Halloween is upon us, and as everyone knows, the best thing about the spooky holiday is dressing up.

On the street,  fashion pundits are predicting that the trends for 2008 are the characters who stood out this year, mostly from t.v and film.

For the youngerlings, everyone’s favourite tween popstar, Hannah Montana; the High School Musical gang like Sharpay and Gabriella are strong favourites, meaning sparkly jeans, rhinestones, fringes and wigs are in order. Boys will likely be seen as The Joker, now immortalized in even scarier form by the late Heath Ledger in “The Dark Knight”.  Star Wars costumes are what I would call “classic”, but even more so with the release of the Clone Wars cartoon this year, we’re sure to spot more than a few Darth Vaders, Storm Troopers, and Jedis.

Current “in” personalities like the presidential hopefuls and Sarah Palin (who can forget Tina Fey and Palin in SNL?) are likely to be seen roaming the streets and parties this Halloween season, which I have to admit, I’ll be looking forward to! Olympic costumes should also be trendy, with swimming attire and medals ala Michael Phelps, which hopefully wont send the wearer home with a cold.

On the runway, its nice to see Brit handbag lady Anya Hindwitch (I mean, March) get into the spirit with her weeklong Halloween Extravaganza at her stores. What a great marketing move! Another great reason for me to head straight for her shops!

According to Vogue:

“…To get you in the spooky mood, the designer’s stores - as well as online boutique - will be hosting a week-long Trick or Treat extravaganza where, if you pick a treat from Anya Hindwitch’s Trick or Treat bag, you could end up winning yourself a clutch, purse, key ring or even a bag from the autumn/winter 2008-9 collection.

Pick a trick, however, and it’s a forfeit for you - in the shape of sinister stickers and jelly brain and lucky bone sweets. Do you dare?..”

The Modern Leo Large Tote

Has Donna Karan shown her creative flair, taking a chance in what could very well be a naff concept, turning it into something on every gal’s “I Gotta Have it!” list? or is it an attempt to salvage her handbag reputation by this “astrological” marketing cliche?

The Zodiac collection, which features, yes, bags inspired by the signs of the Zodiac were unveiled by the designer as part of her pre fall collection, which came out in June.

As Karan said in a WWD report:

“It makes sense — I live by astrology….I am a Libra. I can’t make up my mind. We never find a balance. We like it all.”

Picking up a Virgo handbag, she said, “I need a Virgo around me. Libras always need Virgos. My husband [the late Stephan Weiss] was a Virgo.”

“The challenge was, would I wear this bag? These I would,” she said and, pointing to a large shopper, added, “You know I will be carrying this for the rest of my life.”

The bags, which are now available online for around £1,300 or $ 2,500 at places like Net a Porter certainly don’t come at a cheap price, and now, several months on after its debut, it can be said that, in spite of their somewhat novel concept,  the bags have not arrived at the ” so last season” list just yet.

For Virgos like me, there are two models to choose from, the Modern Virgo North/South or East/West totes in waxed vachetta, which gives it a chic, weathered look.  Personally though, I prefer the Leo tote in shrunken lamb pictured above.

If you visit the Donna Karan website, you’ll find only some of the zodiac signs represented - Leo, Aries, Scorpio, Libra, Pisces, Virgo and the evening star (lovely roll clutches). Some of which, like Leo, have more than one design. You’d think they’d make one for the Taureans at least, as they’re known to have a weak spot for indulging in luxe items like these.

And lastly, I have to say that these new-fangled “exotic” names just don’t get me excited.

Shiny goat? French bull? Shrunken lamb? hmmmm….. Besides from sounding very un-Peta friendly, they remind me more of the menu of a restaurant trying too hard make ordinary dishes sound posh.

The decision between buying an original and a fake implies that one actually has the power or financial clout to buy a designer handbag if they wish. There are some times during the year when this is true. In the January sales quite a few designer bags are reduced to the price of ordinary top-end, high-quality non-designer handbags and so are affordable. There is also birthday time when payouts from various relatives mean a big cash injection that one can blow on a designer bag. In these circumstances (because they occur so infrequently) one can be forgiven for having that ‘must get’ attitude.

Splashing out on a signature designer handbag is a good feeling. Especially as it’s been a year since you bought your last one. This bag will help define your fashion year and has the power of making you look like your worth a few bob. Carrying round a £1000 Gucci bag gives one an air of respect and perhaps an illusion of financial security to others at the office, on the train or even at the dentist’s. In short, for a women, it is the secret to happiness…..

Fake handbags do not quite carry that same air. If they are obvious fakes, they make the owner look like someone who does not care for accuracy or proper fashion accessories. This is in varying degrees depending on the age of the owner. For a teenager, one can be proud that they are aware of the importance of good-looking handbags at such an early age, despite having a small budget.

For grown women, fake handbags are simply unattractive. Carrying round a Pucci handbag or worse Dukki handbag (as I saw yesterday on the bus) does not look good. Save up and spend or stretch the budget to a better looking fake. Better still, buy a non-branded handbag.

Why is fashionable gymwear so hard to look for? Urgh! Its bad enough that we are dripping in sweat while working out with our straightened hair almost frazzled out, let alone wearing unflattering and unfashionable clothing. When working out, I feel good about myself…I get a good sense of relief when I realise I may have just lost the calories I put one while indulging myself into a large pizza and fat, yes may I add FAT slice of cheesecake I had for lunch. As well as feeling that sense of achievement, I want to feel good about my appearance too…as vein as it may sound!

Clearly gym wear needs to be comfortable and that is by far the most important function gym wear should have. However, rather than having designer gym wear (like most women do) I would prefer to have stylish clothing.

I found some gym wear, here and there, that I think are good fashionable and functional pieces and thought I’d share these with you guys:

I found an ordinary black vest top that has a grey strip around the waist, topped of with a small center bow that gives the illusion of a waist belt as well as looking slimmer, even when working out (Clever? I think so!).

Another top, that I recently bought (and I must say, a good find!!), is gathered at the bottom and the two ends tie up to create a bow! Perfect

I’ve got a similar pair of gym shorts that have gathered look at the top as well and they go so perfectly with a yellow crop top that is also gathered at the bottom! (Ingenious :-)!)

I just need one more thing to complete my fashionable gym wear- the right gym bag! As a girl I love my handbags..God knows how many I have lying around under my bed! But guess what? I HATE GYM BAGS! Often I only find big Duffer bags or big Rucksacks that don’t look half decent! I wish there were just simple small (but big enough) and stylish gym bags out there.

If you know where I can find any half decent stylish gym bags please leave me a message!

Simple - why buy one handbag with enough figures to make you faint, when you can buy at least 10 fake ones for the same price. Let’s face it - even if we have that one favourite designer handbag we will inevitably want to use more than one handbag in a year. And not every handbag is created equal - handbags come in all shapes, colours, textures and sizes, each with its own use. Why limit yourself to just one? Replica bags can be made of exactly the same materials as their designer counterparts yet cost a tenth or less of the price - and all that just because of a label.

Here’s a question - is the average woman really a discerning fashion expert in disguise? Chances are no, they wouldn’t be able to tell a good knock-off from the real thing.  However, if you’re strutting around town with a brand new faux Birkin bag, and you’re dressed like you do your fashion shop at the local charity store, someone’s going to catch you out.

To some, buying a real designer bag and showing it off to your friends is a great moment in any woman’s life. Not only does your ego soar to the high heavens, but there is the added bonus of watching your friends turn a slight shade of green - bliss.