Consumers are cutting back, even fashionistas, even bag ladies - yes, even I am. Are we maturing? singularly, most of us (and me!). Is there a higher cost of living? Of course. Perhaps, it might be due in part to a growing awareness of “right” and “green” and all that. Does the American public have more of a conscience with spending?

I for one have cut back on my IT bags because I’ve gotten my own apartment, am struggling to work hard enough to keep my income rising and fit it in with managing a home. As a first-time parent-free lass, I have a boom of immediately worse costs, as well. Most of that will get better, but responsible times are ahead. It’s today, it’s the future.

But one blog, Luxist, suggests maybe designers’ efforts to produce drool-inducing must-haves in fact brought upon a terrorist attack on arm fashion beauty. Case in point: Louis Vuitton’s “explosion” of popular styles all in one tote. The LV Patchwork Tribute bag may have been the eye-opener to strike some sense into accessory fetishists everywhere. Maybe it’s caused us to see ornate handbags as sillier, or perhaps designers’ creativity (and sense of aesthetic sanity?) was lost or temporarily damaged in pursuit of dollar signs.

It’s something to think about. But rest assured, or perhaps the opposite: the handbag is here to stay of some importance to modern, stylish women. Everything goes in cycles, so if IT bags have either lost their appeal or there just aren’t worthy gorgies to satisfy and salivate us — it’ll come back big time again. The market rises and falls, economies change, budgets are balanced and blown — and presidents swear in and lame duck-tail it out. Fashion is a vicious world of the wild, and it too follows the laws of the circle of life.

Or … perhaps the IT’s still got IT. I mean, handbag always trumps shoes as the iconic symbol of women’s true sinful desires .. doesn’t it?

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