The Real Price of that Handbag

Walk through high-end fashion stores and you're likely to see handbags displayed on walls like paintings in an art museum. What they all have in common is a hefty price tag.

The current InStyle magazine includes pages of handbags, with prices soaring to $5,283 for a yellow leather creation by Versace. In London, the most astonishing arm wear of all may be a Louis Vuitton patchwork bag costing 23,484 pounds, or $45,235. As The Times of London reports, that's nearly $6,000 more than the cost of a new Mercedes. I myself would never consider paying that much for a handbag (cheap way of saying it...purse) even if I had money. For as often as women change "purses", it is ridiculous to pay for a name. For women of means, a four- or five-figure handbag represents a mere blip in their checkbook. Easy come, easy go. But for those with modest paychecks and middle-class lives, even a $300 or $500 bag can hurt a budget. And it is so true. I do not feel they make these handbags for the middle-class working woman. It is more for celebrities to strut around with their name!! Just ask a young fashion designer in London, who told The Times, "I know a lot of women who will starve to get a handbag. I've got a lot of friends like that." How ironic that the very objects designed to carry wallets are playing a role in flattening them. Although women are making more money than ever before, Ms. Orman states, "they are not making more of what they make." Offering one example, she writes, "Your closet houses the wardrobe of a powerful and stylish woman, but the dirty secret is that your credit cards are maxed out and you don't know how you're going to pay them off." So the real price of that handbag....debt, depression, and a cute "purse" hanging on your arm.