According to a graphic design professor I had in college, the vast majority of the US population chooses blue as their favorite color, and it’s relatively uncommon to find someone that chooses differently. Before she shared this factoid with us, she went around the room and asked everyone in the twenty-person class what color they liked best. Indeed, 19 people said blue. I was the lone holdout – my favorite color has been red for a long, long time (when I was very little, it was black). And not just any red – more specifically, scarlet. Not quite dark enough to be maroon, but darker and richer than a fire engine. I am endlessly in search of bags (and anything else) that fit this criteria, and in my experience, a good red bag is unfortunately hard to find.Which is why I was so pleased to see the brand new Burberry Leather Satchel. Because of the nature of red pigmentation, in can be really difficult to get a rich color on leather and red bags often lack the pop that I desire. Not so with this purse, though – the red is deep and lovely (patent or glazed red bags usually have better luck getting this effect) and the bag’s design is simple enough to show off the great color.

Any time I see a bag like this from Fendi, I always get nostalgic for the early aughts and Sex and the City. Back then, baguettes ruled the handbag world and those four girls always had someplace to carry a sparkly, beaded, obnoxious bag (not to mention something fabulous with which to wear it). And despite the fact that I love the reminder of that period of time, I think that’s my chief criticism of the Fendi Beaded Clutch.It feels just like Sex and the City did, which is to say it doesn’t feel new. Fendi, as a brand, seems to be stuck circa 1999 in their accessories department, and although the baguettes are an important part of handbag history, I wish they’d innovate a little more. The Spy bag was great, of course, and a lot of people liked the B-Bag, but if you’re only producing two popular handbags per decade, you need to get with the program. As a brand, they’ve got such amazing resources and possibilities, I’m not sure why they’re still living in the past.