Tano's colors: Good Enough to Eat

*Post submitted by MHB customer & guest blogger Christie W.*

There's a Tano color for every taste, and the colors are good enough to eat! I have to admit it was the amazing colors that brought me to Tano and have kept me salivating season after season for the last two years.

This Spring brought us leather colors like sour cherry, carmel, green apple, and pink lemonade. How can you not salivate at the saturated and bright spring bags you put on your arm? They've been fantastic, but any Tano lover knows you can't dwell on the past. Rather you must look to what you can snag for yourself RIGHT NOW. After all, Tano's colors come and go quicker than your wedding day!

Let's focus on the Fall colors that are currently available. Rich and luxurious jewel tones like garnet, jade, violet and ruby.

Leather bracelets -or- How I Rock Out

*Post contributed by MHB customer & guest blogger Nickie W.*

You know what they say about first impressions? You never get a chance to make another one. You probably only think about that when going on a job interview, blind date, or into a business meeting with new people. But you make and leave a first impression everywhere you go.

I can't think of a better accessory to tell people who you are than these amazing leather bracelets that appeared on Must Have Bag this week!

It's the one accessory that actually says "I'm stylish, feminine and don't give me any lip about it!" How often do you find that? (That would be almost never if you are thinking about it!)

The hand stained leather straps are beautiful with snap closures that make the bracelet adjustable and secure. Metallics and matte leathers combined with antique brass hardware and a beautiful selection of crystals or beads make picking just one almost impossible. And why limit yourself?! You can buy them to match your Tano bags or your clothes and never go wrong!

Straps range from 8-1/2" to 10" long and are comfortable and soft on the wrist. So go ahead...ROCK OUT with these bracelets! You know you want to!

The Remarkable Fashion Bailout

*Post contributed by MHB customer & guest blogger Nickie W.*

The Fashion Bailout wallet by Tano was the bombshell in my week.

Looking at the stock picture released by Tano my initial thought was, "Ah! A nice zip around wallet ...perfect!" So I placed my pre-order and waited for the wallet to arrive. (There's something fabulous and sweetly arduous about the Tano pre-order...you know the item you love will be in your hands...but WHEN? And when you get the shipping notification it's bliss!)

The Fashion Bailout arrived on my desk this week and I opened the package expecting something like the picture above. Boy...was I wrong. Feast your eyes on the cobalt surprise of the month:

Yes, it is a tri-fold wallet with tons of pockets, credit card slots, and (as if that wasn't enough) it is arguably the slimmest wallet I've laid hands on. Even full of all my wallet-fodder the wallet remains slim and remarkably tight. No flipping open in your bag with this wallet. The magnets holding it closed are nice and strong and keep a tight firm grip on the contents.

As if that weren't enough the Fashion Bailout has a huge zipper pocket on the front with a heavy duty YKK zipper. The pocket is big enough for a cell phone and and iPod.

The good news is that flame is available now .... and more black, garnet cobalt and violet will be in stock soon! Oh yes...I will have another!

Minilisa Mayhem

*Post contributed by MHB customer & guest blogger Nickie W.*

Tano's Minilisa is being released for fall exclusively at Must Have Bag. And you should count your lucky stars that you can grab her right now because this bag won't be back. (If you are new to Tano you need to know....they almost never repeat a style; a refreshing change from the 'mass producer designers'.... but if you want something, honey, grab it now 'cos when they are gone, baby, they are gone.)

The Minilisa has a roomy, east/west main compartment that allows for lots of space and the convenience of everything seeming as if it is "on top" in your bag. On each shoulder of the bag is a zipper pocket that easily carries a cell phone, gum, your keys.

This bag was a big splash on the small screen when Sarah Wayne Callies carried a beautiful Minilisa in the hit Fox TV series "Prison Break".

The strap is soft and the bag is a very easy, trendy carry. The pleated corners with beautiful silver hardware give the bag pop and character. There's certainly something both hip and classic with the Minilisa that transcends an age barrier. Young and old alike carry and adore this bag without looking as if they've dressed their age up or down. Tano's gift to any purse-lover....a bag you can carry forever! A junior in high school in her jeans and hoodie, office manager in heels and a dress, and an active retiree enjoying lunch and a glass of wine with her friends ....put a Minilisa on any of their shoulders and it's the perfect bag for who and where they are. Truly a rare trait for a handbag.

Making it an even bigger emergency to get one!

Tano Bella Leather = Exquisiteness

*Post contributed by MHB customer & guest blogger Nickie W.*

When I think about Tano Handbags the first two words that leap to mind are "leathers" and "colors". While Tano's color palette improves season after season, the same is true of their leathers.

But for Fall 2009 Tano seems to have really set a new standard.

Tano's primary leather for the last several seasons is Crunch leather. Hand stained and lovely, Crunch leather is durable, wears beautifully, and has a glow to it. A glow, you ask? To say the leather is shiny is not really the proper way to describe it. The leather is certainly not a matte leather but it's not a flashlight either. Tano Crunch leather seems to just glow.

Last fall Tano produced velvet leather. Velvet leather was a very lighly pebbled, shiny, lovely leather. Not anything at all like Crunch, it gave your Tano closet a swift kick to step it up a notch. Velvet bags wanted you to walk with your nose tilted maybe a tiny bit in the air.

When news started to leak about the Fall 2009 collection I instantly started to try and dig up information on the leathers.

Bella leather was described as "drum dyed, matte, smooth grain leather". Not enough to make me want to light a bonfire but, hey, info is info, right?

Then first few pics of bags made from Bella leather started to leak out. My ears perked up. A few more pics leaked. I got a hot flash. The moment I was able to pre-order Edgy Out There from Must Have Bag, I was on the phone.

And today my Tano Edgy Out There in Bella leather arrived. When I opened the box the first thought I had was "Stubben jumping saddle" ...because the beautiful smell that enveloped me was that of a tack store full of brand new saddles.

When I pulled the handbag out of its wrapping I was stunned. The matte leather is elegant. It is thick and smooshy to the touch. It's far and away the best leather I've seen on any bag (Tano or otherwise) in a long time.

Tano Bella leather is exquisite, soft, delicious, and impossible to stop touching. The Edgy Out There won't be my only Bella leather Tano bag...one is not enough.

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Tano Holiday/Pre-Spring trade show report

Hello everyone, just back from the Holiday/Pre-Spring trade show at the Javitz center in NYC. Here's the report!

Tano keeps pushing the envelope with new looks and materials. Tano showed bags that were irresistible for the price. The looks were hot, and the prices were great, in my humble opinion.

OCTOBER highlights:
Chamois leather group- soft, matte, pebbly, ridiculously squishy. Best colors: fudge, blue print (royal) and black.
Dulce leather group- wrinkled veg tan with subtle shine. Best colors: mocha and black.
Enzo leather group -slight grain, softer and not as shiny as lux, less expensive than Lux. Best colors: kiwi (olive green), celeste (navy blue), fire (bright orange), almond (dark beige), cement (light grey), dark chocolate and black.

NOVEMBER highlights:
Tumbleweed leather group- washed buffalo, rugged, edgy stuff that looks super cool. Best colors: black, blue velvet (LOVE!), and brown sugar. Chunky metal zippers, studs... rock & roll objectified. This is not your typical soft, squishy, commercial leather.

DECEMBER-FEBRUARY highlights:
New lux (the leather formerly known as crunch) colors will be shipping to stores. (Both new styles and the Tano "cult classics", except for the Sex Bomb and Minilisa, which are retired for the moment.) Some Fall 2 styles will be re-issued for Pre-Spring (Electrorocker, the Lingo, Postcard from London...) And there were some cute brand new LUX styles, too. Pre-Spring lux colors are: lagoon (blue green), toasted almond-(LOVE!), dove grey (LOVE!), cherry (LOVE!), baltic blue, bark (LOVE!) orange and black.

We'll post some pictures today!

Get Down With The Boogie

*Post & video contributed by MHB customer & guest blogger Nickie W.*

Have you ever found a bag so perfect....so wondrous...that you find yourself taking pictures of it hanging on a purse hook or you lovingly glance at it several times during the day? I have. It's the Tano Boogie Bucket.

Since the Boogie Bucket was first released by Tano Handbags in the spring of 2005 it has been the only continually released silhouette in every line, every season. And with good reason. The Boogie Bucket is both sizable and stylish. I frequently pack my Boogie with a wallet, wristlet, two cosmetic cases, a camera bag, a pack of gum, two cell phones, and my keys and there's still room to spare. Yet, filled with all these items the bag is comfortable over the shoulder and hefts the weight with ease. The wide, suede-lined shoulder strap will keep the bag securely in place no matter if you are bending over to scoop up your little one or trotting to the car in a drizzle. The Boogie Bucket takes on a natural, laid-back slouch that makes the bag literally feel 'customized' just for you when you carry it.

Tano's beautiful, hand stained Italian crunch leather is unfettered as the Boogie Bucket does not have outside pockets. With the remarkable colors Tano produces season after season it gives you the most 'acreage' with which to make a fashion statement. Nothing is more beautiful with a pretty grey pinstriped suit than a cobalt Boogie Bucket. And if you are spending the weekend browsing Barnes & Noble, sipping a latte a sexy black Boogie Bucket is just the little smack of elegance that dresses up your jeans. I bought my first Boogie Bucket in the fall of 2007 and the bag is still a favorite in my collection.