Black bag dilemma.

There's something about black bags that I just don't connect with, for some reason. I can only remember owning one or two in the recent past - a Liz Claiborne backpack style, and an oversized grandma-ish vintage bag from the thrift store. Anyway.

Like the rest of the women in the free world, I've been looking at hobos this spring. I've never had a hobo, so I thought I'd buy one for test drive purposes. I found one at the thrift shop, a black microfiber that looked practically new. For two bucks I had my test bag.

I loved it. I usually carry leather bags, so the practically weightless microfiber was a nice change. The unstructured interior meant that I could pop just about anything (within reason) into the bag, if needed. Also, I discovered that it was useful to have a black purse in my accessories arsenal. The test drive was a mighty success. I began s-l-o-w-l-y shopping for the perfect hobo.

Well, the other day my husband commented twice on the bag, and not in a good way. He wondered why, with the "cool" bags in my collection, I was carrying such a plain jane purse. He said, "You need a new black bag!" I heartily agreed with this pronouncement, especially since the hobo had been a stop-gap to start with. Let the serious black bag shopping commence!

You can probably guess what's coming next. Because I don't bond with black bags the way I do other colors, I've been having quite a time finding a leather shoulderbag/hobo I like in a reasonable price range. Reasonable, because it would be ridiculous to drop a ton of cash on a bag I already know will see limited wearings. If not for my self-imposed restrictions, I'd have jumped on the Marc Jacobs Quilted Ursula Tote in a heartbeat. So, so gorgeous.

These are the two I've finally settled on. I love this Donald J. Pliner tote. The leather looks gorgeous! I like the quilting, I'm a sucker for a tote, and the handles look long enough to slip over your shoulder if persuaded. It's $229.00 on sale at Bloomingdale's. Not bad!

The Marc Jacobs Eyelet Leann is the other choice. It's huge, and with the casual styling, it's more of a knock-about bag than the Pliner. I wouldn't have a problem toting anything around in this baby. It's $428.00 at eLuxury, and it's bigger than it looks in the picture. It's huge.

Since the bag is mostly for work, I'll probably go for the dressier option, the Pliner tote, but I'm still deciding. This is the kind of dilemma I like!

Today's bag: Pierotucci Birkin-style bag.