VALENTINA: Got a great one last year in Marshall's. I never heard of it either but I'm happy with mine. Wasn't looking for a bag - I have too many already - but the color caught my eye, a sort of geranium color in pebbled (which I have heard called "tumbled") leather, silver hardware and not too much of it and my prime requirements of zip top, not too huge, and shoulderability. I popped it in my cart and trundled it around gazing at it for 15 minutes telling myself I didn't need it but in the end I succumbed and bought it for $129. This is my Go-To-bag, and at least two of my friends have asked me to leave it to them in my will. I get many admiring comments on it from people in shops and on the street. I have carried it for more than a year now, almost every day, nearly year-round. Once in a while I'm wearing lime green or red which just doesn't go and I switch off, but as most of my wardrobe is black-brown-taupe-grey-beige-ivory, it works. The leather is really quality, construction is good. I still cruise the bag department at TJ's and Marshall's and a lot of the attractive ones are Valentina. It doesn't have a brand presence or rep but I'd buy another one in a heartbeat (if I "needed" another bag....).
I would never pay more than $200 for a bag and am not a label-worshipper, but of course mostly the good stuff is the well made stuff. Once in a while I buy a knock off bag on the street in NYC, their downfall is the hardware and no "bumper" on the bottom and the leather smells peculiar.
Gosh, remember when you were supposed to match your bags to your shoes??
