Best of the bunch: Bree bags

I'm hard on bags: nicked corners, torn straps, scuffs from kicking them under airline seats. Every time I buy one, I mentally classify the buy as a one-season, a couple of years or, rarely, bulletproof.

Problem is finding a stylish bulletproof bag, one that takes winter slush, travel torture, or whatever they do in coat checkrooms (I've always wondered where they keep the tank that rolls over bags).

The Lifetime Winner, Bulletproof category: Bree, especially the vegetable-tanned leather models like the iconic woven Shopper (shown above)- though I would deviate from vegetable-tanned for it's head-turning cousin, this green Obra gloss clutch.

Where else do you carry your honey-aged Shopper into the brand's store and the saleswoman says with excitement, "How old is that? Let me see!"

The nicks and scratches polish out with a dab of leather cream, the leather deepens to deep butterscotch, and the bags look mellow, not ratty, as they age. I suppose you can wear them out, but you have to work at it. The stitching is extra-strong and bags have solid brass feet on the bottom. (Almost unheard-of anymore.)

Bree also produces handsome linen and leather or canvas and leather luggage, on my Someday List.

The company is devoted to longevity of its products and will repair a bag. I'm lucky to have two branches of Taschen, a Bree dealer, here. You can find Bree in some department stores and boutiques; unfortunately their web site does not have a mail-order option.