Fashion Fun | Handbag Blog from HandbagHeaven.com

November 18th, 2009

Top 3 Ways to use your Handbag on Black Friday

The lovely Charissa of Fashion Trend Spotting was kind enough to deliver two fantastic posts worth of Black Friday shopping wisdom. This week, Miss Charissa tackles the topic of just how to best use your handbag on a post-Turkey Day shopping adventure (aside from its obvious function as weaponry).

Black Friday is only days away and if you’re like most Americans, you are either stoked and waiting at your computer for the Black Friday deals to be leaked, or you’re already planning to sleep in and avoid it at all costs.

Hopefully you plan to put on your shoppin’ shoes (that’s what us Southerners call them) and grab your handbag that has the most room inside and head to the malls!

**Note to men: If you are in the dating or engaged stage and this is your first time to visit her side of the family for Thanksgiving. Yes, it would woo her to no end (and her mother, sister, and aunts) if you offered to tag along and carry bags. However, you might get beat up by dad, brother, and uncles. You see, Black Friday isn’t a typical stroll through the mall. It’s more like a shopping mall wrestling match and the only way to win, is to shed a little blood. Just trust me on this one…spend time with the guys (instead you can take part in Black Friday by buying her something online - check out these great Black Friday deals For Her from eBillme), let her do her Black Friday thing, and don’t ask how much she spent

Ok ladies back to YOU! As I said above, there are two important things you need for Black Friday - Shoppin’ Shoes and a Good Handbag with a lot of room!

I want to focus on the Handbag in this post. (Check my next post for picking out good Shoppin’ Shoes).

Here’s how your roomy handbag can work for you this Black Friday:

1. Stock it with Snacks.

You will need snacks like peanut butter crackers, mini bottles of water, or beef jerky packed away in your bag.

When you are shopping and fighting through the crowds it will take a lot of energy out of you and you won’t realize it.
And if you get to the mall at 4 a.m. (as you should), by 8 a.m. you’ll be sniffing out lunch! Grab and open spot on a bench and eat a quick snack, take a swig of water, and you’re off for phase 2!

2. Categorize your Coupons

Spend time the night before clipping those coupons! Even if you are like me, and hate to keep up with coupons, Black Friday is the day to use them!
Divide them into category, alphabetical, by store, whatever works for you.
Put each grouping in a separate envelope and label the envelope.
Keep them in order in your bag so you can search through them easily.

3. Stuff your Bag.

As you’re shopping, you can easily drop your smaller purchases into your bag to help keep your hands free for coupon pulling!
Of course, the bigger bags will need to be taken out to the car as you get overloaded with bag after bag.

I recommend these fabulous bags that I think are perfect for Black Friday shopping from Handbag Heaven - Zebra Print X-Large Shopper, Rachael Oversized Rhinestone Bag, Large Burlap Polka Dot Tote, and Alessandra Boat Tote.

The most important thing is to HAVE FUN and realize that you are saving a TON by taking part in Black Friday.

Next week: How to dress for the big day!

By Bridget in Blogosphere, Fashion Fun, Guest Blogger | Permalink | 2 Comments »

November 12th, 2009

Gunn Laws

I was perusing Marie Claire Tuesday evening when I came upon Tim Gunn’s monthly column, “Gunn Laws” (da domb name, right?), in which he delves into various fashion conundrums with his expansive wisdom and articulate wit. First off, I love this guy. I’m entranced by his SAT vocabulary and his perspective on style is admirably unwavering. (Lagerfeld for Prez and Gunn for Vice, who’s with me!?) I saw him speak at an Ann Taylor store appearance and he and his enunciation were just as glorious in person.

Anyway, this month his column tackles the ever-elusive task of appropriate ‘big night out’ dressing. His first subject of instruction? Handbags, of course. As to be expected, his advice is spot on:

“Why, oh, why do people persist in darggin around luggage-size handbags to evening events?…What are people think? Do they line these behemoths with plastic in order to escape with leftovers? There is an easy prescription for getting this right: The dressier the affair, the smaller the handbag. I want to sing the praises of the clutch style, which comes in dozens of iterations…My advocacy for clutches has casued some women to balk: ‘But what do I do during a cocktail reception?’ You place the clutch under your upper left arm with a cocktail in our left hand. This leaves your right hand free for greetings.”

He’s a genius, no? Insert wedding, birthday affair or night o’ bar hopping for ‘cocktail reception’ and you’ll see how this tactic is completely useful. I know from experience that it’s not so cute to lug around the equivalent of a laundry basket to a more formal affiar, so I for one will take this advice to heart.

What about you?

By Bridget in Celebrities, Fashion Fun, Function and Fashion | Permalink | No Comments »

November 4th, 2009

Book Giveaway: Closet Confidential, Style Secrets Learned the Hard Way

* CONTEST CLOSED *

The winners are: #3 Hannah, #16 savingforhome, #63 Vanessa Formato, #77 *eLLa* and #98 Jessica!

Thanks to everyone to entered!

If you read our last post, you’re now as crazy about Winona of the fab blog Daddy Likey as we are. She is an inspired writer with the fashion know-how of a true professional. Want a piece of her amazingness? If you just yelled YES! (which we assumed you did), you’ll be ecstatic to hear that we’re giving away FIVE copies of her book Closet Confidential: Style Secrets Learned the Hard Way.

About the book:

“With the economy in a nosedive, more women than ever are looking for ways to achieve haute couture without the hefty price tag. 50 Style Lessons Learned the Hard Way shows how. Author Winona Dimeo-Ediger mixes self-deprecating wit, fashion smarts, and bargain-bin savvy to help women become divas on a dime. She divides the book into 12 handy chapters covering everything from shopping for jeans (while retaining one-third of one’s self-esteem and half of one’s paycheck) to hiding love handles to the ever-elusive “looking good while jogging.” 50 Style Lessons also contains hilarious and useful charts, graphs, and math equations, including Maslow’s Hierarchy of Jeans, the handy Clip-out Guide to Wine and Hosiery, and the little-known Law of Calculus (the likelihood of a man noticing your outfit is inversely related to how much you want a man to notice your outfit).”

__________

There are three easy ways to enter! You can receive one entry for doing each of the following:

Tweet this giveaway and leave a comment telling us that you did so. Feel free to copy and paste this: Fabulous book giveaway @handbagheaven! BEST fashion guide by @daddylikeyblog http://bit.ly/3huKMw (One additional entry per day)
Blog about this giveaway and leave us the direct link in the comments.
Post about this contest on your own Facebook profile as an update and leave a comment telling us that you did so. You must include this link: http://bit.ly/3huKMw. Feel free to copy and paste this: I just entered to win a copy of fabulous style guide Closet Confidential: Style Secrets Learned the Hard Way! You should too! Check it out! http://bit.ly/3huKMw

All five winners will be chosen randomly on Friday, November 13. Be sure to follow @handbagheaven or check back here to find out if you won!

By Bridget in Contests & Giveaways, Fashion Fun | Permalink | 100 Comments »

October 16th, 2009

Weekly Blogosphere Round-up

Yay Friday. Couple cool things this week, guys. First and foremost, let us all wish a heppey, heppey berthdey to our main man, Mr. Ralph Lauren.

As discount divas, we’re all about Target. Like…I can’t get enough of that store, I swear. Target makes me talk like a valley girl with its crazy-go-awesomeness, I don’t know what it is. I just like saying the name: “Target. Tarrrget. Target.” Or, as le French say: “Tar-jay.” Or something.

Anyway!

We’re honestly COUNTING DOWN the days until Rodarte releases its discount line at Target. We found out about this glorious collaboration from our girls at Seventeen a while back, but it’s getting closer to becoming a reality in November. And we. are. excited.

(Sidenote: Can I just say that I love Seventeen magazine? I feel like that mag has been in my life longer than most of my current friends. Just sayin’.)

Okay, to wrap it up, we’re breaking out a classic. You may have already seen this, but we’re just going to remind you of the, uh…the diversity that can be achieved through fashhhhion. This look is not one easily replicated, though, as it turns out, is not completely unexpected from a Lady such as herself: It’s not easy being green.

See you next week, girls.

PS If you haven’t entered our #inmyhandbag contest, you need to get on that. For real.

By Terryl in Blogosphere, Celebrities, Contests & Giveaways, Fashion, Fashion Fun | Permalink | No Comments »

October 9th, 2009

Weekly Blogosphere Round-up

So how was your interweb week, friends? Mine was quite delightful, thanks! I found laughter, disappointment, mathematics and spiderboobs…what more could I ask for?

The Parent Trap, Lifesize and Mean Girls may secretly be three of my favorite films, but I still can’t deny that this is one of the most appropriate and hilariously true metaphors that I’ve heard yet. Lohan commenting on another item upon which she ‘”artistically advised”: “I call it Michelle Pfeifer in ‘Scarface.’” Hmm…

Say it ain’t so! How could you do this to me, Mr. Big?! And you met her at a bar? Wait, at YOUR bar? So you’re saying all I had to do was get hired as say, a hostess, and we would now be engaged to be married??

Ah oh well…I always liked Aiden best anyway. Moving on…

Geometry was always my strong point. Looks like the same was true for Victor & Rolf.

And to wrap it up, a little name game! What would you call this?

First, my turn. Cotton Candy at a Soccer Game. Now you.

By Bridget in Blogosphere, Fashion, Fashion Fun | Permalink | 1 Comment »

October 7th, 2009

Re: I Wish Anna Wintour was my Mom

Oh yes, I do indeed practice what I preach.

anna-shirt-002

And, for fun…

Terryl’s camera misuse/abstract art:

anna-shirt-001

By Bridget in Fashion Fun | Permalink | 1 Comment »

October 1st, 2009

Work This Out

Funny story: Last night, I went on a run. (That’s not the funny part; I do that all the time. I’m an athlete.) I get home and Britney’s still bumpin’ on my iPod, so I play the music over my speakers in my living room and start doing some abdominal workouts.

Because I’m tough like that.

I’m doing those elbow-to-opposite-knee things, and whatever else, and I sit up, hold my feet off the ground, and start doing trunk twists. Without a little weight in your hands, that exercise is pretty easy, so I start looking for “something heavy.”

Looking at my books, my piles of clothes scattered everywhere, my omnipresent notebooks and legal pads, I finally spot what I think could work.

Mmhmm.

So I grab my handbag, hug it to my chest, and keep on twistin’ to T-Pain.

Please, just picture this for a second: Terryl in the middle of her outrageously messy living room, sweatband across the forehead, with this deep purple, quilted handbag, replete with a thick, gold chain strap, clutched tight, trying desperately to keep up with the beat of the song AND sing along. Or rap along, depending on the artist.

Can’t nobody hustle harder than me.

It was a scene straight out of a Coen brothers movie, I swear. And yeah, I did feel awesome.

Needless to say, I felt really inventive. Though I won’t say “genius,” I won’t protest if you do. It is what it is. So have you used your handbag in a creative way? Any good stories?

By Terryl in Fashion Fun, Function and Fashion, Miscellaneous, Musings | Permalink | 4 Comments »

September 22nd, 2009

Fashion Week For All

Hold on to your handbags! Fashion Week is upon us!

A show of hands of those unfamiliar? Fashion Week takes place twice a year (more if you take into account resort and couture collections) in the four fashion capitals of the world – New York, London, Milan and Paris. Each event involves seven glamorous days of high-heels, models and very little sleep, as the today’s geniuses (Einstein who?) unveil their latest creations.

I was lucky enough to attend to craziness around this time last year as a result of my former position with Women’s Wear Daily. It was perhaps one of the most loco weeks I’ve yet experienced…my feet will never be the same. Although looking back from the safety of my padded office chair, the stress was nothing compared to the excitement of the celebrity sightings, the amazing style of the show attendees and of course being able to see the glorious garments from a distance of just inches.

Though not everyone gets the chance to be trampled by a model while innocently trying to buy coffee (sadly, a true story…), you can get a taste of the style with just a few easy clicks.

Click the runway shots for a closer look. Click a bag to make it your own!