This is the season of the handbag. Whether your taste runs to conservative or funky, there is a bag out there with your name on it.

(Of course, if your name is Marc Jacobs, there are a lot of bags out there with your name on it.)

Here is where you should put your bucks this season:

¢ Expect to pay at least $100 and up retail. If you can only afford one bag, make it leather in a solid color that blends or contrasts tastefully with most of your shoes and clothing. If you can afford a second bag, make it your trendy statement with lots of embellishments, mixed media, and color.

¢ This is the season to be daring with color. Experiment with pink, orange, green and purple.

A mustard yellow handbag can be worn with blue, brown, black, white, gray, and camel, and it looks good with almost everything.

¢ A great handbag can become your fashion signature. Wear it every day to the office and with jeans and a T-shirt. Nothing advertises your sense of style more than a really fantastic-looking handbag.

¢ Great places to find handbags this season: Locally owned boutiques in your hometowns often carry unknown designers or local handbag designers.