Not so much: the daytime clutch
The second post of a three-part series on designer handbags.

There is no question that bags have become ridiculously expensive in the last year or two. Part of this increase in price can be attributed to the weak dollar (as well, as I explained the other day, as the fact that luxury conglomerates are all about the bottom line), but I think on some level, designers make their bags expensive just because they can. Also, they're becoming more and more impractical. Sure, it's big enough for your extra shoes, the Collected Works of William Shakespeare, a gallon of milk, and a small dog, but good luck finding your wallet or cell phone in the YSL Downtown bag. All of the latest Marc Jacobs bags have so much hardware, they're too heavy even before you put all of your stuff in them. And have you seen pictures of Katie Holmes and her giant Birkin? (Um, okay, if not, here it is, to the right.)

But the worst offender, if you ask me, is the daytime clutch. They might be smaller and more lightweight than the Monster Bags I mentioned above, but they're missing one key component: straps. In this day and age, a woman puts so much in her purse, carrying it like a football is just not a practical option. Not to mention the fact that loosely holding a clutch makes your more susceptible to a purse-snatching. Can you imagine riding the subway to work, trying to read a book with one hand, holding the subway pole with the other, and then trying to keep your clutch tucked under your arm? Or what about a day of shopping, both arms loaded up with shopping bags--where does your clutch go then? To me, it's obvious: in one of your shopping bags!

C'mon, handbag designers. Surely you can come up with a better way for us to spend $1,500 (which, by the way, is what the Marc Jacobs Hutton Clutch, pictured above, costs).