Street Style: Day 4 - Mercedes Benz Fashion Week Istanbul Spring/Summer 2015
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Designer handbags are great accessories. In addition to being useful, a handbag makes an outfit more sophisticated. Because Yves Saint Laurent makes some of the most beautiful and most expensive handbags, some unscrupulous people make replicas and pass them off as authentic. When you're buying an Yves Saint Laurent handbag, make sure that you know that it's the real thing.

Locate a similar bag. Ask a friend to borrow hers, or go to an Yves St. Laurent store. It's easy to tell a bad knock-off when it's placed next to the real version of the bag. A fake handbag is similar in shape and color to the original, but the design details are noticeably different. The intersecting letters (YSL) of the logo, for example, may be different shades or the letters may not intersect in the same place on the fake bag.

Compare prices. A new Yves St. Laurent hangbag, purchased from a traditional retailer, costs between $1,000 and $2,000. Deals are available on bags from past seasons, but any bag selling for less than several hundred dollars is almost certainly a fake.

Find the manufacturer's tag. An authentic bag will have a tag stitched inside, which the manufacturer uses to track sales. Check for such a tag within your bag, and compare it with the tags within other bags. Check for the same number of digits or a pattern. If these are present, your bag is real. If your bag doesn't have a tag, it's a knock-off.

Look at the construction of the bag. Yves Saint Laurent bags are made of high-quality material and are carefully sew-together. If your bag is sloppily sewn, or if the material looks cheap, it is not authentic, and you should seek a refund from the seller.