• Blue Bag

  266 Elizabeth St., 212-966-8566

  Like shoes, handbags are as much fetish as function, yet a handbag boutique is still a novelty. All the more reason to treasure Blue Bag, 500 square feet of revelatory carryalls from London, St.-Tropez, Brazil—wherever owners Pascal and Marni Legrand have been. This is where Kate Moss got boho-embroidered Antik Batik evening bags ($195 to $295) and where Jessica Simpson bought her Bulga “Butterfly” satchel ($495). With 28 designers, up to 160 two-of-a-kind styles, and Legrand working with the designers, it’s seldom the same store twice. Right now, there are lightweight raffia totes by Sans-Arcidet ($165 to $295), collapsible macramé baskets by Ira Salles ($95 to $225), and kid- and snakeskin clutches by R & Y Augusti ($265 to $345). Her latest: hand-washed lambskin frame bags by Strecker for $395.

From the 2007 Best of New York issue of New York Magazine