She's Graduating to an Authentic Designer Handbag!

You'll certainly be a hit at her graduation party. Give her a keepsake she'll cherish for many years to come. Why? Because she really wants a new designer handbag. Whether she's into Yoga or an obvious Fashionista, decide the award your girly grad deserves and say "congrats" with an authentic designer handbag for the Class of 2008. You know she really wants a designer purse this year! And, she's all grown up and wants something special.

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All the girls are carrying a new purse to their new job. Your little graduate dreams about a new designer handbag. There are many styles and designs to select in price ranges from under $100 to more than $500. It's up to you. Whatever you pick will be a hit. Some of our favorites are Tano bags, Melie Bianco handbags, Elaine Turner handbags, Pietro Alessandro handbags, Gucci Bags, Prada bags, Fendi bags and many more. And, they are all on Sale! See the coupon codes below and start saving on your graduation gifts for that special gal in your life.

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Graduation is here! She wants a REAL Designer Handbag! Have fun shopping! Here's a series of Graduation Tid-Bits we found amusing and thought you might, too!

Bad Graduation Gift Ideas
by Andy

A Briefcase: Oh, thanks Uncle Frank. You getting me this briefcase ensures that I’m supposed to work the same 9-5 office job that you've worked for that last 25 years while complaining about it and cheating on my wife with my secretary. (Sorry Aunt Jane)

“Planet Earth” on DVD: Am I that hard to shop for? How long did it take you to pick this out at Wal-Mart? Do you think that all I do is get high and watch the Discovery Channel? Well guess what, I DO!

“Planet Earth” on VHS: What? There’s like 20 tapes. Get out of my sight Grandma.

Money: What am I supposed to do with this? It's only four dollars.

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All Sorts of Graduation Ideas
from My Expression

Graduation Party Ideas
The Traditions of Graduation Party -Traditions are the lifeblood of every college. Traditions connect the students to the past of the college while at the same time preparing them for the future. From the historic to the contemporary, traditions can express a spirit of unity and create a sense of community while providing for loads of fun.

Graduation Planning Checklist - Its Graduation time! You’re planning on hosting a graduation party and you want it to be unique and exciting. Planning any party can be overwhelming and many things can go wrong. So, to be on the safer side, you need to come up with a graduation planning checklist to keep things from bouncing out of control.

The Do’s and Don’ts in the Graduation Party - So, you’re graduating from high school or college and what better excuse to throw a party! Spring is that time of the year for graduation invitations, announcements and gifts. Etiquettes and manners form a very important part of our being social animals.

What To Wear on Your Graduation Day - For 12 (in some cases more) seemingly never-ending years, you obediently went through the schoolyard quarrels, your first boy-girl party, your first date, the Prom, and now finally what you’ve always been waiting for – your Graduation day! This time you’re going to be wearing an outfit that your parents will finally approve of – a gown and a cap ...

Decorating your Graduation Party - So, its graduation day and you’re all set to host a special theme party. Yes, theme parties are fun and a whole lot easier to decorate! Half the fun of hosting a graduation party is decorating the party. You can decorate your room, your lawn, you table, and even your guests! You can turn graduation caps upside down and fill them with balloons or flowers ...

Graduation Speeches Etiquette - The graduation ceremony confirms each student’s quest for knowledge. Traditionally, the ceremony will include a graduation speech that seeks to put each and every students hard work (in some cases, not so hard work) into the perspective of their future. Yes, most of us have heard one or more graduation speeches either as spectators or as graduates ourselves ...

Graduation Gift Ideas - The date is fixed, and the invitations and announcements have already been given out. So, the day has finally come for you students to cry and to cheer and to leave your school or college halls forever. Yes, graduation day is indeed one of the biggest days in everyone’s life. After years and years of hard work, your efforts have finally paid off. You’re happy but ...

Chance to Promote Your Business with Graduation Open House Invitations - Do you plan to host a graduation open house for yourself or one of your children? It may not seem like it could work, but you can actually promote your business when you have an open house. You can start the promotion with something as simple as mention that the open house is being hosted by your business. This will definitely ...

Graduation Announcement Tips, Wording, and Special Poems
Graduation Announcement Wording Tips - Graduation is an important time in life, and should be announced properly. Stationary with crayons and graduation caps on it is an appropriate means of announcing a child graduating from kindergarten. A photo announcement is a nice keepsake for loved ones who are being invited to the graduation ...

Graduation Announcements Wording Ideas - So, you’re graduating from high school or college and you’re busier than ever! Your last year of college is filled with thousands of events and activities that you have never even tried to attempt during your college years. From sending out resumes and applications to asking for letter of recommendation, you have loads ...

Do it yourself Graduation Announcements - A great substitute to printed graduation announcements are announcements that you print by yourself on your personal computer. Not only are these ‘Do-it-yourself’ graduation announcements a lot more economical, but they can also be equally colorful and creative. Start of by using plain white card stock or even plain white paper ...

Sending Graduation Announcements - So, its graduation day and its time to let everyone know that you are a proud graduate. Now that all those seemingly endless years of toil and hard work have finally paid off, it’s finally time to celebrate. First things first, start by sending out graduation invitations and announcements to all your near and dear ones. Most colleges and high schools ...

Graduation Invitations in General and the Etiquette
Graduation Party Invitations - Planning the Party - Everyone who has played a role in the life of the graduate should be sent an invitation to the graduation party. It is understood by most that tickets to commencement are limited, however an open house allows for everyone to congratulate the graduate. - Invitations - You can choose informal themes, such as a backyard ...

Graduation Invitations Etiquette - There is a very good reason why people call graduation ceremonies ‘commencement ceremonies’. This is because graduation does not mark the end; it marks the beginning. Graduation is the achievement of all goals, and rewarding the graduate for his or her hard work is a must. Graduation time is the time to invite friends and family together for an exclusive ...

Choosing Graduation Invitations Theme - Whether for you or a friend, Graduation day is one of the most joyous and welcomed occasions in any student’s life. It marks the end of your educational journey that can sometimes seem to be an endless and intolerable journey. Graduation is a once in a lifetime event, so give this event the honor and prestige that it truly deserves. The very first ...

The Traditions of Graduation Cap & Black Color in Your Invitations - When it comes to graduation invitations or stationary there are some traditions that are still observed by most people. In the majority of samples that you look at while shopping you will find that there are graduation caps in the majority of them. This is simply an obvious choice of décor since it is an invitation for a graduation ...

Graduation Invitations Theme
Casual Graduation Party Ideas - If you want to throw a wonderful party for that special high school or college graduate in your life, don’t assume you have to spend a fortune and put together some very elegant get together. After all, your graduate has already worked very hard to achieve this accomplishment and now just needs some time to relax and unwind. That’s why sometimes a more casual ...

Throwing a Cocktail Theme Graduation Party - Graduating from college is a major accomplishment and is definitely one of the best reasons to have a celebration. However, too many graduation parties are all the same. If you want to throw an amazing party, then you’ll want to take a creative approach with your graduation celebration. One idea is to celebrate with a cocktail theme ...

Throwing a Party for Valedictorians and Summa Cum Laude Graduates - Graduating from high school or college is a huge achievement, but if your student is graduating with honors then that achievement is even more deserving of a special celebration. No ordinary graduation is going to be sufficient. Background on Graduation Honors - If you’re not familiar with all of the “honors” terminology, then ...

Black, Red, and Green for Graduation Invitations - Graduations are one of those major milestones in life that deserve not only to be recognized but also to be celebrated. Whether the student in your life has just earned a high school diploma, a bachelor’s degree, or an even higher degree, you’ll want to find a way to show him or her just how proud you are of their hard work ...
Ideas for a Formal Graduation Party - When we think of graduation parties, sometimes we have the impression that all of them are just full of young people drinking too much and playing loud music. And sure some graduation parties would fit that description pretty well, but that isn’t your only option if you’re planning a celebration for a special student in your life ...

Feng Shui Graduation Party Ideas - Celebrating a graduation is a big deal. The family wants to show their pride at how well their student has succeeded. The student wants to know that he or she has done a good job by achieving this important life goal. When you’re planning something this special, then it only makes sense that you should take into consideration every possible way of ...

Creating Tassel as Embellishments For Your Invitations - If you want to create a graduation invitation that is sure to get the attention of those you invite you can do a lot of it yourself. It can be fun to add your own personal touch to it, even if you order the actual stationary and then create a tassel as an embellishment. Everyone associates a tassel with graduation, so this can be a fun addition! If you ...

Clip-Arts for Graduation Invitations - Do you want to add some fun and uniqueness to your graduation invitation but you aren’t sure what may or may not be appropriate? If so, you aren’t alone. The fact of the matter is that there are a lot of fun or original things that you can do; you simply need to infuse your own style into it and get creative. Anything that you can imagine can generally be created ...

Personalize Your Graduation Invitations with Special Inspirations - A graduation invitation can be just a graduation invite, but there are some great things that you can do to add your personal touch and make it interesting and even inspirational to those that you send them to. There is nothing better than sending out invites that have been infused with your own personal style, whatever that may be ...

Differentiating Masculine & Feminine Invitations Theme - Because both men and women graduate from high school as well as college there needs to be a way to differentiate between invitations that are more appropriate for men and those that are more appropriate for women. This is not to say that there aren’t invitations that are appropriate for both genders, but if you want something that ...

Seasonal Graduation Invitations
Show Your Patriotism with Patriotic Graduation Invitations Theme - Over the last couple years the patriotism in our country seems to have been renewed and this includes the young, the old, and everyone in between. If you are graduating from high school or college why not share your patriotism with others with a patriotic invitation theme? Why go drab when you can serve to inspire those that ...

Graduation Photo Christmas Cards - Are you graduating early? Many students that graduate early, graduate in the winter months, which is a great opportunity to do something different with your graduation invitation. You can not only send an invite to all those that you would like to attend your graduation ceremonies; you can send a Christmas greeting at the same time by enclosing a Christmas card with a photo ...

After The Graduation
Sending Graduation Thank You Cards - So, your graduation day has come and gone, the ceremonies were amazing, the graduation party was brilliant, and above all, the graduation gifts were super cool! The graduate is happy, the graduate’s guests are happy, everyone is happy. But, after the ceremony, party and gifts comes the most daunting part – sending out ...

Graduation Photo and your Scrapbooking Project - Honoring the graduate is one of the most important parts of the graduation ceremony. If you’ve organized your photo albums over the years, then everything should be up to date. But, if you are like most of us, then you’re family photos are probably piled up in boxes in the attic. Since you are going to be graduating pretty soon, now ...

Career Guide After Graduation - Transitioning out of college can be both, an exciting as well as a scary experience. There are newer and tougher challenges to face, unwritten laws to be followed, unexplored opportunities for progress – and humiliation – in every nook and cranny. While recent graduates and most other college students are preparing themselves to become experts ...

Reunion Graduate Party Planning - Once you graduate, you only get to see you friends every ten years at each reunion! So you want to have a fun reunion party this time and not a boring formal one? Planning for your reunion would mean coming up with a special plan or an idea for the party. From the decorations to the food and particularly the entertainment, your graduate reunion party ...

Logos - A Thing of the Past?

Authentic Marc Jacobs Mariah Patchwork Handbag

By David Ruiz

Designers seem to be scaling back on the ‘in your face’ logo bags. There is so much one can do to a bag besides add a handle and a zipper. Designers are stretching their creative muscles and reaching for individuality.

Of course, there are your typical big name players that will always have their logos strewn across their bags (Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Fendi, etc.) in every collection. But even these brands have found triumph in removing their names and replacing them with wonderful designs, colors (metallics are popping everywhere) textures (patent leather and patchwork), and shapes. This season, translucent bags will be home to Dolce & Gabbana, Oscar de la Renta, Chanel, and many more. Even patent leather will find warmth with Marc Jacobs, Valentino, and others .Gucci, Louis Vuitton, and Yves Saint Laurent all have coveted bags in the metallic family. Right now, It’s all about texture and quality.

Anya Hindmarch Ossie Metallic Leather Stachel

Chloe Patent Leather Messenger Bag

Valentino Bronze Metallic Folds Handbag

It does seem that many of the names above established themselves by stamping their logo everywhere possible. It was how consumers first familiarized themselves with the brand. Their logos stood out and commanded attention. However, logos could perhaps be passé (for now).

Designers know that it is no longer enough to put your logo across a bag. Now, they must push to create beautiful works of art that the consumer will love and appreciate. This is very healthy for the industry; creativity begets more creativity. Small designers now have a chance to flourish as well, because it’s no longer about the logo. It’s actually about the bag itself. Small designers can freely create well designed bags and place them in retailers as well as boutiques. They can also price their carryalls at the same level of their big name counterparts.

Logos are not going away, they are merely taking a backseat to creativity. However, this new era is a breath of fresh air. It is great to see carryalls in such forms. It gives consumers variety and it opens a realm of possibilities amongst designers- both large and small. It brings home that fashion truly is art.

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Elliot Luca Isadora Woven Leather Satchel

We admit it, we are a sucker for woven leather handbags. As long as they are as pretty and luxurious as the ELLIOT LUCA Isadora woven leather satchel, we are an instant admirer. There is just something so sophisticated and classic about the rich woven leather and though this style has a lot of interpretations, Elliot Luca has a distinctive look of its own. Featuring soft Italian napa woven leather, gold tone hardware and an Elliot Luca logo charm. Elliot Luca Isadora handbag measures about 16 x 9 x inches with double straps measuring about 24 inches each with about an 11 inch drop. Shop this authentic Elliot Luca handbag at 21% off now.

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Forget the flowers! Mom wants a new designer handbag for Mother's Day

What mom really wants for Mother’s Day is a new designer handbag so eFashionHouse.com is making shopping for mom easy with free shipping.

Sky Valley, CA (PRWEB), April 24, 2008: Gone are the days where shopping for mom meant a pretty floral arrangement or a box of her favorite chocolate. Today’s moms are more interested in trendy or classic designer handbags, so eFashionHouse.com is making shopping for mom a little easier with free shipping for Mother’s Day (May 11).

Named Best of the Web by People StyleWatch for below retail priced designer handbags and recognized by About.com as the top of three online retailers of off-priced Chanel, eFashionHouse.com has all the designers and styles moms want. From handbag darling Elaine Turner, to couture legend Chanel, to American staple Coach, eFashionHouse.com offers the latest in designer handbags for all budgets.

"It’s not only fashionistas that want the latest designer handbag all the time, today’s mom is very hip and wants to carry a nice leather handbag as well" said Anna Miller, eFashionHouse Owner. "To meet the needs of our clients, we now carry handbags that are age-friendly…meaning most of the designers we carry cater to women of all ages who simply love fashion."

Not only does eFashionHouse.com, and its five fashion ecommerce stores (BrandsBoutique, LuxuryVintage, DesignersLA, ItalysOutlet and ValueBags), offer a wide variety of authentic designer handbags but they guarantee the lowest prices online for Tano, Melie Bianco, Murval, Elaine Turner and Pietro Alessandro. Plus the site offers a layaway plan that allows its clients to pay over time and still get the bag of their dreams.

If you still don’t know what to get mom, here’s a couple of hot selling bags that are sure to make her smile (and maybe even giggle with glee):

• COACH Hamptons Cream Large Tote – 26% off
• ELAINE TURNER Andie Platinum Distressed Leather Satchel – 24% off
• Tano Bauhaus Leather Tote – 21% off
• Gucci Brit Medium Tote in Brown – 26% off
• Yves Saint Laurent Downtown Tote in Cream – 21% off
• Vintage Chanel Quilted Lambskin Shoulder Bag – only $499

In addition to huge savings on brand new, 100% authentic designer handbags, shoppers will receive free ground shipping from April 24th thru May 2nd on purchase over $100 with coupon code MD08. Plus there is no sales tax on all purchases worldwide.

About eFashionHouse.com
Anna Miller is the President of i-GlobalMall.com, Inc. She operates the website http://www.efashionhouse.com/ and sells high-end authentic designer handbags and accessories at off-retail prices. EFashionHouse.com was named Best of the Web by People Magazine StyleWatch for Discount Designer Handbags and Purses. eFashionHouse.com should not be confused with any other website selling a similar product or using a similar name. EfashionHouse.com is the home of five fashion ecommerce stores: BrandsBoutique, LuxuryVintage, DesignersLA, ItalysOutlet, and ValueBags. Anna is considered an Internet Pioneer & Ecommerce Entrepreneur. She’s been reselling Designer Merchandise online since the early 90s. eFashionHouse.com has an extensive Press Page and a Fashion Blog Network. Visit the site for more details.

Fashion on a Budget - Designer handbags, clothing and shoes

By Woody Lee

There has been a lot of talk about the economy lately and the forecast isn't looking too good which means it's time to start looking at ways to tighten the budget and cut back on the things you don't absolutely need. Though the thought about going without might seem grim at first, there is a silver lining when it comes to shopping. Just because you have less to spend on fashion doesn't mean you have to stop trying completely, following is a list of tips that help the budget fashionista in all of us keep looking fabulous.

Clothing
I thought starting off with the most obvious wardrobe item was a good way to kick off the list especially since a lot of us have already started thinking of spring wear, plus shopping for clothing on a budget is often the easiest. Although no one likes to worry about the economy, one positive result is retailers know that consumers are holding onto their money tighter than before, so they are more willing to hold sales and make higher decreases to entice consumers to spend. Here's a great way to take advantage of dropping prices but still come out with the stuff you want:

Be a savvy sale shopper: I already mentioned how you might notice more sales and promotions from retailers in an effort to boast slow profits, so as a savvy shopper it pays off to know when your favorite store is holding a 'secret sale' (join a mailing list or befriend the sales staff to become a VIP), end-of-season sales (household names like Banana Republic and Macys hold seasonal sales where items are 40% off), watch for the buy-one-get-one-half off type of coupon sales because you can buy the non-sale item you've been eyeing and get another item half off.

Shop online: Even the most experienced shopper can find it daunting to keep up with the sale schedule at their favorite stores which is why shopping online has become so popular. Gone were the days where you weren't sure of your size or if something looked good, most online shops allow for easy returns. But it's better to know the types of clothes you look good so you won't have to mail back a bunch of returns. The best part about shopping online is that often times you can find the same brands at cheaper prices because an online retailer doesn't have to pay for retail space. If you don't believe me, I found Rachel Pally dresses at 50% off at DesignersLA.com or check out ShopBop and click on the 70% off sale section (you'll be amazed at what you see). Plus if you sign up for your favorite e-tailers email list, you'll get even more savings with sale announcements and coupon codes sent right to your inbox. What's easier than that?

Invest in classics: Though sale shopping can result in a ton of savings, to really save money try not to buy something you won't end up wearing just because it is on sale. Sure a designer label pink suede skirt at 80% off is a great deal but if it's hot outside or pink suede isn't in style when the weather cools, you've wasted money that could have been used toward something you'll wear again and again. Trends are always fun but invest in a couple of classics that can take you through an entire season. I'm thinking white wide-leg pants and a yellow dress but you can pick your favorite spring staples.

Vintage: If the thought of secondhand shops scares you than you haven't been shopping at the right vintage store. Vintage can be ultra-hip and you'll be surprised to see what you find in the right vintage store. Make sure to find one that offers items in good condition and reasonable prices (some are actually expensive) and go hunting for shift dresses, capris and 50's style blouses that have been seen in all the fashion magazines. Plus there are even some great online vintage shops (JillsConsignment and LuxuryVintage) that carry amazing stuff in awesome condition.

Handbags and Accessories
It doesn't matter if there are tough times or not, fashionistas are constantly on the lookout for bargains on designer handbags. The good thing is that a good designer handbag has a much longer run than designer clothing because if you invest in the right designer purse or designer jewelry you can wear it for many months as opposed to changing up your clothes due to trends and weather conditions. And even though designer "it" bags cost more than ever, the average designer label handbag costs $2k, I've done my homework and found ways to score a hot designer bag, designer jewelry or accessory from Prada, Gucci, Tod's, Chloe, Anya Hindmarch, Marc Jacobs, Yves Saint Laurent, Valentino, Burberry, and even Chanel at up to 70% off retail. Don't believe me, see for yourself:

Shop online: As with shopping for clothing, shopping online for designer accessories can really pay off. Unlike clothes, you don't have to worry about how an item will fit because most reputable sites will list the exact measurements and provides photos from all angles so you can see exactly what you're getting. Since online retailers don't have as much overhead as say a big department store (it's hard to find a designer handbag in a small boutique), they are able to offer substantially more savings for the exact same purse. I recently picked up an authentic Chanel handbag at for 50% off retail at eFashionHouse.com and the selection is endless. Based on my budget (and a little bit of principal) I would never pay full price for a designer handbag because I know if I wait for the "it" bag craze to die down, I'll visit my favorite site and get the bag 40% off. You can also shop for brand new designer jewelry from Chanel, Gucci and others at more than 60% off.

Wait for end-of-season sales: All of the major department stores mark designer handbags off toward the end of the season an although it's nice to carry a bag as soon as the season starts, if you can hold out, you can find what you're looking for. But if you plan to wait for these sales, make sure you are the first to know because inventory goes fast and is usually sold out the day a sale starts (if you miss the boat, visit the discount designer handbag web sites who sell authentic bags at a discounts year round).

Out with the old, in with the new: If you are as much of a handbag lover as I am than you probably have a couple of designer handbags lying around that you haven't used in a while which means you can afford to get rid of them. If you sell these unused accessories on eBay or to a consignment shop, you can have some extra money to spend on the designer handbag you really want. Try it out, it won't hurt as much as you think.

Vintage: More than even clothes, vintage designer handbags, jewelry and accessories (wallets, scarves, etc.) can not only save you money but even outlast many of the trendier bags. Sites like LuxuryVintage sell authentic Chanel handbags in amazing condition (little to no wear) for as low as $400 and since Chanel handbags are timeless, this is a small price to pay for a bag you can wear for years to come.

Don't be a snob: In addition to the luxury leaders like Marc Jacobs and Prada, the handbag heyday has allowed for smaller labels like Elaine Turner, Tano and Pietro Alessandro to make a name for themselves. Often made from the same high end materials as couture fashion houses, it's easier than ever to score an ultra-soft trendy handbag, like the Elaine Turner Paige Python Frame Bag or the Alex Tote, for a fraction of the cost of an expensive designer label.

Cheap Chic: We usually don't like any handbags that fall into the $15-$40 range but we have to say that lines like Melie Bianco and Murval are quickly making us change our mind. We wouldn't recommend spending your money on a bunch of cheap, poorly made handbags but if you want the look of the moment handbag, than Melie Bianco will probably have it. Visit DesignersLA.com and be amazed at how Melie Bianco manages to make such stylish and gorgeous handbags at such unbelievable prices.

Shoes
There is not a lot of advice we have on shoes because we think that most savvy shoppers (who are women at least) have this category covered but we'll include a couple of pointers just in case you need a refresher:

Invest in a good pair: Shoes are quickly becoming like designer handbags in the fact that they are wildly expensive and there are now a ton of "must-have" styles. Christian Louboutin is the leader of the pack, followed closely by Jimmy Choo and Manolo Blanik but finding a pair of these beauties at a discount can be pretty tricky but not unheard of. If must have another pair of shoes (to add to the 30 you already have), than try to invest in as much shoe as you can afford. Maybe we walk a lot but we've found that investing in a good pair of shoes (leather upper and leather sole) can take us a long way.

Online: There are a ton of online sites selling only footwear and it's sometimes hard to go through them all but the one good thing about so many choices is that there is more competition which means that price points will be lower. We haven't found a ton of online sites that we like to shop at for shoes because we tend to shop for more high end brands (goes back to that investment thinking) and there aren't a lot of sites that sell expensive shoes but one place I have found luck at saving money is eBay (yes, eBay). I would never purchase a designer handbag from eBay because there is no way to guarantee that you are actually getting an authentic designer handbag but shoes are less likely to be knocked off. But be prepared to search often because the selection is limited however you can find some amazing deals (brand new Lanvin flats for $200 or Prada heels for $100). So brush up on your bidding war skills because wining a pair of Manola Blanik Mary Janes is harder than actually walking in them.

Sales: Like clothes and designer accessories, the best and easiest way to save money is to know when your favorite shoe store is having a sale, but the early bird gets the worm in shoes sales because if there is one thing women have in common its shoes.

So although a slow economy can be a huge drain on your wallet, just remember that looking good doesn't have to suffer a recession as well. Become an experienced (and smart) shopper and you'll ride out tough times with the shirt on your back.

Woody Lee is a free lance writer, blogger and fashion addict living in New York City. She loves fashion, she loves high quality designer handbags, and she absolutely dislikes paying full price.

Betsey Johnson See-Through Tote

Leave it to BETSEY JOHNSON to make something as simple as a tote bag look so sexy! Known for her eclectic and unique style, BETSEY JOHNSON is also wildly feminine as you can tell from this clear tote bag. Totally girly, this Betsey Johnson bag features a clear body with metallic pink trim and a removable black insert that is decorated with a green and red rose motif. Betsey Johnson handbag measures approximately 14 W x 9.5 H with a 4.5 inch depth. The straps measure about 22 inches long with a 9 inch drop. Shop this authentic BETSEY JOHNSON purse at 32% off now.

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Fab Bag of the Day - Marni Canvas Tote

Since it's Friday and we are already in the weekend mood, we wanted to feature a designer handbag that is both fun and practical for weekend wear and the MARNI canvas tote fits the bill perfectly. Featuring yellow, purple and black dots, this pale pink tote is the epitome of summer. Casual meets stylish with this MARNI handbag, plus handles on handbags are big for the season. Marni purse measures 12.5 inches wide X 8 inches high X 8.75 inches deep. Shop this authentic MARNI handbag at 16% off now.

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Fab Bag of the Day - Bally White Suban Shoulder Bag

A gorgeous bag for all seasons the BALLY suban woven leather handbag is divine. Featuring soft deerskin leather, a slim shape, tassels, silver hardware and a woven front, you can't go wrong with this basic bag that is anything but boring. Is it just us or is BALLY making a comeback? BALLY handbag measures approximately 10 W x 5 H with a 1 inch depth. The strap measures about 21 inches long with a 9 inch drop. Both tassels measure about 7 inches long. Shop this authentic BALLY handbag at 59% off now.

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Fab Bag of the Day - Bally Sanfele Rose and Black Leather Handbag

We've been seeing a lot of two-tone handbags lately and we are definitely liking this look. Not only do you get a unique look but when you use a soft rose color with a stronger color like black, it makes for a nice contrast that will go with a lot of different outfits. This leather Bally handbag is a good example of when two colors are better than one. Featuring rose colored leather handbag with black leather trim, silver toned hardware and an adjustable strap. Bally purse measures approximately 9 W x 7 H with a 2 inch depth. Shop this authentic Bally handbag at 45% off retail now.

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Fab Bag of the Day - Bally Evening Bag

Now that our handbag collection includes a couple of day bags, we've been on the look out for the prefect evening bag for all of the parties we hope to attend in the summer or even just for a night out. When we came across this Bally evening bag (we love the blue one best) made from soft calfskin and adorned with brass hardware it was love at first sight. With the vintage look back in style, this modern-day Bally clutch nails the look. Bally purse measures approximately 6 W x 4 H with a 2 inch depth. The chain strap measures about 34 inches long. Shop this authentic Bally handbag at 39% off now.

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The Murakami Method

Takashi Murakami

By ARTHUR LUBOW
The New York Times

Photos courtesy of Louis Vuitton & New York Times

At the Mori Arts Center, which is perched atop a skyscraper in the glittering Roppongi Hills development in Tokyo, I recently visited a museum show, ''Universal Symbol of the Brand,'' that displayed (to quote its catalog) ''the fascinating development of the history and endeavors of Louis Vuitton, the brand that is not only incredibly popular in Japan but also beloved throughout the world.'' A sequence of galleries exhibiting luggage and handbags proceeded to a large advertising photograph of the actress Uma Thurman and smaller shots of runway models, all wearing Vuitton fashions. What drew me to the show, however, were two bags in the variation of the Vuitton pattern that the Japanese contemporary artist Takashi Murakami developed with the company in 2003. The brightly colored Murakami line has been phenomenally successful, with sales reported to be in the vicinity of $300 million. Murakami's handbags were presented along with two small paneled screens painted in the same patterns that appear on the bags.

The handbags in the museum exhibition were hardly Murakami's only contribution to the Roppongi Hills complex of glass-and-steel towers. Cute cartoonlike characters that he had created as branding elements for the center -- Barney-like brontosaurs, droopy-eared rabbits and smiling aliens -- grinned down on me from pennants and from express buses to Roppongi Hills. In the same development, at a large Vuitton store, new handbags in a cherry design by Murakami would soon be introduced, along with a couple of the artist's sculptures of a red, smiling cherry. Last year at another Vuitton shop in Tokyo, Murakami displayed a large fiberglass sculpture and a four-panel screen painted in his LV monogram design.

So, in Tokyo, an art museum was displaying luggage, a luggage shop was exhibiting art, an artist had developed a branding campaign -- and nobody thought anything out of the ordinary. If you want to understand why Murakami's art feels so dizzyingly up to date, this leveling of status grades among art, advertising and merchandise at Roppongi Hills is a good place to start. When I asked Tomio Koyama, Murakami's dealer in Tokyo, why he hadn't shown the monogram work in his gallery, he explained, ''In Japan, a gallery has no meaning, and a Louis Vuitton shop is a more powerful place to see something.'' The Tokyo art critic Noi Sawaragi, who was a crucial early supporter of Murakami and a peer, told me that I was imposing distinctions that no Japanese would make. ''This back and forth doesn't seem unnatural to us,'' he said. ''We have had a long history of museums with department stores as a venue. It was thanks to the Seibu Museum, which no longer exists on the 12th floor of the Seibu department store, that I developed my knowledge of contemporary art. I saw Marcel Duchamp, Malevich and Man Ray in depth for the first time in that museum. I think it is the same for everyone of my generation. Downstairs you find dresses, bags and shoes, but on the 12th floor you find art.'' Indeed, it is one of Murakami's dearly held tenets that demarcations between fine art and popular merchandise are completely un-Japanese. The Japanese language didn't even have a word for ''fine art'' in 1868, when Japan embraced the West in the Meiji Restoration; only afterward did the country import this foreign ''art'' notion and create a vocabulary for it. The blurring of high and low remains characteristic of Japanese society.

In his own career, Murakami has moved frictionlessly among his multiple roles as artist, curator, theorist, product designer, businessman and celebrity. Ever since a Chicago collector paid $567,500 at auction in 2003 for his fiberglass sculpture of a long-legged waitress, Murakami, now 43, has held the price record for a work by a contemporary Japanese artist. Meanwhile, his monumental sculptures and silk-screened balloons of original cartoon characters, displayed in 2001 at Grand Central Terminal and in 2003 at Rockefeller Center, have made him conspicuous in New York. More than anyone else, he has put modern Japan on the map of the contemporary art world. ''He's a phenomenon, that's for sure,'' said Lisa Phillips, director of the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York. ''I think that his work embodies some interests that extend far beyond Japan. It's a blend of fantasy and apocalypse and innocence. It's all the disparate elements combined that speak to the moment. And it's the way that he's worked as much as the work itself -- in the public realm with public sculpture, huge editions of objects, merchandising, working collaboratively. It's a very ambitious and far-ranging project.''

While best known as an artist, Murakami may be even more interesting as a thinker. Five years ago he elaborated a theory under the clever rubric ''Superflat,'' linking the flat picture planes of traditional Japanese paintings to the lack of any distinction between high and low in Japanese culture. On stylistic grounds he grouped together some traditional artists of the Edo period (1603-1868) with the creators of modern-day animated films, arguing that there were important formal similarities in the flatness of their work. Now, having analyzed Japanese pop culture aesthetically, he is turning his scrutiny to the function that superflatness might be serving in contemporary Japanese society. As the curator of an exhibition, ''Little Boy: The Arts of Japan's Exploding Subculture,'' which opens this week at the Japan Society in New York, he surveys the geeky movement, known as otaku, that revolves around animated movies (anime), comic books (manga) and sexually suggestive figure models -- and arrives at a provocative conclusion. Murakami maintains that respectable Japanese artists largely ignored the horrors of World War II and the humiliations of the postwar occupation, relinquishing the subjects to the otaku, who transported these tough realities into the realm of cartoon fantasy. In childlike animated forms, anguished truths were stripped of their historical context // a flattening process that conveniently released both the artist and the viewer from grappling with the contradictions of Japan's wartime experience as predator and victim and postwar status as economic rival of, and political subordinate to, the United States.

Flat, colorful and rootless, the images of this popular subculture - the blank-faced Hello Kitty, the mutant monster Godzilla, the giant alien Ultraman, the cat-shaped guardian robot Doraemon -- line up in no particular order, like icons on a computer screen. This cavalcade of weightless images in turn reverberates with contemporary viewers worldwide: anime and manga have become global signifiers of cool. Historically, to be sure, Japan is unique. Until a century and a half ago it was a society shut off from most of the world, and then, with gigantic gulps, it absorbed and adapted whatever it wanted, mostly from Europe, in an accelerated binge. The orgy ended with the catastrophe of World War II, after which Japan once again slammed the door on the past and started fresh with new, mostly American models. The grab-bag appropriation, inexact simulation and accelerated speed that characterize this process no longer appear peculiarly Japanese. They feel now. We live in an age when distinctions are arbitrary, originality is devalued, hierarchies are discredited and authenticity seems meaningless. Barely 40 years ago, Pop artists like Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein caused a transgressive stir by adopting commercial imagery from newspaper advertisements and comic strips as the subjects of paintings to hang in art galleries. How daring that was, and how dated it is. We are surrounded today by too many images to source or rank. While it would be fatuous to say that we are all Japanese now, we are surely all living in Murakami's world.

At 8:50 every weekday morning, unless he is not in Tokyo, Murakami leads the staff of his art studio, Kaikai Kiki Company Ltd., in a round of calisthenics. Then the employees go off to their various jobs: refining sketches on the computer, daubing paint meticulously onto paintings and sculptures, fielding requests for commercial tie-ins or press interviews with their boss, negotiating licenses and other business contracts or coordinating with the branch office in Brooklyn. Warhol famously called his studio in Manhattan ''the Factory,'' but that was a joke; although silk-screened images of flowers and Brillo boxes did flow out of it, the silver-walled, amphetamine-pumped clubhouse -- with its entertainments, intrigues and exquisite costumes -- resembled an 18th-century court in Versailles more than it did an auto plant. Yet it's no joke to call Kaikai Kiki a factory. Murakami's 60 employees punch in with computerized timecards, and the company has training manuals for new hires. The hours are regular -- and long. One daily ritual is the question-and-answer period, in which staff members book a slot of specified duration to ask the chief a question; when I attended, 14 had requested interviews, typically of two minutes each.

The Kaikai Kiki factory complex is situated in a drab suburban district an hour from central Tokyo. One of the little buildings, without toilet or bath, is Murakami's home, in which a sleeping bag serves as a bed. Next to the shed that houses Murakami is an even smaller one that houses potted cactuses. Hybridizing cactus from seed is Murakami's hobby, one for which he has little time. Apparently he has no time for romantic or family attachments, either. ''He makes art and sleeps,'' said Dana Friis-Hansen, executive director of the Austin Museum of Art in Texas and co-curator of a 1998 Murakami exhibition at Bard College in New York. ''Some curators are really frustrated, because he'll ask for and usually get the right to sleep in the gallery while he is setting up. He'll bring assistants and sleeping bags, and they'll cook noodles there.''

The son of a taxi driver and a housewife, Murakami grew up in Tokyo, then attended Tokyo University of Fine Arts and Music, the country's most prestigious arts institution. He holds a Ph.D. in nihonga -- the refined hybrid of European and traditional Japanese painting that was invented in the late 19th century. Nihonga, in which traditional resins and pigments are employed to render likenesses of bouquets and landscapes, is a rarefied branch of present-day Japanese art. All the time he was practicing it, Murakami said, he wished instead that he had the talent to draw the manga and anime of otaku culture.

The word ''otaku'' is usually translated as ''geek'' or ''nerd,'' but its more precise meaning is steeped in the particularities of Japanese society and language. Literally, the word means ''your household.'' It is a way to refer to another person in conversation without implying either superior or lesser social status. Employed by postwar Japanese housewives, the usage was adopted by the fans -- all right, call them geeks -- who became obsessed with the minutiae of a particular bit of popular culture. Isolated in their individual homes, these youths shared a passion for the television programming -- ''Astro Boy,'' ''Ultraman'' and so forth -- that expanded rapidly in the 1960's. They organized around their fetishistic fascinations to form otaku subcultures, whose members come together periodically in large conventions to discuss, exhibit and trade the objects of their highly focused affections.

The typical otaku is a young male, and some of the manga and the plastic figures are explicitly sexual, often blatantly pedophiliac; even when they aren't, the otaku tends to relate to his collection, with caresses and ministrations, as to a girlfriend -- if he had a girlfriend. (A Web-site message board heavily frequented by otaku was known as ''The number of years I have not had a girlfriend is the same as my age.'') In its defiance of the mores of proper Japanese society, otaku culture was disreputable from the outset. It became much more so following a notorious criminal case in 1989, when an otaku named Tsutomu Miyazaki was arrested for the kidnapping and murder of four preadolescent girls. ''When Miyazaki's room was revealed to the public, the mass media announced that it was otaku space,'' Murakami once told an interviewer. ''However, it was just like my room. Actually, my mother was very surprised to see his room and said: 'His room is like yours. Are you O.K.?' Of course, I was O.K. In fact, all of my friends' rooms were similar to his, too.'' Murakami added that Miyazaki was only ''different from us'' because he ''videotaped dead bodies of little girls he killed.''

When the administrators of the Japan Society in New York asked Murakami if he would like to curate an exhibition in their gallery, he resolved to undertake an exploration of the origins of otaku culture, a subject that, he said, is sketchily understood even in Japan. In many of the classic manga and anime stories, the plot revolves around a bomb or radiation device that devastates Tokyo. ''I thought, Why does otaku culture so many times have an explosion that looks like an atomic bomb?'' he told me, as we sat at the counter of an elegant sushi bar in Tokyo. ''I was trying to find out why otaku people are always repeating the same scene and why I was so interested in it myself.'' And there was a related question that intrigued him: ''Why do Japanese people hate otaku culture?'' He concluded that otaku raised ''a mirror'' to a reality that the larger culture preferred to ignore. Like many other Japanese intellectuals of his generation, he deplores both his country's militarist past and what he sees as its acquiescent present. ''Otaku culture is handicapped reality,'' Murakami said. ''We have to realize we are handicapped, and we don't want to realize it. We know the U.S. is our father. We thought we were children, but we are handicapped people. We need help.''

The crystallizing moment for Murakami arrived when he came up with a name for the show. In October, Alexandra Munroe, director of the Japan Society Gallery, was pressing him for an exhibition title and offered a suggestion. ''She gave us 'Japanese Pop Culture Explosion,' a really long title,'' he recalled. ''I hate that.'' Many Americans know that the atomic bombs that dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were nicknamed, respectively, ''Little Boy'' and ''Fat Man.'' But few remember the testimony that Gen. Douglas MacArthur gave to a Senate committee in 1951 upon completing a tour of more than five years as Supreme Commander of the Allied powers in Japan. MacArthur stated that at the time of the war, when ''measured by the standards of modern civilization,'' the Japanese people were ''like a boy of 12.'' The remark ignited headlines across Japan, with furious resentment superseding the tributes that had hailed MacArthur's departure. For a show on otaku culture that would demonstrate how Japanese artists responded to their nation's wartime suffering and postwar subordination, Murakami realized that the title ''Little Boy'' was perfect. As he told me this story, he sugarcoated the underlying anger and bitterness, as he does so often both in his conversation and his art, with a joke. ''Little Boy and Fat Man -- now both things are true exactly of the Japanese people,'' he said, patting his potbelly and ordering an extra helping of sushi.

At the beginning of his career, Murakami appeared to be content with the lot of most successful contemporary artists: to create work that is admired by critics and desired by wealthy collectors but leaves the general public baffled or hostile. He was constructing conceptual pieces similar to the art being made in the West. Among those early works, which began attracting attention in the early 90's, was ''Polyrhythm,'' a seven-foot-high slab of yellow resin, minimalist in form, on which many toy United States infantry soldiers climb. Another colossal piece, which he titled ''Sea Breeze'' after a men's fragrance, was fabricated of steel plates that open automatically to reveal, like figures in a shrine, a ring of high-intensity floodlights. Probably his most talked-about youthful work was the 1991 ''Randoseru Project.'' For it, he collected hides of endangered or exotic species -- whale, hippopotamus, cobra and so on -- and had them brightly dyed and fabricated into the distinctive book bags, called randoseru, that Japanese schoolchildren have carried on their backs over the last century. Koyama, his Tokyo dealer, who has known Murakami since their university days, recalls that the project began with Murakami's desire to construct an object out of whale skin at a time when Japan, controversially, refused to join an international ban on commercial whaling. Someone suggested the shape of the randoseru. Behind its cuteness, the bag has bellicose overtones: it was adopted by the Japanese in the late 19th century on a Western military model. Murakami has kept an impish distance from the elaborate commentary the work inspired from critics. '''Randoseru,' my early work, got a really good reaction from the art scene,'' he told me. ''But I hate that reaction. It looks like political art, but I am just joking.''

In 1994, with a fellowship from the Manhattan-based Asian Cultural Council, Murakami came to live in New York. During that year he started to re-emphasize his Japaneseness. Upon returning home he began to create objects that looked as if they were applying for admittance to the otaku world even as he also tried to cast an unfamiliar critical spotlight on this insular subculture.

For two years, Murakami researched the concept and execution of ''Miss Ko2'' (pronounced ''ko-ko''), the sculpture that would eventually fascinate Western collectors and set a record at Christie's New York. Collaborating with the designers at Kaiyodo, the pre-eminent manufacturer of figures in Japan, he designed a high-breasted, stiletto-heeled, vapidly smiling blonde in a skimpy waitress uniform. Made of fiberglass, ''Miss Ko2'' is six feet tall, commanding attention in an art gallery but arousing anxious displeasure among otaku, who like their figures small and submissive.

Murakami provoked the otaku again in 1997 with his next figure, which he titled ''Hiropon,'' after a popular recreational drug in postwar Japan. His idea was that the erotic pretty-girl figures known as bishojo were addictive for the otaku who collected them. Once again he made his figure big (seven feet high), but this time she was anything but vapid. Inspired by a magazine cover he had seen while attending a comic-book otaku gathering, of a bare-breasted woman with a nipple shaped like a penis, he designed a nude (although, in keeping with otaku preferences, one lacking genitalia or pubic hair) who is squeezing from her gargantuan breasts and oversize nipples a stream of milk that swirls behind her like a jump rope. The following year he created a male companion piece, ''My Lonesome Cowboy,'' of a masturbating naked man whose ejaculation floats lasso-style in front of him. Both ''Hiropon'' and ''My Lonesome Cowboy'' have the big eyes and grins that are found on popular children's anime and manga characters like Astro Boy (the Japanese name is Mighty Atom) and Sailor Moon. While otaku people generally ignored the ''Cowboy'' figure, they loathed ''Hiropon.'' '''Hiropon' is like a satire, and these figures are the object of affection for otaku people,'' said Masahiko Asano, an otaku expert whom Murakami has enlisted as a consultant. ''Once Mr. Murakami asked me why his characters cannot be the object of affection. I said: 'When you see Miss Ko2, can you masturbate to her? If not, it can't be.' He said, 'No, I couldn't do that.'''

In 1999, at an otaku festival, Murakami released ''Second Mission Project Ko2,'' a three-piece sculptural installation that depicts a favorite otaku theme -- a young woman morphing into an airplane. Triumphantly, it was praised by both art critics and otaku. In hindsight, however, this work was a coda. Murakami's sculptures of sexually charged figures, difficult for viewers and expensive for fabricators, form a discrete chapter in his artistic career and his infatuation with otaku. Although this work may be the most interesting he has yet produced, he was dissatisfied. He wanted his characters to be objects of affection. He was a pop artist who longed to be popular.

If you were to draw a map of Japanese popular culture (a map like one from the Magellan era, grossly oversimplified but still useful), you might say that male-oriented otaku culture lies at one pole and that the female domain of kawaii (cuteness) is situated at the other. In the mid-90's, Murakami set sail from otaku toward kawaii. Even while he was investigating otaku model figures, he was already researching cute cartoon characters. Such characters, of course, had been a mainstay of Pop Art in the United States since the early 60's. Warhol used images of Mickey Mouse. Lichtenstein raided the funny pages. Murakami, however, did something else. He created his own characters.

His first, Mr. DOB, got his name from an abbreviation of a nonsensical phrase that alluded to many things -- a popular television entertainer, a sexual innuendo, the indigenous Ainu people and who knows what else. The phrase also translates, more or less, as ''Why? Why?'' Since this could serve as Murakami's motto, it was a good choice for a character who became his alter ego. Initially, the DOB character resembled Mickey, but over time he evolved, first turning toothy and fierce, then becoming terribly cute -- kawaii. ''In 1994, Mr. DOB had an ironic content,'' said the critic Midori Matsui. ''It became something different later on -- almost like Murakami's own house brand. He was always interested in competing with popular art on a real popular level. The things he did up to 'S.M.P. Ko2' were way too intellectual for his purpose. He wanted to become his own industry.''

With his customary devotion to research, Murakami analyzed the principles of kawaii. ''I found a system for what is a cute character,'' he said. On a whiteboard at Kaikai Kiki, he drew me a circle with the top half blank and the bottom half containing two dots for eyes and a smiling mouth. ''In the kawaii system, this scale is very important,'' he said. Over the last decade, Murakami has released numerous cute characters: among them, Mr. Pointy, smiling flowers, colorful mushrooms and the good and bad toddlers Kaikai and Kiki. Emblematic of his reorientation from confrontation to cuteness, he changed the name of his studio in 2001 from the Hiropon Factory to Kaikai Kiki. He said he hopes to expand his audience by making animated films with his characters, and he has already opened a six-person animation facility in Tokyo and leased space in Los Angeles. (He plans to include an animated film in a midcareer retrospective of his work, to be held at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles in 2007.)

The apotheosis of kawaii culture is Hello Kitty, the big-eyed, beribboned, expressionless pussycat character that stokes a billion-dollar-a-year business for the Sanrio company. Created in 1974, the Kitty character took off in 1985, first in Japan and then internationally. When I asked Matsui how she accounted for Kitty's popularity, she practically shrieked in response: ''Because I think humanism is dead! Because people are weak and scared.'' In a more measured tone, she added: ''It's easy to accept Kitty because it's so dumb and expressionless. It doesn't demand that you make any reference.''

For an authoritative view, I paid a call at Sanrio on Yuko Yamaguchi, who has been the chief designer of Hello Kitty for 25 years. With long hennaed hair and wearing brown artificial-leather pants, she didn't look the least bit kawaii herself. When she discussed the enduring popularity of Kitty, she was all business. Hoping to gauge how far Murakami has gone in his quest for wide popularity, I asked her to rate Kaikai, the sweeter, rabbit-costumed half of the Kaikai Kiki toddlers, on the kawaii meter. She was troubled by Kaikai's smiling mouth. ''In most Sanrio characters, we don't express an emotion through the mouth,'' she said. ''With Kitty, you don't even see a mouth.'' She credited this mouthlessness for much of Kitty's popularity. ''When someone feels blue or depressed, they may want the character to sympathize with their feeling or to get angry with them or to offer encouragement,'' she said. ''Without a clear expression of the mouth, this is possible. It can be interpreted in different ways.''

Murakami understands the infantilism that underlies the Hello Kitty phenomenon. Like otaku culture, kawaii culture for him is an expression of Japan's postwar impotence. (In a photograph with the strapping General MacArthur, the diminutive, once divine Emperor Hirohito looked very kawaii.) However, Murakami is also designing characters that for those unacquainted with his analysis seem simply -- and irresistibly -- kawaii. It's a delicate balancing act, reaching a mass audience while maintaining a critical distance. ''I created Mr. DOB for a really serious reason, but girls would say, 'Oh, cute,''' he told me. ''Japanese don't like serious art. But if I can transform cute characters into serious art, they will love my piece.'' The early DOB's were often distorted and belligerent or combined with jagged lines and distressed surfaces that alluded to traditional Japanese painting. More recently, they seem simply cute.

The appearance of Murakami's DOB coincided with the emerging popularity of Yoshitomo Nara, the other Japanese artist of Murakami's generation who has found great favor in the West. Like Murakami, Nara was drawing cute cartoonlike figures, but more sincerely. His characters were children who might be sputtering obscenities or brandishing weapons but retained a look of adorable purity. At first it seemed that Nara, like Murakami, was offering a critique of the character culture while profiting from it. However, while it is still uncertain whether Murakami can walk this tightrope, the Nara enterprise appears to have relinquished any pretense of critical detachment. The artist himself, with his well-advertised love of punk music and a popular Web site, attracts a rock star's following. The openings of his shows are attended by flocks of admiring female fans, who are known as Nara girls. Koyama, who is Nara's dealer as well as Murakami's, said: ''People feel they can enter his painting, and they feel very close to him. Takashi's paintings have a distance, very cool. Takashi is speaking to a public in an official way. Nara is talking to the neighbors.''

At heart, Murakami is a detached observer. It was in that role that he elucidated his ''Superflat'' theory // in a 2000 catalog essay for an exhibition by that name that he curated in Japan and then took the next year to the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles. The show exuberantly jumbled an extreme range of Japanese art products, from 18th-century Edo screens to erotic plastic figurines of schoolgirls, all to illustrate Murakami's argument. With great cleverness and convincing specificity, he took the well-known absence of any native division in Japan between fine art and craft and linked it to the visual characteristics of traditional Japanese artwork -- particularly the patterned surfaces and lack of spatial perspective. Both socioculturally and aesthetically, Japanese art was flat, which made it superflat. In Murakami's view, the multifocal composition of a group of roosters on an 18th-century gold-leafed screen requires a viewer's eye to dart here and there, without providing a comfortable place to rest. In the same way, there is no pecking order in Japanese tradition whereby an original outranks a well-made copy or a work of art in a gallery is more precious than a piece of merchandise in a shop. The time-honored Japanese worldview, in other words, closely resembles the postmodern one, in which sensations and images rain down incessantly and you have no choice but to take it all in as it comes.

In his artwork, Murakami has applied the ''Superflat'' theory most strictly in his recent paintings of the Vuitton monogram. On canvas panels of different sizes, with black or white backgrounds, his studio meticulously reproduces his designs for Vuitton. When the fashion designer Marc Jacobs, who, as artistic director of Vuitton, commissioned Murakami to reconceive the monogram, saw the paintings at the Marianne Boesky Gallery in New York, he was, unsurprisingly, pleased. ''Anything like that I love, when things go back and forth, chicken and egg,'' he told me. ''Does art imitate life or life imitate art?'' But some art-world people grumbled. Painting one panel in the monogram pattern could be seen as a comment on the similarity between artistic and commercial production; churning out many of them compressed the artistic and commercial to an uncomfortable degree. ''He took a few kidney punches on it,'' said Tim Blum, his Los Angeles dealer. ''The bag thing was interesting -- the show was something else. A lot of people really hated the show. Highly schooled people, who look carefully at Murakami, think, This is weird -- what's he doing? That project was the perfect endpoint for the arc of that part of his career. He became superflat.''

Murakami perceives the hostile critical response to the monogram paintings, but he trusts his own instincts. When I first met him in New York in November, he invited me to watch his inspection of nine monogram paintings at his satellite studio in a converted cinder-block garage in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. (He keeps the studio to avoid shipping fees on work for the American market.) As usual, Murakami deprecated his own technical skills. Unlike Nara, for example, he no longer applies his hand to his own work. He is a conceptual artist. Yet even though the painting is performed by studio assistants, Murakami exerts tight quality control. That day he was especially on the lookout for panels in which the paint had been applied more thickly on the background than on the motifs, a problem that had been recurring mysteriously in the Williamsburg plant. A smooth surface without visible brushstrokes is characteristic of both nihonga painting and factory production. It is also a feature of Murakami's art.

He estimated that he had made 60 or 70 monograms and would stop at about 100. He added that he had done approximately 100 DOB's and 60 mushrooms. ''Just like with Warhol soup cans or Marilyns, if there is a need in the market, I can put them out,'' he said. ''The gallerists worry that if there are too many, the value will go down and their auction prices will be low. But I don't think so. If there is a demand, I will keep making them.''

When the subject of the monogram paintings came up again in Tokyo, he elaborated on his motivations. He said the paintings allowed him to transform work for hire into his own art. As precedent, he mentioned an appropriationist piece that the American artist Jeff Koons did, in which he put his own frame on a poster of a basketball star. He also cited the ''dollar paintings'' that Warhol composed by pasting down real dollar bills. He admires the naked transparency of these artists' cashing in on their reputations to make money. ''My concept is, anytime we do the honest thing, we get the win,'' Murakami said. ''People find it very difficult to find their honest desire. Andy Warhol did that. I love his diary: pay the driver two weeks, the coffee is too sweet, the weather is cold. It's a life. Warhol is a master artist for me because he was a really honest person.''

In addition to being a factory, Kaikai Kiki, as the curator Dana Friis-Hansen said, is ''a home for wayward artists.'' Murakami surrounds himself with young people and enthusiastically promotes their careers. He looks for artists who are quirky or obsessive. Although as a theorist he subscribes to the Japanese deprecation of originality, as a curator he knows that the appearance of originality is a selling point. If Kaikai Kiki artists go on to have their own shows in the West, he takes a 10 percent commission (from the gallery's share of the sales, not the artist's). But commercial profit is a secondary motivation. ''He wants to become a schoolmaster,'' the critic Midori Matsui said. ''I think he is a very lonely person, and he needs to create his own family.'' Once Murakami tried to establish a school. ''Like a very small school, a terakoya school, in the Edo era -- one teacher with 10 students, very close,'' Murakami said. ''It sounds very sentimental. I wanted that school.'' He said that a young woman in the class developed a stalker's crush on him, forcing him to abandon his dream. In a less structured way, however, his tutelage continues.

Like most Kaikai Kiki employees, Chinatsu Ban, Murakami's secretary, studied art in college. When she met him, she was selling cellphones to earn a living while painting in her spare time. She would send him invitations to her exhibitions, and he would offer encouraging replies. Eventually he asked her to join a group show he curated of young female Japanese artists. Two years ago he offered her a position at Kaikai Kiki.

Along with several other Kaikai Kiki artists, Ban will be included in the ''Little Boy'' exhibition. She paints mostly elephants that are extremely kawaii. Tom Eccles, director of New York City's Public Art Fund, who helped organize Murakami's past installation at Rockefeller Center, was looking for a sculpture to place at the southeast entrance to Central Park in conjunction with the Japan Society show. ''Tom Eccles was really interested in a cute character,'' Murakami told me. ''So I said to Chinatsu, 'Do you want to do that?' She said, 'Sure, why not?'''

Which is how, on a February morning, Ban came to be standing alongside a nine-foot-tall elephant sculpture in a chilly fabrication facility in suburban Tokyo.

''Great,'' she said approvingly to the manager of the plant. They were both waiting for Murakami to arrive.

''What is it made of?'' I asked Ban. She went to ask the manager.

''FRB, a kind of fiberglass,'' she reported.

''What does it weigh?'' I wondered. She once again sought out the manager.

''Five hundred kilos.'' At more than half a ton, that was a respectable weight for an elephant.

Murakami, once he arrived, scrutinized the sculpture more critically. He observed it from all angles, indicating to the manager different bulges and hollows that needed smoothing. Mainly, though, he discussed with the manager whether there might be a way to divide the sculpture before it was shipped. He had recently discovered that flying a piece this bulky to New York would cost about $75,000. On top of that, the cost of fabrication -- including the painting, which was still to be done -- added another $125,000.

''It was a mistake,'' he told me. ''With the Japan Society, everything loses money.'' Eccles had committed about $75,000 to Kaikai Kiki for the sculpture. ''That's already big money for a young artist,'' Murakami said. Kaikai Kiki is helping to underwrite the Japan Society show, a long-term investment with at best a delayed payoff.

Still, this New York event will be an opportunity to showcase the talents of several of Murakami's acolytes. The exhibition includes work by one of his earliest volunteers, Masakatsu Iwamoto, a 35-year-old man with dyed-blond hair and a dark mustache who calls himself ''Mr.'' As a paid staff member, Mr. now administers the Geisai, a semiannual competition for Japanese artists that Murakami has staged since 2000; in his creative free time, Mr. has a very otaku-like interest in barely pubescent girls, which Murakami has encouraged him to express in his art. Chiho Aoshima, 30, who administers the design department at Kaikai Kiki, uses Illustrator software to compose fantasies that typically place girls in luridly colored natural settings. Aoshima is having a one-woman show in late May in Los Angeles at Blum & Poe; thanks to the Public Art Fund, at the time of ''Little Boy'' she will display a huge wallpaperlike mural, printed by ink jets onto vinyl, in the Union Square subway station in Lower Manhattan. Arguably the most talented of the Kaikai Kiki younger set is Aya Takano, 29, a former volunteer who now lives in Kyoto. Her cartoonlike androgynous forms recall the Vienna Secession and Surrealism as well as her lifelong devotion to science fiction. Whatever their abilities, all of these artists owe their positions in the limelight to Murakami. ''They can exist as artists only within the context of what Murakami has devised as a stage, like 'Superflat' or 'Little Boy,''' the critic Sawaragi said.

An aspiring artist who especially interests Murakami is Mahomi Kunikata, a chubby, bashful woman who looks younger than her 25 years. ''Any time I am looking for a Kaikai Kiki artist, I am looking for an original artist that is hidden,'' he said. ''Mahomi, if she wants to create new manga or painting, she has to go back to her history: 'My older brother is dead, and my younger brother is psychologically ill and screaming. I want to escape from here, but I am very fat and I cannot escape.' She cannot organize herself -- how to escape, how to create something.'' Murakami is gratified by the progress she has made in the five years he has known her. ''She can open her heart and now do her art,'' he said. It is characteristic of his deep-rooted ambivalence that Murakami is drawn to Kunikata's original and repellent take on kawaii culture when his own art is becoming kawaii in a simpler way.

Hardly fat, Kunikata nevertheless thinks she is overweight. And, as Murakami indicates, she has a troubled family background. At her suggestion, we met for our talk at a cake cafe in Yokohama, near the camera store where she works as a greeter. Unable to decide what to eat, she ordered slices of two kinds of strawberry shortcake, which she quickly consumed while I browsed through notebooks of her pencil-drawn manga.

In the first one, I opened to a drawing of very kawaii dogs -- kawaii, that is, except for the fact that they were killing and eating children. I turned the page and saw graphic depictions of naked girls being sexually violated.

Kunikata looked up from her cake. ''I'm very embarrassed,'' she said. ''Don't open it wide. People are eating.''

More discreetly, I flipped past a drawing of a girl with bleeding arm stumps to find more girls, sometimes bound, frequently confronted by boys with huge erections. I saw a puzzling one of a girl, a boy and a strange cat. I asked about the cat.

''The cat is dead,'' she said. ''It's Valentine's Day.'' I knew that in Japan on Valentine's Day, women and girls give chocolates to males they are fond of. ''The girl killed the cat,'' Kunikata continued, ''and made a chocolate fondue from the cat and gave it to the boy.'' I nodded and kept turning, not having anything in particular to inquire about the pictures of boys performing oral sex on tied-up girls and girls being forced into fellatio with very well endowed boys.

Reaching into her backpack, she showed me her recent work. On the backs of plastic models of sushi, the kind that are seen in restaurant windows, she had painted likenesses of slim, sexy girls.

I could see why Murakami loves Kunikata's art. It reveals the fear and anger that lie just beneath the surface of the kawaii culture -- or, to adopt the metaphor of superflat, the feelings that are embedded right on the surface, for those who look closely and knowledgeably. The manner in which Kunikata's eating obsession seeps into every aspect of her art also reminded me of how, in Murakami's view, the atom-bomb trauma permeates his country's culture. The pictures of Japan's past destruction are transposed into a catastrophic science-fiction future, and the country's childlike relationship to the United States is embraced in a celebration of the kawaii (a word derived from kawaiiso, meaning ''pitiful'' or ''pathetic''). A similar thing occurs in another fraught area: sexual relations between young men and women. The otaku portrayals of sexuality -- fixated on compliant, air-brushed schoolgirls -- are divorced from emotional reality, even from physical reality. This neutering of real life was epitomized by the enthusiastic reaction of Japanese children of Murakami's generation to the animated versions of atomic explosions and fire-bombings they watched on TV. One reason these kids cheered the demolition of Tokyo is that it was accomplished by a wizard: the most influential special-effects designer of the day, Eiji Tsuburaya, who learned his craft as a propagandist during World War II, preparing a rousing and convincing recreation of the (unfilmed) Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. After the war, Tsuburaya redirected his talents -- and his agents of destruction -- into Godzilla, Ultraman, Rodan and Mothra. The imagery retained its stirring power. The context was secondary.

Anime and manga are inexact copies of Mickey Mouse, Betty Boop and other American cartoon characters, modified for Japanese taste and (at the time they were developed) for the limitations of Japanese technology. The Japanese have always had a genius for these adaptations. Murakami is a great admirer of the Kano School, a dynasty of painters who catered to the shoguns for almost four centuries by taking the principles of Chinese art (like prominent brushstrokes and ink monochrome) and Japanizing them. The Kano School centered on the successive generations of the Kano family, supplemented by talented students who were adopted and then allowed to take the Kano name. It is another model for Kaikai Kiki. (Indeed, the phrase ''kaikai kiki,'' which means ''brave, strong and sensitive,'' was borrowed from a critic in the late 17th century who used it to describe the paintings of Eitoku Kano.) One of Murakami's favorite artworks is a screen depicting an old plum tree that was painted for a temple in Kyoto by Sansetsu Kano in the 17th century and is now owned by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. In his ''Superflat'' essay, Murakami pointed to similarities between the spiky lines in Sansetsu's eccentric masterpiece and the designs of the leading anime artist Yoshinori Kanada. At about the same time, he produced a few paintings of his own in this style. Aside from his appreciation of the work, Murakami admires the way the Kano School perpetuated itself. He would like to start a line of comparable longevity. ''How did the Kano School survive 300 years or more?'' he once said to me. ''Japanese culture doesn't need to create an original something. A school is O.K. A little difference is great. Kakai Kiki School is O.K. -- Mr. and Chiho and Chinatsu.''

At the Metropolitan Museum of Art, there is cur