Everyone has heard about the famous designer handbags such as Gucci, Prada, Vuitton, Dior, Givenchy and such. But did you know that there are some very elegant, high quality and much less expensive handbags out there that can compete with their high dollar cousins on looks, detail, dependability, fashion and usability? That's right, not all of the well-known, big name designers have the bag in hand. There are some excellent contenders that will save you a bundle and give you many years of wear and tear.

While the most expensive designer handbags are in the thousands of dollars range, it is not unusual to find very similar quality bags and purses in the hundreds of dollars range. By hundreds of dollars, we're referring to the low to high hundreds but still much less than the name dropping relatives that demand a price for the name on the bag as well as the quality of the bag or purse. Accessories are often more than the actual designer bags, but we digress.

Some more specific brands to look for when searching for good quality and fairly well-known but less expensive handbags, purses and accessories include such names as Acqua Di Parma, AMA, Banana Republic, Bottega Veneta, Brooks Brothers, Jane Fox, Calvin Klein, Carolina Herrera, Celine, Cesare Paciotti, Chloe, Cole Haan and Costume National.

While these names are fairly-well known and have a line of very expensive fashion designs, they also have high quality but less expensive lines as well. Some of the not-so-high lines may be comprised of seconds or blurbs, however, it is unclear as to why the prices are less than the more exclusive lines. The idea is: as long as it's a name brand, who is going to know whether or not it is a second or a blurb? Very, very few people will know. The only thing most folks will see is the name and that's all that really matters. The vast majority of would-be critics don't actually have the extensive knowledge to know whether or not a purse or bag is from the low-priced or the high-priced line of a brand name. So, rest easy if you're not a person of extensive means. Those people probably don't run in the same social circles as you anyway. You have your friends and acquaintances and "they" have theirs.

Most wholesale designs are not the genuine article. This is not always a "bad" thing either. Most are look-alike designs and some are even of superior quality. The matter of taste is completely distinguished by the end user and if that end-user is knowledgeable, they will understand the intricacies of the designer bag industry and most can tell the quality of a bag from a distance. Those very well informed people are few and far between but most attained their knowledge via experience and education. Chances are, there are less than ten to twenty of them around even in huge cities like NY or LA (I'm talking about the extreme, genuine experts, not the "think-they-know-everything-about-purses" types that you see in every setting).

So, don't think you have to be wealthy to afford a very good, high quality handbag. There are plenty of not-so-well-known brand names that can be beautiful, stylish and quite useful. Use some of that common sense and a touch of fashion sense and you'll find yourself with a wonderful handbag and something left in your pocketbook when it's all said and done.