So I was doing an article on the world’s most extravagant handbags and I have to admit I was pretty impressed with the selection, even though the price tags of some of these bags went as high as $100,00 and more.

However there was one that I was honestly distraught over, mainly with confusion, and knew I had to do a bit more research on it.

Louis Vuitton is one of the most renowned designer names in the world, and I am definitely a fan.

The Urban Satchel however, which is one of their most recent and definitely most talked about releases, honestly has me baffled.

The handbag, covered in everything from an empty pack of cigarettes to a package of gum, sweetener wrapper, bandaid…

I understand fashion and realize that many of the most exquisite and desirable fashions are a little bit kooky, but this is just too much for me. Are people just riding along with it because they think the Louis Vuitton name could never do any wrong?

No matter if you live in New York or LA, I simply could not imagine anyone feeling sexy or fashionable wearing this horrid bag.

I have read some of the comments of the public on this bag and surprisingly, almost all were positive towards the bag and considering it as the must-have look of the year.

To me it looks like someone dropped their bag in a garbage compactor or left it in a bar overnight, but what do you think?

Does anyone else notice that Paris Hilton’s style seems to change as often as she changes boyfriends?

Now that she has been with boyfriend Benji Madden for a few months, she seems to have taken on his wardrobe as well.

The inseparable couple are almost hard to tell apart, both in dark ensembles of hoodies and tees, with sneaks to match.

Although it is cute and sort of sweet in a way…it seems that Paris changes her wardrobe every time there is a new love in her life.

At least these days she is covering herself up a bit - sorry A LOT - more, and they sort of remind me of a young teenage couple in puppy love, what with the holding hands, shades and all.

France has just passed a law on skinniness and I am hoping that the rest of the world follows suit.

They have just adopted a groundbreaking bill that makes it illegal for anyone in the country - including magazines and websites - to promote extreme thinness.

I think it is about time that a law like this was passed, what with the issue of weight and how serious it is in our world today.

Take a look even just a few decades ago, and our icons looked a heck of a lot different than they do today. Keep in mind that weight is an issue that affects both men and women alike but which is much, much more predominant an issue among women.

We always hear about which female celebrity has lost or gained weight and what it is doing to their career, and don’t even get me started on the fashion shows - I swear sometimes when those girls hit the end of the runway and turn to go back they are invisible for a minute as they turn to the side. This is not surprising since their waists are about the size of my pinky finger around.

I am a thin girl myself so don’t think I’m here having a hate on for these skinny ladies, but I do have a problem once I can count all of their ribs.

The biggest problem I have is that these women are creating an image for young girls to look up to, whether they know and care or not.

I don’t really think it is only the celebrities that we should be blaming, because they are having this sort of standard put in front of them and if they don’t meet it they have even more to deal with than us regular woman because everything they do is put on display for the world to see.

I don’t think any of us should be completely demeaning on celebrities or designers on this issue but instead help people everywhere to start realizing skinniness is not fashionable, and why is beauty such an important issue to us anyway?

We can still have fashion and all the wonderful things that come along with it without having to put a standard on the body size and shape that someone should have.

Taking a look at some of the other countries around the world, namely those that have bigger issues to worry about other than the way they look, countries where people really are starving and who do not have the means to resources as we do.

If we could all stop thinking about how we can take more and start giving to those who need it, we may find that we have some more important issues to worry about.

I have a daughter myself and the last thing I want is for her to grow up thinking she has to look like she hasn’t eaten in a couple years to feel beautiful.

I think if we were able to go back to an era like the ’50s where we had gorgeous curvy sexpots like Ava Gardner and Marilyn Monroe that we would understand, what we are seeing now is not beautiful at all, we are just used to it.

I’m sure that these women also had concerns about their weight but the difference is that they were not striving to be pin thin, and they had healthy, womanly figures.

I remember even just a few years back when the Olsen twins started losing a ton of weight - like they had any weight on them to lose in the first place - and everyone was shocked.

At that point, even in the media, skinniness was not considered “beautiful” or “in style”, at least not as much as it is now.

It seems that every single woman, especially celebrities, are worried about their weight - most of them openly - and are constantly trying new fad diets to get skinnier.

There are a ton of stars I could name just off the top of my head who have experienced a dramatic weight loss, and whether they claimed it was due to “drug problems”, “stress” or any of the other lame excuses they come up with, the point is that they are in the spotlight and have a significant effect on the way young girls think and feel about themselves, and so because of this they have a responsibility to take their role model persona at least remotely seriously.

I have to tell you, I have had just about enough of this nonsense. This is not to say that I agree with women - men too for that matter - being unhealthy and overweight, but for god’s sake eat something, just do it in moderation.

We all seem to have a problem with limits. We never know how little is too little and how much is too much.

The new law passed in France may not end up having as dramatic an effect as many of us would like, but I definitely hope that it raises a few more eyebrows and makes people - especially the authority figures in the fashion world - start to realize that this is not a joke and that it may be “funny” or “tabloid material” in the celebrity world but that there are real people in the real world who are growing up and believing that this is the norm.

Keep in mind that I am not trying to criticize anyone, celebrity or not, for having an issue with the way they look, everyone has issues to deal with and I think it is that much harder for celebrities sometimes because everything they do is set in the spotlight.

But what I am saying is that something needs to be done so that women around the world can stop feeling as though they are not beautiful just because they may not look like that super skinny model on the magazine.

We can still have fashion and everything that goes along with it without making anyone over a size zero feels as though they are worthless. I love fashion I always have and always will and I just can’t wait until our view of beauty gets even a little bit back to the norm. When we start to focus once more on the actual fashion, the beautiful clothes that are created and not on how skinny the person underneath is.

I love checking out celebrity styles, watching to see what they are going to wear to one event or another.

There are definitely some hot and not so hot ensembles displayed over the past couple of months, and here are a few of my favorite hot or not styles.

Carrie Underwood

I cannot say enough about this look. Singer Carrie Underwood showed up at the 2008 CMT Music Awards looking like a true star.

In an eye-catching cobalt-blue Badgley Mischka mini-dress and gorgeous silver strappy Rene Caovilla sandals, she is absolutely stunning.

It was very smart of her to keep her accessories minimal, as this draws all the attention to this super sexy and elegant dress.

The vibrant color is dynamite with her blonde hair and plays up her best features.

I am not always impressed with Miss Underwood’s fashion sense but this outfit I definitely give the thumbs up to.

Mary-Kate Olsen

This was definitely one of the biggest style nots in the past week that I have seen.

I constantly hear of people talking about how the Olsen twins have fabulous style and creativity, but while Ashley at least looks half decent most of the time, Mary-Kate always seems to manage to look like a hobo.

This outfit is no different, and although the floor-length vintage Missoni dress could look great on someone else, it makes Mary-Kate look huge and uncoordinated because it floods over her tiny frame.

Oh, and I didn’t even make it to the Marc Jacobs headband yet. Please Mary-Kate, just take off this disastrous outfit!

Heidi Klum

Now here is one girl who always has style. Heidi Klum always has it going on, and she looked beautiful and glowing in a purple mini-dress designed by Project Runway finalist Rami Kashou.

Recently Heidi was declared as US Magazine’s Style Icon of the Year, and it is really no wonder why.

She is definitely a winner in this figure flattering strapless dress, but then again, could anything not be figure flattering on Heidi?

The beautiful plum color is very summery and fresh, and contrasts against her ash blonde hair.

Heidi Klum is a beautiful woman and always knows how to play up her best features, as she has done here.

Gwyneth Paltrow

The ’80s style is definitely back and is … Ah, ha, ha, ha, stayin’ alive?

Anyways, Gwyneth Paltrow, although we rarely see her out on the red carpet anymore, certainly knows how to wow us when she does appear.

Glowing in a vintage Christian Dior gown in hot pink, Gwyneth was positively stunning, pairing a cute black clutch with her black sash belt.

The outfit is a little too matchy-matchy for my liking and I think she could have kept the belt and bag black and added a little something special in the shoes, but regardless she was striking.

All she needs now is her other accessory Chris Martin and she’s good to go.

Molly Sims

Simple definitely can be sexy, as the beautiful Molly Sims shows us in her sunny Calvin Klein sheath.

The dress, which is available from the designer’s Fall 2008 Collection, looks fabulous with Molly’s golden complexion and dirty blonde hair.

She kept the accessories very minimal, wearing only a small black clutch, black nylons and mules and small hoop earrings.

Not many stars would be able to pull this look off and it would probably just come off as boring, but with Molly’s gorgeous face and body it is definitely a winner on her.

I must say that there are relatively few pieces that cannot be somehow made to work and look great, but there are still those few styles that I just don’t get.

The Steve Madden chap has started to become quite popular, and even though I keep going back to the website and into stores to check out the shoe now named as “Steve Madden’s Most Wanted”, I still don’t see what all the fuss is about.

There are actually about 20 different versions of this shoe that Madden presently has available, some of which I will let off the hook for the time being while others I simply have to make a point about.

I don’t care who you are, you cannot tell me that these do not remind you of your professor’s worn out old shoes only with a heel stuck on the bottom.

I tried, I really did, to come up with any possible outfit that this shoe could even remotely look decent with, and there was nothing.

Unless you are dressing up as a senior citizen for Halloween, I can’t imagine why anyone would like these shoes - sorry Steve.

Then there is also the Shawnee, which really does a disservice to the moccasin.

Talk about bland and boring - I usually love Steve’s designs, a combination of youth and sophistication, but with these I have to say he has gone off track.

Maybe if there was a higher heel or the fringe and string were scrapped … maybe not. What do you think?

So the Junos were last night, and I was really thrilled for it, considering that Canada is my home country and I am proud that talent like Feist, Michael Buble, Triumph, and Finger Eleven all hail from the Great White North.

More than anything I was excited to see what everyone was wearing, and there were some really great and not so great outfits.

Okay, okay, so the Canadian award shows do not exactly stand up to the Hollywood-esque Grammys, Tonys, and Academy Awards of the United States, but I was really not worried about the glitz and glamor of it.

On a personal note I favor the Canadian award shows in a way because everyone is so laid back and relaxed - one of the members from Wintersleep, the band that celebrated their Juno win for New Group of the Year, actually even brought a coffee on stage with him to accept the award. I have to say I loved it.

Now on to the outfits. The star of the night, Feist, who I think was more than deserving of her five awards, looked absolutely adorable.

She switched into a few different outfits throughout the night, but each showed her unique, funky eclectic style and I thought they all looked perfect on her.

Avril Lavigne stuck to her usual punk-pop look, dressed in a black dress with white polka dots and coordinated shoes. She was more dressed up than I’ve seen her before, but without going too far out of her element.

So maybe it wasn’t the most elegant ensemble but she still looked super cute, and you could tell she was having a lot of fun and not taking any of it too seriously, hamming it up for the camera and carrying around her little streamer stick.

I have to add in Mr. Michael Buble here who looked as handsome as ever at the awards show last night. Not only does he have one of the most beautiful voices I have heard since Fred Astaire but he also dresses to the max.

For the most part the styles were pretty dull, with the majority of presenters and performers wearing basic black and no one really standing out.

Overall it was still a good show, one that I really enjoyed watching. It was laid back and relaxed, good ole Canada style.