the dread*
THE MATERIAL & FINISH
Saying that a black purse is the universal solution to your purse prayers is probably pushing it a little too far. There's no such thing as just a black purse. Not only that they come in different types of material - from faux leather to cowhide and exotic leathers such as ostrich - they also come in a ton of different finishes from patent to a snake finish on cowhide. Pick the finish wisely - for instance I know I go through 'patent leather' phases quite often but then I get very quickly bored of it at the same time. Having an every day purse in patent leather can be practical (it's easy to treat for stains etc) but it might not go with say your shoes or a handbag if you never ever wear anything in patent leather in general. See the complexity of buying a purse? Immense!
THE BRAND & PRICE
Two deal breakers - the brand and the price. There are two camps of people - the ones who care for the brand and don't care for the price. And then the ones who care for the price (possibly looking at budgets here) but don't bother with the brand as much. Both have got their advantages and disadvantages as it goes - if you care for the brand then your search is easier. Plus you probably already have the handbag from the same designer, so it's quite simples! If you care for saving a few pennies and what you're really looking for is a good quality designer purse not necessarily from a headliner collection then it might be slightly more difficult for you but definitely more budget friendly - you might even get a lovely purse for as little as £50.
Now here's a selection of purses from ShopBop. The wallets at ShopBop are honestly gorgeous and you get a good selection of both brands and designs for reasonable prices - and you might even get yourself a bargain when the sale is on! All of the purses in the picture above are from ShopBob.
What do you think about investing into key fashion pieces?