Q: Remember the brown Gucci tapestry handbags from the '80s with a red & green cloth strap? Is this oversized handbag still acceptable in the fashion world?

A: Acceptable????? Sweetie, it's downright hot. A totebag in the same Gucci double-G pattern tapestry appears on page 31 of the Neiman Marcus By Mail catalog that arrived yesterday -- the only difference is that all the little Gs in the tapestry happen to be navy blue. Well, one other difference: The price is $495, whereas yours, since you have it already, is effectively free.

As you may have heard, now that we're launched into the future, truly and officially embarked on the Third Millennium, fashion is all about the '80s -- that would be the 1980s, decade of greed, glitz, big shoulder pads and logos on everything that moved (and a lot that didn't).

As the front page of the New York Times SundayStyles section recently proclaimed, "A new day is dawning: It's called the '80s." Turn a couple pages and there's an agglomeration of photos of chiclets wearing Gucci everything -- hats, boots, bags, etc. -- instantly recognizable by all the little brown Gs just like yours. There's even one fashion pro -- well, actually he's a street vendor -- wearing Gs head-to-toe: hat, jacket, trousers, shoes, backpack, all genuine, too.

So, thank your lucky stars you didn't de-accession that bag 10 years ago when, caught up in post-'80s penitence and monastic austerity and self-abnegating minimalism, everybody thought logos were over and glitz was gone forever. (As if!)

Patricia McLaughlin is a nationally syndicated fashion columnist.
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