The Shoulder Strap on shoulder bags has been the biggest mover over the past year. As the straps grew long during the runway shows for spring 2011, shoulder bags joined the vintage trend with apparel as the 1970's became an important decade of influence for designers. The long shoulder strap was spotted once again Mulberry Bags Outlet on the fall 2011 runways throughout Milan runways such as Gucci and Etro.

The Lady Bag was huge for fall 2010 and slid into the background on the spring 2011 runways. Stores ignored the fact that the Lady Bag was hiding in the background and buyers have filled up their spring shelves with top handle satchels. The Lady Bag knows her place and came back on the fall runways with a vengeance. Gianfranco Ferre and Fendi showed standout Lady Bag's for fall.

The Daytime Clutch was a huge trend on the spring 2011 runways. This style has returned on the Milan Fashion Week runways in a slightly larger and more structured form. D and Prada showed creative, standout daytime clutches in their collections. Mulberry

The Hobo Handbag was a big spring 2011 runway trend in slouchy soft leather. For fall, hobos are Mulberry Bag being shown in a variety of fabrications and in both structured and slouchy styles. Giorgio Armani and Gucci showed fresh takes on the hobo for fall 2011 during Milan Fashion Week.

Color is not going anywhere. Designers in Milan continued to show bold colors on handbags well as combining two or more colors together; either in blocking patterns or as a pattern on fabrications such as brocade.

Trends from the runway to watch; the north/south tote which was big on the spring 2011 runways was once again spotted during Milan Fashion Week. A few designers showed short shoulder straps on their shoulder bags which allowed the handbag to tuck into the armpits of models. This length of strap was huge at the end of the 1990's and shortly after Y2K. This length could pop up again for the spring 2012 with more fervor than for fall 2011.

He didn't carry a gun, wear a uniform or storm German positions. He never touched mulberry handbags the beaches of northern France on that longest of long days. That wasn't his job.

"Fortunately, by the time we got there the troops were off the beaches, so we weren't bothered with the German air force. They were so busy bombing the troops up near Caen and Cherbourg."

But he saw what had happened earlier. "When we got to the beach, there was an awful lot of debris, corpses, floating in the water. Nobody was going to clear corpses on the first day."

Mr Newman, now 87, may modestly insist he is no hero, but he is a pretty rare, possibly unique, old bird. An Australian member of the US merchant marine, his job was to help tow in from Britain the massive blocks of reinforced concrete that went to make up the two artificial harbours constructed by the allies just off the beaches of Normandy.

Codenamed Mulberry (A and B), they were the launch pads of the successful invasion, the bedrock for the Allies and the second Norman conquest. Their remains can still be seen two kilometres off Arromanches beach.

Mr Newman, the son of a chocolate maker from Sydney and later Melbourne, spent most of his working life in London's confectionery trade. He will attend next weekend's commemorations of the invasion but like most veterans he has little interest in glamorising the war, especially his own role in it.

"I feared for my life every day I was at sea," he said. "You had to be matter of fact: we had very bad times at sea, but at least when we mulberry handbags outlet came back to New York, or Canada, Vancouver or wherever, it was paradise."

The merchant navy, known as merchant marine by the US, was perhaps not the most glamorous or heralded way to spend the war, but it was nonetheless dangerous. In Normandy, http://www.mulberryhandbagsa.com/ Mr Newman was hit in the back by a flying wedge of shrapnel. It probably would have killed him had it not been for his lifejacket.