No? But many would.

What does a 25-year-old fashionista, a 38-year-old career woman, and a 32-year-old mother of three have in common with the models strutting down the catwalks of New York and Paris, Milan? Quite a lot, actually. They have the same designer handbags.

A Handbag for Her, Her, and Her
There’s a new employee in town and it won’t go bat for the union. Enter the designer handbag, the latest in the fashion for hire movement where just about anything can be leased in exchange for the almighty dollar. Limousine, women, jewelry, fur, handbag — you name it, they rent it out. There’s a ripe market for the bag for hire, too. If there’s one thing Sienna Miller, Paris Hilton, and Nicole Richie have successfully indoctrinated into women, it’s that the designer handbag is just as important as the designer clothes, shoes, and lifestyle.

Bag-sessive
Just how obsessed are women about bags? Very, and this obsession goes way beyond U.S borders. As a matter of fact, the Daily Mail reports that 30-somethings are just as afflicted as the 20-somethings with what they call the Sienna Miller Syndrome — a new bag for every new man. In the same article, the Mail also details that in average, your run-of-the-mill 30-year-old would typically own 21 handbags, buying one once every three months. This is a lot of bags, and a lot of pounds being funneled into an industry that, at various turns, does well and badly - the former because of the popularity of celeb-watching and the latter because of the copycats flooding the market.

But why hire a handbag?

1. Dress to Impress
Everyone wants to make a good impression but not everyone has the moolah for it. A hired designer bag solves this problem. For a minimal fee, you can dazzle friends, family, and former classmates with that designer handbag you’re casually holding. No one needs to know it only cost you $50, naturally, and if you won’t tell, who would?

2. Get More for Less
Why spend a lot of money on just one bag when you could easily have a new bag every month, if not every week? Because rental costs are minimal, you can change handbags as often as you gas up — and yes, honey, everyone at work is noticing your bags’ designer tags.

3. Try Before You Buy
Nothing beats ownership, of course, so if you have the money, do not rent a handbag. Buy it. But before you plunk down serious cash for a label - $1,900 for one Prada Glace Bauletto, for example, or $2,500 for a Chloe Paddington - take it out for a test drive first. Rent a similar bag and see how it feels on your hands or fits your wardrobe. After all, a Hermes canvas or a Fendi Baguette is not some purchase you could afford to simply stash away at the bottom of your wardrobe if it disappoints.

Here is how the rent-a-bag principle works. You become a member by paying a fee upfront. You make monthly payments, too, and at the same time, pay additional fees the amount of which depends on the bag’s type and value and the length of time you will be needing it for. Sounds nifty, but I wouldn’t rent a handbag not because I’m rolling in greenbacks but because I know where to get ‘em cheap — and no, they’re not knock-offs; they simply came direct from factories. Some are from last season’s, too, so this, and the fact that middlemen don’t have their hand in the pie, make the bags cheap.

But I digress. I wouldn’t hire a bag.

Would you?