Hot purse-uit: Naples womens and childrens center gets help from handbag lovers' auction

The right handbag transcends the function as a home for your Kleenex, credit cards and keys.

It's the declarative punctuation of a well-regarded outfit — eye-catching in shade, sublime in architecture, an engineering feat that ingests combs and checkbooks and still looks svelte dangling from the arm.

It may, with a designer's name on it, offer a quick status statement. And there's more, as Kirsten Ferrara can tell you. Ferrara is coordinator of the Old Bags Luncheon on Wednesday, April 4, where 350 handbags will be offered in a silent auction to benefit The Shelter for Abused Women & Children here. (For details, see the information box.)

"A handbag can be a focal point. It can be art. It even contributes to our good mood throughout the day," offered Ferrara, who has worked with some of the best mood setters in the world. She spent five years in the employ of the venerable fashion house of Louis Vuitton.

There she learned the skills of an authenticator for couture handbags, an especially fortuitous skill for this event.

Patrons will be bidding on bags such as a cobalt blue, butter leather purse with the Salvatore Ferragamo signature on its gold hardware or a tasseled crimson shoulder bag with the familiar Gucci double G on its flap. Organizers want them all to be genuine

"If you pay up for something you want it to be authentic," Ferrara declared. "We want everyone who bids to feel confident about what they are bidding on." 

Those who aren't financially equipped to go after a Judith Lieber or Kate Spade bag have a friend in Ferrara, who has been has coordinated all three of Naples' biennial silent auctions.

"There are bags as low as $20, so everyone from every socio-economic level who wants to help can be part of the cause,"she said. 

Along with name purses like Fendi and Ted Baker are unique handmade purses from around the world, clever cigar box pocketbooks designed by Cuban craftswomen, for instance: "They're all supporting different causes for women," Ferrara explained. 

The handbags will take over three ballrooms of The Ritz-Carlton Golf Resort in North Naples..

Some are new, donated by stores; many are like new, gently used by their previous owners."We count on the  generous nature of our community to part with these previously loved and lightly used handbags. Most are in brand-new, pristine condition," Ferrara said.

The event includes a luncheon to fortify the bidders and speaker Jennifer Hyman, CEO of Rent the Runway.

There's also a live auction for a single item: a Jumbo Classic Chanel black caviar leather bag with yellow gold hardware, valued at $6,000. Drawing prizes include spa days and a $5,000 VISA gift card.

There is serious good work at the end of all that fun.The shelter, besides operating a 60-bed facility and seven transitional housing cottages, works with women and their families on mental health counseling, job training, education and safety plans. It even operates an onsite kennel to allow victims to bring their pets.

The shelter's work has inspired Ferrara to return year after year. She still remembers the first handbags she received for that auction.

"Six of my girlfriends got together, and they showed up at my door with 18 handbags. They told me, 'We're here for you. And we really love what the shelter stands for. We want to support this.'"

Old Bags Luncheon

What: Luncheon, speech and silent auction of new and gently used handbags to benefit the Shelter for Abused Women and Children in Collier County

When: 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, April 4

Where: Ritz-Carlton Golf Resort, 2600 Tiburon Drive, Naples,

Tickets: $350

To purchase: Visit the Shelter for Abused Women and Children website and type "Old Bags" in the search function

Something else:  Cell phone bids on the purses can be made from anywhere  registering at naplesshelter.org/oldbags. Images of all bags will be on the web before the auction, but bids will be taken only on the day of the auction.