The face-off: Splurge vs. Save

I’ve had a leather fringed bag on my mind ever since seeing one on Rachel Zoe’s arm and then on my friend Steph‘s friend, Terri’s arm (kudos if you kept up on that who’s who’s legend). So it was sort of to be expected that while in Zara this week, my eye went straight to this one (on the right) and also to its ivory counterpart. In the end though, the PERFECT suede (and Celine inspired) shopper tote stole my eye from down below at the last second and I almost faaadied on the spot. Like, i think I was actually talking out loud à la, “OMGGGGGG…I’m dyyyyyyingg.” when I first held it. Needless to say it totally trumped any prior lust-worthy sight, for the take-home.

BUT! The great thing about a fringed bag is that they all seem to have this luxe appeal– no matter what the actual monetary value (Zoe’s was surely expeeezyyy while Terri’s was a $50 H&M steal…and I’d have easily put money down on its designer cred, before she told me of its retail roots).

Translation: This one’s an easy high end look…for less! Case in point: This B-Low The Belt Twiggy style (left) is $444, while the tiered style on the right, from Zara, is $179. #How-do-you-like-them-apples?!