Within the accessories industry, runway bags have a very special spot. They’re the most directional of a season’s accessories; they tell us where our beloved handbags are headed in the months and years to come and set size, color and texture trends that often endure for seasons at a time. Most brands produce many more bags in their full retail line than they include in their shows, but the runway bags are always the most fashion-forward and experimental of any given group.

Most runway coverage focuses on full looks, though, and even though we cover as many bag collections as we can, looking through all of those posts can be daunting if your goal is simply to get an idea of what’s to come and where you’ll be spending your money in six months. That’s why we’ve distilled all of that coverage down to a list of bags that not only represent the very best of what’s going on in accessories for fall, but give you some inspiration to start filling your savings account. Fall pre-orders will be here before you know it.

Mustard yellow is my favorite fall bright, and this suede Miu Miu bag gets both shade and shape just right. The collection had a few misses, but this design was not among them.

Everyone loves the Mulberry Alexa as it is, and with black bags shaping up to be one of fall’s biggest trends, this black-on-black(-on-black) version was one of the standouts of the brand’s excellent accessories collection.

Not only do I love this functional-but-luxurious Fendi tote, but I love its potential – it could be remade in zillions of color and leather combinations, and the clean shape and hardware will keep it looking fresh for seasons to come. Agree with me? The rest of the collection might pique your interest as well.

I feel comfortable saying that Louis Vuitton’s Fall 2012 collection likely contained more handbags than any other show in modern fashion history, but the travel options with glittering monograms were the standout among some furry options of questionable taste.

Lots of you zeroed in on this red Chloe clutch as a standout, and you were right – particularly if it comes with an optional strap, this bag will be at the top of my fall must-buy list.

I’ve always liked Chanel, but I’ve never seen one of their bags that I felt like I just had to have – until the brand’s Fall 2012 show, that is. A Boy Chanel flap bag in deep purple velvet? Yes please.

Valentino’s show was full of perfectly on-trend black day bags, but after seeing a full season of dark accessories, this little beaded number seemed like a welcome respite.

My positive review of the Balenciaga show was perhaps the most controversial thing I wrote all season, but I stand by my love for these bags! They’re the best of what Ghesquiere does with proportions and they look thoroughly Balenciaga, even if they’re not Motorcycle bags. If you don’t like them, fret not – there will still be plenty of Cities and Firsts to go around.

Chloe’s show was so stellar that it’s the only brand that gets two entries on this list of must-haves. What a difference two seasons and one brand new creative director can make, eh? This satchel harkens back to the days when the only bags that he brand made were It Bags.

All images via Vogue.com

Leave it to Louis Vuitton to solve a handbag problem that we didn’t even know we had – how do you get more handbags on the runway than there are models to carry them without weighing down the ready-to-wear? As it turns out, the answer is creating a travel-themed show, complete with a functioning train, and giving the models each a uniform-clad porter to carry her “luggage.” Vuitton took full advantage of these runway helpers, loading each model-helper down with multiple bags – sometimes as many as four.

That meant that we got to see a lot of lovely luggage on the runway, from oversized crocodile hat boxes to traditional luggage suitcases. Things got a little harrier when the show moved on to regular handbags, though, both figuratively and literally. While some of the fur-detailed monogram bags were lovely, other fur-covered satchels looked a little bit too much like Cousin It. Also, I’m not sure how high-end the weathered circular hardware closures used on many of the bags looks. As much as I loved last season’s Vuitton collection, this one might take some getting used to.

Images via Vogue.com

There are no two ways about it: last season’s Miu Miu runway bags were a bit of a catastrophe, even for someone like me who generally thinks that Miuccia Prada does no wrong in either of her lines. Thankfully, Miu Miu Fall 2012 is much better. The line doesn’t look like Miu Miu so much as it does Prada Lite, but the bags are bold, structured takes on traditional shapes – an accessories avenue that rarely leads a designer astray. After last season’s tiny, quasi-western oddness, it’s a welcome change.

The neutrals in the collection bored me a bit, particularly as part of a ready-to-wear collection that was so exuberant with print and color, but when the blues and yellows started to come out, things got exponentially better. The bicolor jade and red bag? Such an odd combination shouldn’t work, but it does. The highlights, though, were several options in inky azure; blue isn’t even in my normal color palette, but for Miu Miu, I can make an exception.

Images via Vogue.com

Images via Vogue.com

Excuse me for this moment of bluntness: Miu Miu should consider “refreshing” its handbag team.

I’m not saying that the Miu Miu Spring 2012 handbags are bad; they’re not. They’re fine for the very narrow look of this runway show, but they’re not particularly relevant to anything beyond it, and most of them certainly don’t look like what the Miu Miu customer carries in her day-to-day life. I’d carry one because I’m a huge, unapologetic Miu Miu fangirl, but beyond that, I can’t see these bags having a wider appeal.

Every season, I fervently hope that the brand’s runway bags will be fabulous enough to inspire the sort of devotion and panicked credit card-swiping that its shoes do, and my dreams are so rarely answered. Second-guessing Miuccia Prada is a rare thing for me to do, but in this case, a couple new members to her team might serve the overall brand (and handbag lovers everywhere) well. In the past few seasons, purses seem to be something of a lost business opportunity for the brand, and a well-positioned label like Miu Miu should be turning out It Bags hand over fist.

The handbags during the Chanel runway shows can be totally hit or miss – sometimes Uncle Karl equips his models with hardly any bags, sometimes they’re crazy-literal like spring’s sea shells, sometimes they’re just the same ol’ Chanel that we’re all used to. In the case of shows like Chanel Fall 2012, though, the bags get better and better as the show progresses and remind you why Chanel sells bags hand over fist in the first place. And if you’re a Boy Chanel fan, then boy, do I have a treat for you.

For Chanel, Fall 2012 is all about gemstones in their raw state. Perhaps predictably, that lead to lots of handbags in rich jewel tones, the best of which were the Boy Chanels finished in plush velvet. I’ve always been a fan of the Boy line, but after seeing the shape in vibrant purple and yellow, how much I’d like to make a Boy bag mine cannot be overstated. I need one, you guys. Maybe more than one.

Images via Vogue.com

If ever you questioned that Fall 2012 is all about black, look no further than the Loewe Fall 2012 show. Not only was the collection as a whole rooted heavily in every New Yorker’s favorite color, but the bags were almost all inky black leather. There were peeks of navy, ivory and baby pink here and there, but noir ruled Loewe’s night in Paris.

Also of note were the materials used; on both the brand’s classic Amazona and larger, less structured satchels, creative director Stuart Vevers used a leather with a heavier texture and more slouch than we’ve seen from the brand in the past. The effect is much more casual, which will likely appeal to the younger, more leisurely woman that Loewe is trying to reach with its creative overhaul in the wake of Vevers’ arrival. As the seasons go by, he’s looking like a more and more inspired hire for the brand.

Images via Vogue.com

My affection for Valentino Fall 2012, a collection from a brand whose runway bags I often don’t love, seems like part of a wider trend for the season. Specifically, if you’re a bag lover, Fall 2012 is going to be chock full of beautiful things for you to lust after and a few that you may actually end up buying and carrying, either for the season for for years afterward. In the three years that I’ve been covering accessories for this site, I can’t remember another season where I saw so many lovely handbag options on the runway.

Valentino, like countless other designers so far, made its handbag statement in black, first and foremost. Red and pale pink also popped up here and there, but most of the bags were shrouded in different textures of darkness, from intricate beading to soft pony hair. All of the usual Valentino suspects were there – big, roomy Rockstud Totes, little flap bags with the studs encrusted in tiny crystals – but somehow, the black made it all feel new again.

Images via Vogue.com

It’s been a while since I’ve seen a collection of accessories as joyful as those from Lanvin Fall 2012. Celebrating Alber Elbaz’s 10th anniversary at the previously defunct French house, every look was filled with enough handbags, jewelry, gloves and furs to satisfy even the most maximalist of personal tastes. Of course, the looks will be broken down to their elements for retail and you can wear just one giant mirror necklace or marble-inlaid (it looks like marble, anyway) clutch, but why settle for just the basics?

This collection is anything but basic, and I’d really encourage everyone to go take a look at the full look shots on Vogue.com. If you’d rather see just the bags, well, we can certainly accommodate you. Lanvin didn’t reinvent its own wheel with this line; instead, it’s a celebration of everything that has made Elbaz’s tenure memorable and exciting. Check out the full set after the jump.

Images via Vogue.com

I don’t like to dance on anyone’s grave (sorry, Hannah MacGibbon), but Clare Waight Keller’s second collection as the creative director of Chloe hits it out of the park even harder than the first one did, particularly when it comes to handbags. Looking at the feminine, luxurious, modern leather pieces that Keller’s team conceived for Chloe Fall 2012 makes it nearly impossible to remember the eye-searing catastrophe of MacGibbon’s last collection for the French house only a year ago. Like I said…sorry, Hannah.

The only complaint that I have about this collection is that at times, it feels more like spring than fall, which makes it even harder for me to conceive of waiting six months to get these bags in my hot little hands. From oversized bicolor satchels to smart, trim utility clutches, these pieces are exactly what I want from the Chloe girl. Want to be that Chloe girl? Start saving now.

Images via Vogue.com

The more I look through the handbags from Chloe Fall 2011, the more I wonder who the Chloe girl is. I also wonder if Chloe’s accessories designers know the answer to that question, or if they’ve chosen instead to hope that they can make everyone feel like a Chloe girl by creating a collection that eschews a unifying aesthetic in favor of encompassing a group of ideas that are seemingly not related.

If you like hard-lined, ladylike handbags in exotic materials (or bags with actual animal heads), Chloe has a bag for you. If you spent all of your childhood lusting after your mom’s Coach bucket bags, well, there are plenty of designs that look like those as well. Are you a hippie who likes colorblocking and whipstitching? You’re not left out, either. Of course, bags aren’t sold as a collection; they’re sold as individual pieces to individual women who probably don’t care what the rest of the bags in the collection look like as long as they love the pieces that they’re buying. Still, though, I can’t shake the impression that this is a collection without an identity, and I’m not sure how you go about marketing that.

Photos via Vogue.com.