How To Care For A Handbag.

Byline: INTERVIEWS BY ELLEN MILLER, EMILY HSIEH, BROOKE LE POER TRENCH, DANIELLE PERGAMENT, AND SARAH VAN BOVEN

Expert tips on serving great cocktails, caring for a handbag, finding a nutritionist, and more.

An Interview With Cameron Silver

Silver owns Decades, a vintage shop in Los Angeles that stocks Balenciaga, Lanvin, Chanel, Azzaro, and Balmain. His clients include Jada Pinkett Smith, Katie Holmes, and Gwyneth Paltrow. He has a collection of vintage Hermes travel bags and designed his own namesake bag for the company.

Women these days have bags the size of my Prius, and they carry them everywhere, stuffed to the brim--then wonder why a bag gets ruined so quickly. Ideally, you would have at least two daytime bags in your regular rotation, as well as a few evening bags.

Choose wisely. If you want a handbag to last for more than one season, buy one worth preserving. The best way to spot quality is to look inside. You should see perfectly even stitches and flawless lining that doesn't pull or sag anywhere. A leather bag is fairly easy to maintain, but keep in mind that suede bags are almost impossible to rescue once they're stained. As for fabric, canvas can be cleaned, but if you buy a satin or silk bag, be extra careful because there's not much anyone can do if the delicate fabric gets ...