If you like LV Bum Bag but not the price or the ubiquity, the useful move is to match the shape and the material rather than hunting a copy. The details that give a cheap version away are lining, edge finishing and the weight of the fastenings. Buying the same silhouette from a brand that makes it properly ages better than buying a near-copy of a famous one. Leather darkens where your hand sits, which is not damage; it is the bag settling. The groups below run from the decision that matters most to the ones you make afterwards.

What decides this is capacity, closure and strap drop. Everything else is preference. Two from the first group show the range: Veronica Beard's Veronica Beard Swing Clutch at $575, and Destree's Black satin clutch with braided passementerie at $550. The first is the considered buy; the second is the one to start with. Unlined canvas is lighter but shows every mark; treat it before first use. A strap drop under 22cm will not clear a winter coat. A higher price mostly buys materials and finishing, and occasionally it buys nothing at all.

Match the bag to the day, not the outfit. One structured bag does more work than three soft ones. From the second group, Veronica Beard's Jour Raffia Bag ($550) is the one that earns its place, because it works in more than one context without being restyled. The third group is smaller and deliberately narrower, bags, for the decisions you make after the main one. None of this needs the whole group. One piece from each is usually enough.

There are 20 bags here from 11 brands, $168 to $1590, all in stock when this was written. We would not buy all of them, and neither should you. FRAME's Sotheby's Small Tote -- Cream at $168 is the low-risk way in, and Isabel Marant's Tilpa Suede Bag at $1590 only makes sense if this is a category you already use constantly. On lv bum bag specifically: the difference between the top and the bottom of this list is real but smaller than the price gap suggests. Nothing here is included because it is famous, and price is not used as a proxy for quality anywhere on this page. If you take one thing away: if you would not buy it at full price, you do not want it on sale.