A lot has been written on handbags … and on women’s love for handbags … and on what women carry in their handbags … and on how much women can carry in their handbags.  In fact, there’s so much commentary out there that the title of this post refers to body bags (and not handbags) because I was afraid that any semi-clever intro that I devised would probably have been so overused that it would’ve been DOA.  (Get it?  Yeah, I groaned a little too.)

So, rather than covering old ground,  I’m going to jump right in.  After I had a kid, my handbag needs changed.  No longer did I need to carry just a wallet, keys, phone, sunglasses and lipstick.  Now I needed to carry all that PLUS snacks, my kid’s diabetic kit (since he’s Type I), some toy cars and planes and perhaps some extra socks and a shirt.  Oh, and I needed to have my hands free.

I used to go for the backpack, but let’s be honest, how stylish can a backpack be?  Sure, we all one-shoulder it and tell ourselves that’s cool, but at the end of the day, it’s still a backpack .  And then I discovered Mansur Gavriel bucket bags.

I love these bags for a weekend out with my son or on vacation.  The standard-size versions hold almost as much as a backpack, but they are incredibly stylish (you can even choose different interior colors (like red or silver) to offset your exterior color (like black)).  In addition, they can be worn cross-body like a messenger bag so you can easily reach into them to grab something.  And after you’ve reached in, you can just tie it back up.  No confusing zippers or buckles or snaps.  Best of all, in the world of handbags, the prices are relatively reasonable — $595 for a standard-size bucket bag with attached wallet.

I have a few colors of these bags given how useful they are.  I recently got this navy patent leather version from Moda Operandi (http://www.modaoperandi.com).  I really like the patent leather because it’s durable but adds a little bit of glamour, even to a weekend running around with my son: