Handbag Happy Hour features celebrity purses, many other designs

A Pucci signed by Gwyneth Paltrow. A new Prada, a Louis Vuitton, a Tory Burch and a Kate Spade. A Juicy Couture from Kim Basinger (complete with her autographed photo). And more — many more — purses of all kinds will tempt guests at ICAN’s eighth annual Handbag Happy Hour at the Miromar Design Center in Estero on Friday. More than 400, to be more precise. That’s a heck of a lot of handbags. It’s so many that Mitch Haley, ICAN’s development director, faces the enjoyable challenge of how to display them all. Good thing the design center, which is hosting the event for the first time, has plenty of room for them all. The handbags range from one-of-a-kind designs to brand new and previously loved designer handbags, all donated. “The design center is huge. We’re gong to set tables up surrounding the atrium area for the silent auction. There will be 20 to 24 8-foot-long banquet tables just for the silent auction, and we’ll have three tables for the grab bags,” Haley said. And then there are the extra-special handbags to star in the live auction. They include those donated by celebrities (this is the most celebrity bags the event has ever featured, Haley said), those with the famous brand names that serious collectors swoon over; and those that are one-of-a-kind designs, including creations by Chico’s designer Michael Chase and Naples interior designer Pamela Durkin. Durkin, who owns New Line Design in Naples and has been in interior design for 20 years, is launching her first handbag line in February. Her one-of-a-kind creation for Handbag Happy Hour, “Poppy Love,” features a graphic background with poppies, all printed on leather. “I have been working on this handbag line for awhile,” Durkin noted. And Chase created his fourth design exclusively for Handbag Happy Hour. “Sunset Shimmer” is a pale gold metallic snap-top handbag festooned with rhinestones, a rhinestone-studded chain and small bows. His previous creations have been a hit with bidders, and fans expect the same this year. “The collection we’ve gotten has just been marvelous,” Haley said. Last year’s event attracted 140 handbag fans and netted around $18,000. Haley joined ICAN in late January. The handbag donations began soon after. “A good friend from Dillard’s called and said I have several bags of handbags” to donate, he said. That was in early February, and since then, Handbag Happy Hour committee members have screened hundreds of donated bags from celebrities, designers, department stores and individuals. “Miromar stepped forward and offered their wonderful space. There have been a lot of great people who have stepped forward, from the catering to the open bar ... sponsors are stepping forward with in-kind donations,” Haley said.