Baggage worth toting around...

There a new trend floating around in the Caribbean Fashion Designer pool - High end handbags for sale on the low. I'm not talking about the usual pleather, 'Made in China' fare with with some designer logo stamped on it, eh! These purses, clutches, brief-bags, totes, carryalls, and statement bags are either crafted entirely by hand, or made with ultra exclusive materials, and they're definitely not found at the regular fashionable haunts. Let me demystify the entire scene for you, right here, right now. Everyone should be privy to where the good buys are, right? Especially us Caribbean fashion folks. Caribbean women are traditionally bag women. You remember the tanties and grannies and mummies who'd tote around their entire world in their handbags - you depended on them to have everything on hand in that bag. First Aid stuff, mini snacks, needle & thread, umbrella, coin change purse, spare underwear, portable/personal address book... Whatever you needed was in that bag. Much hasn't changed nowadays; the bags are still stylish and capacious, and we take those bags everywhere. Take a good look at that Sahara leather Satchel from Jamaican native Rochelle Thwaites featured to the left. Her design front, www.Mimeki.com creates those functional and delightful totes that are just right for the office or the weekends.

Internationally renowned/Paris trained Bahamian Harl Taylor is another designer who makes one of a kind bags that can easily go from Oprah's closet to an everyday style lover's hand in a minute. He keeps his designs basic by utilizing the weaving patterns that are indigenous to the Bahamas, but he also gives them an international flair through tweaking the colors and experimenting with a variety of palm fronds to produce unusual textures and weave widths, whilst collaborating with the craftspeople who teach him the patterns. "By the time a bag is delivered to a client, more than five craftsmen have had their hands on it,'' Taylor has said. ''I think that gives every one of my bags a soul.'' His bags are painstakingly crafted by hand, and every one is an original. And that would probably explain why the bag pictured here for instance, is selling for $1000.00 USD at www.woodyswellington.com. These bags are collectors items/keepsakes and folks apparently don't mind paying the price. People who own Harl Taylor bags are known to hold on to them for dear life, and will do so even more now, since he was brutally murdered at his home in the Bahamas on November 19th 2007.

There are those who create unique purses & bags through mass manufacturing, those who create by hand for celebrities, and those who take an even more intimate approach to the creation of purses. Operating out of Toronto & Trinidad, Verona Designs by Yvette-Michelle Cottle showcase the types of purses you'd use for that Christmas Party or on your wedding day. The bags are simplistic, affordable and stylish - they're made out of satin for the most part. Verona Collections also goes one step further by providing customizing/design it yourself services to clients who desire a more individual style than the ones in the Verona Designs showroom. Show to the left is the Blue Rose satin evening clutch that's priced at a reasonable $275.00. This is the kind of design that's versatile and timeless, because you could jazz up a casual party outfit with it, or just stick to using it for those formals. Verona Collections even allows interested persons to host purse parties a la Mary Kay Cosmetics, ensuring that the designs are not just affordable, but are also accessible to everyone. Keep checking out Au Courant in the Caribbean, and I'll keep you up to date on all the good deals.

Enjoy!

L.M.N. Harris