Vintage Leather Purses

1 / 10

1. Hermès is the handbag holy grail.

Individual must-haves will vary, but if you look at the handbag market on the whole, there's no other company that can touch what Hermès does. The brand is the best, bar none, and it's the only company that can reasonably claim that title. Lots of designers charge big money for their bags, but objectively, Hermès is head and shoulders above all of them.

2 / 10

2. Hermès bags always look expensive.

Ensuring that an expensive bag looks expensive is one of the most difficult things for a designer to do, especially when you consider how much wear a bag gets. Even vintage Hermès bags, with their well-worn leather and still-gleaming hardware, give off an undeniable air of refinement and luxury because of the fine materials and meticulous construction. If you're paying for the look, then Hermès ensures, as much as any brand can, that you'll get what you pay for, both now and in the future.

3 / 10

3. Status, status, status.

If you're looking for a bag to tell everyone who sees you that, not only have you arrived, but you've arrived with exquisite taste, Hermès will do that every single time.

4 / 10

4. No one does color better than Hermès.

Dying leather is a tricky process, and it can be particularly hard to get ultra-saturated reds and purples. Hermès has mastered it for practically every shade and hue in the rainbow, and we know that because the brand has made bags in almost all of them.

5 / 10

5. The choices are endless.

Beyond just color, Hermès' bags all come in a variety of size, leather and hardware options. No more lamenting that a bag in your favorite color comes with gold instead of silver hardware, or that you'd really prefer a smooth finish to pebbled; odds are, the Hermès bag of your very specific dreams does exist. (The trick, of course, is laying your hands on it.)