Dress Style

I am not a purse person. not an 'it' bag girl. i don't care who's carrying which purse or which designer has come out with the latest or greatest. i would go as far as to say that I might even dislike designer bags. if it has a logo, a chain, a huge buckle or heavy piece of metal, chances are I won't be bothered to look twice. I don't like wearing logo clothing/tees and the same goes for handbags. metal on handbags just doesn't do it for me- anyone else feel the same way?
I would much rather pay attention to garments and to an extent shoes when dressing myself and shopping. I just think when bags get to a certain tacky level, they distract from the outfit rather then complimenting it. i've even become so detached to handbags that I leave my huge handmade carry all at my desk at work and go out with my small moleskin notebook with its convenient back pocket, which since my trip to NYC has become my wallet.

Recently though, these Marc Jacobs handbags caught my eye:

What I like about these handbags is the overall conceptual design and not the actual design (have never owned a yellow bag, don't think i will anytime soon, and all that gold hardware scares me away) i love the concept of putting things where they don't usually belong- in garments: making the armholes into pantlegs, making cuffs into ruffles, making sleeves into belts, etc.
my first reaction to these was- what a great DIY, but the idea took a back seat to all the other things I had going on in my sketch books (besides I don't have the tools or hardware to make the something similar to the little attached purses on the front) UNTIL i stepped into my favorite charity shop and spotted the perfect vintage clutch with tortoise closure. for less then 10 dollars i brought it home and to my delight, the leather even matched the meters and meters of a textured leather I had bought earlier this year. tada!- here's prototype 1 of my DIY version of the above Marc Jacobs handbags:




I'm pleased with the overall effect but am going to re-tackle the actual shape and construction of the large purse. I want to experiment with different handle options as well as elongating the whole thing. I love the contrasting textures of the two leathers and i'm already in the planning stages of prototype 2.