Photographer Tyler Shields is known for his weird stunts—last year he set a Birkin bag on fire. His latest project involves feeding a $100,000 crocodile Birkin bag to an alligator.

Or just the most vulgar and out-of-touch? That's the question on my mind after reading the profile in this month's Harper's Bazaar, in which the actress whines about how her (Jewish!) business manager is such a buzzkill about her Birkin habit and explains that the success of Modern Family has finally allowed her to…

Purses are both a blessing and a curse for ladies on the go. Invest in a good tote, said fashion, and so I obeyed. And man am I happy I listened to fashion. I love my gigantic Mary Poppins purse: It's the black hole where I throw in my makeup bag, tampons, books and magazines, miscellaneous objects found on the…

Exciting Thanksgiving news for all you exceedingly wealthy sociopaths out there. Gilt Groupe, the online provider of designer sales, has a very special, one of a kind deal for you this holiday weekend and is offering up a small selection of rare and vintage Birkin bags for a cool $59,850. Would you like to pay with a…

Days after commercial photographer Tyler Shields and his reality-TV-star girlfriend Francesca Eastwood hit headlines for lighting a $100,000 Hermès Birkin on fire for a photo shoot — and, astonishingly, facing subsequent criticism on the grounds of wastefulness, tackiness, and making bad photos — tongues are a-wagging…

California celebuspawn Francesca Eastwood got into some hot water recently when photographs taken by her boyfriend of eight months, Tyler Shields, ignited a fierce tabloid backlash. Eastwood, who is depicted lighting an Hermès Birkin bag on fire — one of the world's most coveted luxury goods, a handbag people pay tens…

It's simultaneously depressing and fun that a YouTube search for "my birkin" yields a subculture: pages upon pages of posted videos from psyched consumers (some regular fashion video bloggers, some in areas of the country that don't have accessible Hermès stores) displaying their goods. A number of the videos don't…

Jane Birkin says she doesn't mind that Hermès has made a mint off the luxury handbag that bears her name. "I got Hermès to fork out for my charities once I saw the fortune they were making," explains the singer and actor. "A certain amount of money every year goes straight to my charity and it will continue to after…

Jane Birkin, for whom the $5,000 Hermès tote was named, has only owned four Birkins in her lifetime. "I never have more than one bag at a time. I think one is already quite enough," she says. But they get a lot of use. "Any bag that's with me will take the same course as I will. It will take the same airplanes and…

Courtney Love — stripper, actor, rock star, widow, drug addict, Nelson College for Girls alumna, deadbeat mom, author, litigant, blogger, vintage enthusiast, and all-around Bad Girl — is an individual who seemingly has an uncommon devotion to making bad choices.

[Paris, August 25: Cats not pictured. Image via Pacific Coast News Online.]

• Marc Jacobs and his fiancé, Lorenzo Martone, are reported to have broken up. Jacobs flew solo last Tuesday at the wedding of his business partner, Robert Duffy. [NYPost]
• Duffy and his husband, Alex Cespedes, made the Times' weddings section. [NYTimes]

• Leighton Meester has become a face — a mane? a scalp? — of Herbal Essences. She says her personal stylist always uses it. Stars have to lie about these things, but couldn't they at least make it convincing? [Elle UK]

• Emma Watson has returned as the Spring face of Burberry. This time, she brought her younger brother, Alex, along for the ride.

• Katy Perry, like Lady Gaga before her, has succumbed to the charms of Jean-Charles de Castelbajac's fall collection. The singer wore this dress to the label's spring show — which is like wearing the band t-shirt to the concert. [People]

• Stella McCartney's fall ad campaign makes a Bambijoke out of all that nature imagery that suddenly became hip over the past few years. For everyone who's ever considered an ironic taxidermy at a bar and concluded, "Why?" [WWD]

• Victoria Beckham reportedly owns 100 Birkins, with a $2 million value. Although Posh's penchant for the carryalls isn't in question, we do nonetheless note this story has two pictures of her holding Kellys. [Daily Mail]

[New York, February 17. Image via Bauer-Griffin]

[Los Angeles, September 13. Image via x17.]

• An incognito PETA operative posing as a style-maven turned up at Donna Karan's Manhattan home on Wednesday; the undercover "agent" was invited in, offered a beverage, and when Donna came home, shoved a portable DVD player with footage of animals being slaughtered alive for their pelts in the designer's face. Said…