Big leather tote bag inspiration - and bargains

A big black rustic leather tote can transport your schlep from frumpy to fabulous. Imagine tucking your stuff into a supple $2,000 Celine lambskin tote. Transformative, no?

Fortunately you can DIY this. Or buy a very similar bag for about $150 or a faux leather version for less than $12.

Relish the tote of my dreams. Big, simple, spacious and on the arm of every fashion blogger. The Celine bag at Andy Heart and on Lily Aldridge at Refinery 29.

Above, the Celine tote at Damsel in Dior. Below, the Celine tote on Nikolina Fridman.

Now for some lovely bags that are not, in fact, the Celine tote. But look a lot like it.

Below is the Baggu tote in leather available at Urban Outfitters and elsewhere for $240 as seen at Kendi Everyday.  (Kendi also very often carries the Madewell Transport Tote, which is pretty similar at $268.)

And a real bargain in real leather is the Cuyana tote for $150. See it below on Krystal Schlegel.

For faux leather look alikes, consider the reversible faux leather tote for $59 at Urban Outfitters.

Mango has a similar faux leather tote for the amazingly low price of $12.

And, yes, there will be a DIY.