What is THE bag to have if you only have one?

[TomorrowYesterdayToday]

If you only had one leather bag that went everywhere - work, out with the children, etc and you wanted a few years at least from it being used everyday what would it be?

Budget to about £1300

Needs to hold stuff, not just a small handbag!

I am a Kipling girl they last forever, nice colours and nice and light.

Yes or a 2.55 and a replaceable le pliage for the kids stuff.

Prada Saffiano is beautiful.

A typo, surely?

I love my Mulberry Bayswater but I do find it heavy.

Chloe Marcie

Lovely bag, it would make me very happy. If only I had the spare cash.....

I've got a Lacoste small shopper. Very simple black. It's fantastic. Deep, not overly massive but suits days out, stuff for kids, evenings out. I really really like it, cost about £60.

Blah, blah, blah - different strokes etc etc.

I just spent three figures on a beach bag so I'm really not into practical purchases!

I have this in tan it's lovely. Haven't used another bag since I got my bonus from work, which I used to buy this and book family holiday. www.net-a-porter.com/product/408367

I have the ah zip satchel too and whilst it is lovely the Chloe is much nicer.

Why do expensive bags always look cheap? It's a genuine question- expensive bags always seem to have loads of links and buckles and zips - but in my head the more expensive something is, the plainer I want it to be........

If I had a lot of money and had to use it for a bag! I would get a glorious, simple bucket bag or tote made from the most expensive tan leather and by the most expensive craftsman. And I would get huge amounts of pleasure from knowing how much it cost , and nobody else knowing.......whereas, if you have a Mulberry or a Chloe everyone knows how much it was.

Fakes can look cheap, Martorana. Perhaps these are what you're seeing a lot of.

Oh no I can tell the difference

Lots of dangly bits- even expensive dangly bits=cheap looking.

But as I said, I would love an eyewateringly expensive bag that nobody could identify as such. Which rather defeats the object......

You need to enter into a secret pact with a guild of Milanese leatherworkers Martorana. I'd sigh up for a plain, unbranded but exquisitely made bag too

it has got to be a prada saffiano.

I've just bought this (mentioned upthread I think) at a mere £199:-

www.fossil.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=32553&langId=10&catalogId=25005&categoryId=335749&cm_vc=335749&pn=&productId=22555130&imagePath=ZB5258206

Large, leather, well-made, lots of pockets, etc.

Any more than £200 and I'd be constantly terrified of having it stolen ...

IMO you can get a good quality leather bag (depending on size) for £200-300. Anything more than that and you're paying for brand.

Personally, I like coach's stuff. It's much cheaper in America (they pay in $ what we pay in £) so I'd spend the money on a weekend in NYC and pick up a bag or two while there!

Agree re weight. I have a ysl downtown and I can't carry it, it's too heavy!

I'd get a tote and a small cross body bag, £750 each.

Bearing in mind that your OP says the bag has to go everywhere with you, I definitely wouldn't just buy one bag. I'd buy a leather tote (I love my Michael Kors one, with the dangly bits cut off ), or a leather pliage; a cross body bag, maybe from Marc by Marc Jacobs; and a lovely clutch for going out.

I find tan a really practical colour. I use my assortment of the above bags way more than I do my Alexa, so if I had to choose, I'd keep the assortment whereas I could live without my Alexa. Only relevant if you have to choose though

Also, referring back to your OP again, I find that even really good quality bags will only take a certain amount of weight for so long, so if you need any bag to hold lots of stuff for a few years, every single day, chances are it will start to look tatty before the few years are up

The 2.55 costs around £2500 now! A huge markup, I got mine for £1400 about 5 years ago.

I am currently coveting the Chanel 'Boy' bag, but expensive

Chloe Marcie hobo in navy. Bought bnwt on a whim on eBay for half its value with all the paperwork, been authenticated and love it. However did buy another bag for city breaks this summer as I've had designer bags with all contents and huge sentimental value stolen before

Coach Borough and spend the other £800 on something else. Or send it to me

"You need to enter into a secret pact with a guild of Milanese leatherworkers Martorana. I'd sigh up for a plain, unbranded but exquisitely made bag too "

Or Florentine? Fancy a fact finding mission? As my nickname suggests I do have some contacts.........

martorana of course you could go to hermes and custome order your bag,you could choose anything from crocodile porosus(the most expensive leather there is) or go for a more affordable box calf or berenia leather,their bags are superior,everything is done with great expertise,but seeing that you have no appreciation of good craftsmenship,I don't see why you should get one really,