Bag Ladies.

We love a nice handbag as much as the next person, but Jesus Christ, people! According to today’s WWD, our obsession with luxury handbags has grown to such a fever-pitch that luxury retailers (and the well-preserved women who love them) are entering a proverbial arms race with regards to price and design. Says the paper:

Designer handbag prices have been on a steep climb for several years, ranging from $1,000 up to a whopping $148,000, and many retailers and designers said they weren’t even close to reaching the proverbial glass ceiling.

“It’s been astonishing how high a price point we are being able to sell, and not a few but a lot of handbags at these prices,” said Lundgren. “I don’t know that there’s a specific limit [as to how much a consumer will spend]. It needs to have a uniqueness and specialness to it”

According to WWD, fault can be found squarely on the shoulders of the middle-class:

“The luxury sector has become democratized over the last few years, so in order to stay on top, you need to go up and up and up,” said a spokeswoman for Louis Vuitton, adding the essence of luxury today is “to be even more luxurious,” with products attaining more sophisticated and “couture-like” heights each season.

Hmm. So maybe we shouldn’t have laughed when our friend’s writer-mom told us the other day that she thinks that handbags are symbolic stand-ins for vaginas. After all, with all the designer pussies out there now, we wouldn’t totally shocked if Park Avenue socialites started outfitting their vaginas in Lamberston Truex crocodile.