Fall handbag trends: The best bag for your buck

This season, it's all about diversifying your handbags!

If you're a handbag addict, this winter season is the playground for fashion lovers. Past trends have focused on one bag -- one style for all occasions. Well, this winter 'various bags for various occasions' is a motto of all designers.

You can't force a bag's functionality or purpose. Last season it was all about the multi-functional bag; a bag that could do everything and take anywhere -- from day to night; from the office to a cocktail party; from the gym to a weekend getaway

Elizabeth Phillips, is the innovative designer behind, ELSPETH a premier handbag line.

"The complete bag should be stylish and practical; and it should fit the occasion," says Elizabeth Phillips, a New York City-based luxury handbag designer and creator of ELSPETH new york. "However, all bags are not created equal.

Here are the top four handbag trends for Fall.

1. Crayola Colors
The winter temperatures bring with them the dark and dreary blahs, and the winter landscape offers very little inspiration when it comes to color palettes.

With this, it is even more important to go a little bold in the winter, and the best place to start is with your accessories.

Winter fashion does not have to co-ordinate with the blahs outside. In fact it shouldn't. Use the colder temps as inspiration to warm up your entire look with the big bold colors of 2009.

2. It's Easy Being Gray
Although some may view gray as an "in-between" color, designers have filled the runways and their collections with this understated yet chic color.

Hailed as the new black everyday bag, sometimes a little gray can add a pop of color.

3. Go Wild With Animal Prints
Slither your way into a fashionable season with exotic purses. Bold and daring for day; and glamorous edge for night.

4. When East Meets West
These "too cool for school" bags are the big rage this winter. Whether you're hanging out at a local café or running around campus, these bags show off the downtown hipster in us all.

Structured for both form and function, the bags bring downtown urban sophistication into our closets.