Handbags by – Carlos Santana?

Carlos Santana may be “Smooth” – but he designs handbags, too. A contest on Latina.com recently has put Carlos Santana handbags up online, although Santana’s clothing design experience mostly now exists with women’s footwear.

Although celebrities design or inspire merchandise, with Jessica Simpson and Gwen Stefani coming to mind for trendy clothes and purses, how do Santana’s bags size up against the competition? These particular bags in the Latina.com competition have a typical style for 2009 – spacious, bold-colored, and with a patent leather-like finish. These specific handbags, although keeping up with the trends of 2009, use western and bold earth-tone colors which, although a bit different from the lime greens and yellows or dark blues seen on many handbags in 2008 and 2009, don’t offer anything innovative. Although nothing particularly special, these bold, solid-colored handbags would match with a variety of outfits of subdued colors – skinny jeans and a solid colored or patterned shirt are probably your best bet for these bags – and surely stand out.

So, why the addition of fashion to music? Although, marketing-wise, attaching the name of a musician who was known best in the 1960s and ‘70s, with a comeback in 2000, to a clothing line geared toward teens and twentysomethings seems odd – does anyone these days under the age of 18 even remember “Smooth”? – the fact that the handbags and shoes are stylish and relevant to current fashion trends makes them relevant. Name aside, it’s still a designer handbag and, although it’s not on the same level as, say, Kate Spade or Gucci, but it is designer enough for many women to want one.