One of my favorite companies, Belen Echandia, is having a wonderful giveaway this month, The Big November Giveaway. This is an unbelievable chance to get a gift card for the best handbags I’ve every seen! A huge thank you to the Belen Echandia team for this great giveaway!
Handbags
One Day Business Trip & Handbag Choices
Today I took a single day business trip. It involved hours of driving and only a few hours in the office. I had to select a bag to take with me. I thought it could be interesting to share the criteria I used and the final bag selection.
- Professional – The office I went to today is the corporate headquarters for a very conservative company. While I like my more fun bags, I knew that today they wouldn’t go over well.
- Medium Sized – I could not carry around a huge bag today, nor could I carry a tiny bag. I needed something medium sized to hold all the items I needed but not look out of place in the conservative environment. I was giving a presentation and a large bag would not have gone over well with the audience. A tiny bag wouldn’t have carried everything I needed.
- Shoulder Bag – I knew that today would involve walking between buildings and in and out of a few restaurants. I love hand carry bags, but I just could not do a hand carry a bag today. I needed to carry a cup of tea, swipe & present badges and carry my bag. This made a shoulder bag the best option.
After going over my list of criteria, I selected my Petrol Sheen Make Me Smile Midi.
Giving the Rock Me a Chance
After my last post about Rethinking the Rock Me, I decided to jump in and get a Rock Me. Jackie, of course, made it super easy and fun to order the bag. With her help, I will soon be the very happy owner of a Dark Purple Rock Me. I can’t wait to get the bag and write all about it! I’ll be sure to post more about it here.
Rethinking the Rock Me
Honestly, when I first saw the Rock Me from Belen Echandia it didn’t draw me in. While it looked awesome on the model I just couldn’t figure out how it would fit into my handbag wardrobe. I have 2 large totes already (neither leather). I just didn’t see how a leather tote would fit in. So I moved my focus elsewhere.
Three weeks later and I haven’t managed to get the Rock Me out of my mind. It just looks so fun and chic at the same time. It should easily make the transitions I demand of my handbags, work, casual and play. I’ve also learned that if Jackie raves about a bag, I’m going to like it! The tipping point came a few nights ago when I actually dreamt about the Rock Me. Of course that’s the only other thing I remember from the dream was I felt fabulous! I can’t even remember the colour of the Rock Me in my dream. So now I have to figure out what leather I want and when I can lay my hands on my ‘dream’ bag.
Loving L.A.M.B.
I need to write about the other handbag company I love, L.A.M.B. L.A.M.B. is really the first handbag company I really fell for. I really love Gwen Stefani’s style, it’s so very her. I think it’s great that she’s so involved with the designs and only carries her own handbags. She’s a great spokes model for her line!
Most L.A.M.B. bags make the crucial work life/personal life transition that I require.  I have a few bags that are too casual for work, but I bought them with only casual usage in mind so it’s okay.
A big part of me loves structured handbags. My favorite structured L.A.M.B. has got to be the Mandeville. I have a bunch of them. It’s big enough to carry all of my regular kit with some room to spare, but not so huge I look like I’m carrying everything I own. It’s really a great daily bag for me, which is why I own so many.
L.A.M.B. gives me a great way to inject a fresh and a little funky style into my wardrobe. I’m normally very conservative with the way I dress, so L.A.M.B. adds to that little extra something to my outfits. It’s really a fun way to spice out an outfit or a day!
I’m planning to write more about L.A.M.B. and feature a Mandeville in Handbag Diary. So this isn’t the last you’ll read about them
Belen Echandia Wishlist
In a previous post I waxed un-poetically about my love of Belen Echandia. Since I love talking about Belen Echandia so much, I thought I’d share my current wishlist of their yummy bags. Now, in no particular order…..
RaeBelle’s Belen Echandia Wishlist as of 2009-09-10
I’m Beautiful in Dark Purple pebbled or Navy Glossy.
I have 2 laptop bags that I can use for my work laptop. But I don’t really love carrying either one. They’re functional and they get the job done. They just scream laptop bag, which does scream steal me when I’m traveling on business. I work in a conservative industry, so I think Purple is about a ‘crazy’ as I can get with the colour leather. It’s just a really hard decision between the 2 options. Either leather would be great, I know it. I just need to decide which bag is calling to me.
Take Me Away Mini in a Brown or Purple leather I think
What isn’t there to love about this bag? It just looks so functional. It would be great for day trips or when I have a short business trip and can pack light. And the style! It’s structured, streamlined and stunning. I love structured bags and this bag has called to me since the first time I saw it on the website. Again, picking a colour and a leather type is important here. Especially if I’m planning on traveling with it. I want a leather that will stand up to being stuffed under a seat or in a compartment and still look beautiful. Brown and Purple would fit my travel lifestyle well. I try to avoid black bags because I never want someone to think my bag is theirs.
Take Me Everywhere in leather yet to be determined
As stunning as the Love Me is, I just like the look of the Take Me Everywhere a bit more. The styles are so close, so I can’t put my finger on it. But I’ve learned not to question my instincts with things like this. If I’m drawn, I am. However, I need to figure out how it fits into my handbag wardrobe. That will help me determine the leather type and colour. I’ll keep reading about how others use there to help me determine how I might use mine.
Clutch Me in something functional for work and play
Yet another bag that I’m just not sure which leather type and colour I really want. This is a large clutch which just seems so darn useful. I have small bags but not a single true clutch. I also think this would work beautifully when traveling on business. I could pack it in my carry on and use the Clutch Me for the office and dinner after. If I’m thinking about using this for business, again I can’t have anything to flashy or out-there.
Kiss Me Clutch in as many leathers as I can justify 🙂
This little bag/accessory is adorable! It looks a bit bigger than the Angel Purse, which is wonderful itself. I don’t use a organizer in my bags, I prefer to use small bags to organize my kit. It’s really looks perfect for my needs. It could be used to organize or if I only need a few things, I could just carry it. I just need to get one to make sure I’m right, and see how many others I can rationalize.
So I clearly have some more work to on picking leathers, you’ve got to start somewhere.
Belen Echandia Love
I’m a huge fan of Belen Echandia handbags http://www.belenechandia.com/ The designs are beautiful to look at and still completely practical for my lifestyle. I need a bag that can go from my casual personal life and still look great a dressed up for my professional life. There are so many Belen Echandia bags that fit that criteria!
One of my favorite offerings from Belen Echandia is BE Couture. You can select from the many leather options and handbag styles to create a bag that’s entirely personalized to you. How many places let you do that? It’s really great. I can’t wait until my first Couture bag arrives!
Jackie, the CEO, is an absolute delight to work with, as is the rest of her staff. They’ve all been patient and helpful whenever I’ve corresponded with them. :) Even if the response times sometimes worry me (are they getting enough sleep?)
I could go on and on and maybe I will later. Check out Belen Echandia if you haven’t already. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!