Naples-based Chouette handbags live up to name

COURTESY PHOTO Chouette handbags are reversible and convertible into 18 different styles.

Handbag designer Judy Nelson has a thing for France. "I think I was French in another life," she says. So when it came time to choose a name for her "functional chic" purses, it's no surprise Nelson took a lesson from the French language. Chouette (pronounced shwet) means fantastic or wonderful, and that's exactly the reaction she's gotten from her line of utilitarian luxury handbags.

Chouette's appeal? Each bag is reversible and convertible into 18 styles. One Chouette bag transforms from a tote to a hobo to a messenger bag, then becomes a clutch, an evening bag or a wristlet, among others. Nelson acknowledges that the mechanics of converting the bags can be intimidating, but she assures that the process is easier than people first imagine. "The bags are very intuitive," she says. "Put one into a woman's hands, and she instantly knows what to do with it."

Most Chouette bags feature a combination of fabrics and designs. In addition to snake-, alligator- and ostrichpatterned Italian leather, Nelson uses distressed leather and denim for her Southwestern styles. Her specially designed equestrian line has been showcased for a spread in Tack n' Togs magazine.

Nelson, 60, launched her Chouette handbags in the spring of 2006. The Naples resident travelled frequently as a marketing professional, lugging an assortment of bags for different functions on every trip. Sometimes, she says, she wouldn't have time to make it back to her hotel before an evening function, and she'd be stuck with her functional daytime bag. "I didn't feel comfortable carrying a canvas L.L. Bean tote to dinner," she laughs.

On a trip to France, Nelson noticed women carrying utilitarian, stylish bags. Back home in the U.S., she tried to find a similar bag but with no luck. It was then that Nelson decided to design her own.

She experimented with patterns until she developed the perfect convertible bag. Friends who tried out the newly christened Chouette Sac gave rave reviews. Nelson began making the bags on her own and selling them at trade shows and online. When orders outpaced what she could create at home, she searched for new production options. Refusing to outsource fabrication to China, she happily discovered Ida Kabak, a Miami woman who has made bags for Gucci and Coach. Now, Chouette bags continue to be handmade on the east coast of Florida.

Though less than three years old, the Chouette line has already been featured on television. At a cocktail party, the wardrobe designer for the TBS series "My Boys" approached Nelson and asked her to send samples to L.A. The stylist liked the look, and Chouette appeared appeared twice in the show's first episode.

From her private collection, Nelson likes to carry a black alligator-patterned leather bag with red and gold tapestry. Her favorite bags, though, have a touch of French flare. During her sojourns in Paris, where she spends six to eight weeks every year, Nelson shops for antique fabrics. Once hung in chateaus - often as draperies in past incarnations - some date back more than a century. Nelson uses these fabrics for the limited-edition bags she keeps in her own closet. Admirers often offer to buy the bags right off her shoulder. Not surprisingly, she has a hard time letting them go.

Chouette handbags retail for $395.00 and are available online at chouettesac.com.