Most-Googled: How To Tell If A Designer Handbag Is Real

The Web puts answers to every conundrum at your fingertips, but do you really want to seek fashion and beauty counsel from whoever turns up at the top of the page? In a pioneering collaboration with Google, we quizzed the non-virtual pros for answers on the Internet’s most-searched style stumpers.

Dying to purchase your dream bag, but want to get it from a secondhand seller? We're here to help you out with tips straight from the experts at PurseBlog on how to tell if a designer bag is authentic. The biggest takeaway: it's all in the details and it's crucial that you familiarize yourself with the brand you're interested in.

"I think there a few things that really stand out when somebody is looking to find an authentic bag, and usually it comes down to materials being used, including the hardware, the leather, the stitching, and what goes into the construction of the bag," PurseBlog's Meaghan Mahoney Dusil tells InStyle. "One of the things that a lot of people spend a lot of time talking about is stitching. When it comes to fakes, even if they get the overall look of the bag done well, they’re not spending as much time on the construction and the stitching can be really off."

Seeing the bag in person is always the best option, so you can feel and smell the leather, look at the hardware up close and make sure it functions properly, check out the glue that's used, and really get a feel for the bag's construction. "A lot of bags also come with an authenticity card, which can be a really important thing to see," she says.

If you must purchase online, ask for lots of photos and check on the site's return policy. "You have to look for special touches that each brand uses to see if that’s there. For example, Chanel bags always have a hologram serial number, Louis Vuitton hardware always bears the brand's logos, and Hermes purses always include two craftsman stamps," Mahoney Dusil says. "A lot of times it's as simple as looking at the logo and making sure its symmetrical."

For expert answers to more commonly googled questions, head toInStyle.com/mostgoogled.

—With reporting by Claire Stern