I’m convinced that the perfect weekend outfit is perfect-fitting jeans, a simple white tee (or a button up if you have more important things to do than brunch and shopping), and a brilliant handbag to punch it up. This Yves Saint Laurent Medium Easy Tote in Orchid Leather is the perfect choice. The orchid is a stunning shade that’ll chase grey skies away and welcome spring with open arms. If jeans and a tee isn’t your thing, rest assured that this designer bag will add instant style and intrigue to any outfit, whether it’s a date night LBD or a skirt and blouse for work. The clean lines of the handbag make it easy to get away with the eye-catching color, but there are several color choices (including grey, yawn) if orchid is too much.

   Made of black supple calf leather, the Yves Saint Laurent Pierced Leather Tote looks like it’s perforated with tiny holes throughout the leather on the bag. The pierced effect gives off a sporty feel which is a great departure from the other YSL bags out there. While there are many new features on this YSL, some mainstays include the logo tag, side buckle detailing, and the obvious supreme quality of the leather. We like this not-so-structured design because it stands apart from their recent collection.

The biggest release from YSL in the past few years was the Roady, which launched last September. The Roady is an utterly simple design that brings in an added touch which bumps up the aesthetic. I know many of you did not like just how simple the original Roady was, so this post will bring you nothing more than the first. But if you loved the Roady and you love having a spring bag in your collection, the Yves Saint Laurent Linen Roady may be for you. 

If you clicked on the more tag and are reading this entire post and you like this bag, you might be disappointed. It is just not cutting it for me. Keep in mind I like the leather version, quite a lot actually! The linen Roady is just not cutting it. The body is made of a coated linen, which has both a positive and negative. On the plus side, coating the linen will make it much easier to keep this bag clean. On the downside, I really dislike coated linen (just a personal thing).

The rest of the bag is just like the other versions that followed before it. The single shoulder strap with hook hardware is the signature piece for this YSL bag. The drop is 12″, which is ample when it comes to flinging this bag over you shoulder. There is a snap closure, which makes getting in and out of the bag easy. And YSL finishes off the inside with suede lining and two open pockets.

Why I love this bag: If you like to have a spring bag in the mix, the natural (beige) version which is offset with brown piping and a brown handle has a very spring look to it. Linen is synonymous with the warm seasons and I can see this bag looking gorgeous with white jeans and a flowing top. There is also a red version, again would look great against spring and summer whites.

   Birthday girl Kate Moss rang in her 36th bday — a rumored engagement to boyfriend Jamie Hince — in Thailand, taking time out to step out with daughter Lila and her impossibly cool Yves Saint Laurent Downtown Tote in gray (what else?). From the fitted tuxedo jacket to the skinny gray jeans, the outfit is quintessential Kate, and the iconic handbag is just the icing on the cake.

   Spring time is all about looking soft, gorgeous and feminine, which is why recently Yves Saint Laurent created this lovely new Ombres for your eyes! Available in 5 beautiful shades, you can apply them altogether or separately as you wish. Enjoy this matt and satiny colors and you’re ready to be the Spring diva.

   Coming from the YSL Y-MAIL Collection, this adorable complexion palette is to be our must-have highlighter this Spring, ladies. Why, its fabulous shades are great for those who want to get a perfect complexion! Available in 2 shades, this limited edition palette is priced at US$65. Are you a real beauty junkie? ; )

Ahh, the eternal handbag questions: how much should we, as consumers, be willing to pay for bags that aren’t made out of leather? How about one made out of canvas? How about a really SIMPLE bag made out of canvas? Should it vary by brand? If it does, does that mean we’ve all fallen victim to someone’s marketing scheme? For me, the Yves Saint Laurent Safety Pins Tote brings up all of those questions and more.

For what it is, I quite like this bag. But is the bag that it is worthy of the price that Yves Saint Laurent is asking? I suppose that depends on who you are and how much extra money is sitting in your bank account.

If I disregard the price tag, I kind of enjoy the form factor of this bag by itself. Sure, it’s just a canvas tote, and it’s probably just like the canvas totes that the natural-foods grocery store I go to gives away. There are precious few ways to make something like this “high quality” – at a certain point, it just is what it is. Taking that into consideration, the graphic safety pins are still not only an appreciated visual departure for this bag line, but they remind me of the pins I used to put in the canvas messenger bag that I carried as a scenester and punk music obsessive in high school. So, it’s possible that I’m a bit biased, since this seems to be a post-modern rendering of the look I spent years of my youth trying to achieve.

But then I have the unfortunate duty of considering the price. If I had a bunch of extra money, I’d probably buy it just because it makes me smile, even though I think that $195 is too much for untreated canvas in such a simple, common tote form. As I stand right now, I’m a fairly recent college graduate that hopes to maybe buy a new car (Audi A3, come to me) in the next couple of years and upgrade my apartment furnishings, and a $200 canvas tote just seems like the last thing I need to be buying. Then again, I guess “need” isn’t really the point here.

So if “need” isn’t what we should be considering here, what about “want?” Do I want to pay $200 for a canvas tote of any kind? No, I want to spend $200 on a dress and sweater at Anthropologie. This tote may not be quite as egregiously priced as some that I’ve seen in the past few years, but I think I’ve answered my own question.

I’m normally something of a YSL fangirl, but despite the brand’s history of sleek, classic bags, even they make a misstep every once in a while. It’s a forgivable thing to do, for sure, but that has never stopped me from calling a spade a spade, so to speak.

Ladies and gentlemen, the Yves Saint Laurent Shopping Tote is a spade. Which is to say, of course, that it’s a misstep, as are all the bags with this weird raised logo thing that YSL insists on doing. I don’t like it and no one shall convince me otherwise. Probably because it reminds me of something…

You know those weird, raised tattoos that some athletes, often football or basketball players, have on their arms? They’re usually a Greek letter of some sort. Sports fans out there might know what I’m talking about, but the rest of you are probably confused. Sorry, but I just ate and I’m not about to start Google Imaging stuff like that for you guys. Just play along.

I don’t know what they mean, but I do know that it looks like someone did that to this YSL bag, and that’s not a good thing. They look fairly “prison yard” as it is on live people, and somehow I doubt that that was the sort of idea that YSL was trying to evoke by doing a similar thing to a bunch of their bags. Unfortunately, that’s more or less all that I can see when I look at this.

Not only that, but a logo like this completely forgoes the subtlety that I’ve grown to love from the brand. They always manage to incorporate their Y logo into the lines of their bags, and this flies directly in the face of that aesthetic. It’s just a boring brown tote with an unattractive prison tattoo.

While browsing Yves Saint Laurent new accessories line, it was the simple Leather Flap Shoulder Bag that caught my attention. I’ve always had a strong admiration for the loud and fun designer handbags, but the simple classic ones have always won me over. Yves Saint Laurent can’t get any classier than this. This giant tote like bag is detained by a silver push lock closure and upon unlocking it, a giant leather flap reveals a wide storage area of rich black suede lining. The supple texture of this leather gives character to this piece and adds a twist to your ordinary leather handbag. With its chic silhouette and modern leather shoulder strap, it’s appearance brought back memories of how much I still lust for an Yves Saint Laurent Muse Two bag. As I admire this bags silver toned accented hardware, I wonder if this could be the bag that’ll replace the Muse Two on my wish list? I could debate them all day but in the end, I have no funds for a $1,895 handbag at the moment. Maybe for Christmas… just maybe.

   What’s new for Fall over at Yves Saint Laurent? That’ll be a classic with a kick to it. Of course YSL wasn’t going to hold out their infamous Muse for the winter season, even if it involved the Muse making a debut in one of the brightest colors you could find in your standard crayon box. I sure was surprised to spot the Large Leather Muse bag in a summery shade of yellow for Fall/Winter, although it’s not the most popular seasonal color right now, I think the designers at YSL headquarters did a magnificent job of releasing something as stunning as this is. It’s the classic design with everything we love about the Muse but with a slight improvement on the rich calfskin leather, this season, the Muse arrives thicker and a lot butterier than ever! Shape, hardware, and lining are all in place, but of course, let’s keep on talking color here. I could never do with a yellow handbag, unless it’s as rich and muted as this one is. I would totally wear this all fall/winter long, better yet; I’d wear it year round. If the new “Topaz” isn’t exactly your cup of tea, check out the pretty new shade of Brown that’s new to the season as well.