The evolution of our designer bag obsession + Chanel S/S 08

Maaaaaaaaaan! This is terrible. So finally we moved onto broadband. Yes. Hurray for the technologically backward baghag and all that, right? But now my broadband is SLOW. Slower than my dial-up. Surprise surprise eh? Not only is it slower, the damn thing keeps on “disconnecting” and has caused my friggin’ landline to be all static-y. So much for advancing in technology and regressing thereafter. What is wrong?! *BAWL* I not only have sporadic disconnections, I also am beginning to show signs of internet withdrawal due to that. Hence my inability to blog. (Because I kept getting disconnected!)

Well ok, so I did blog– in fact, I posted a rather shameless promotion of Tresorie boutique’s upcoming sale. So pelt me with rocks if you want (ok, wait, make them tomatoes or eggs… rocks hurt hehe) but I had to also tell peeps about the sale because I’d do some baghags injustice by not talking about the savings they can get out of the sale (which is really a rare occasion for us to have). Yaddi yaddi yadda. Ok enough about that already. Please forgive me for that 😀 *winky winky :)*

So I’ve been doing a whole lotta thinking about our shallow designer bag obsession. I’d like to do a little bit of analyzing, so please humor me and allow me to give you a blow-by-blow account of the evolution of a baghag’s designer bag obsession.

It all started with the Louis Vuitton Speedy. The Pandora’s bag. The one that opened the floodgates to many a baghag’s designer bag addiction.

What’s so special about this bag anyway?

1. It’s foldable.
2. It’s one of the “cheapest” designer bags (this term is very subjective, but in view of the prices of all the other premier designer bags out there, this is most reasonable) and is arguably the most recognizable designer bag out there. (Hello, the perfect status symbol hehe)
3. It’s light.
4. It packs in plenty of your junk that you wouldn’t want others to see 😀
5. It’s almost waterproof– well except for the cowhide which acquires a rich patina over time.
6. It’s already a classic!

But you realize soon after your first Louis Vuitton purchase (of a Speedy), you find yourself “upgrading” to a more expensive bag (think LV “couture” bags), even going so far as wandering into “unchartered” designer bag territory (meaning, you go for another premier designer brand that you’ve never really been interested in before).

There’s Goyard— a relatively unknown brand a few years ago (it’s been there, it’s just that the brand was never “commercialized”), but quickly gaining popularity among bag lovers because of its special hand- painted monograms. The St. Louis pm is the entry- level bag of this brand, almost the counterpart of the LV pandora’s bag. This too, opened up more bag “doors”. Soon, you find yourself liking the fidji, before settling on the more structured Croisierewhich will “grow” on you like the LV Speedy did.

Then of course you “discover” Chanel. Ahh the allure of the classic flap 2.55 bag. Its quilted lambskin leather with chain-leather intertwined straps were once reserved for society’s lunching ladies, but today it has found its way onto your shoulder, squeezing about US$2,000+ off your pocket.

The Chanel Classic Flap pictured above is Chanel’s Pandora’s bag. This bag leads you to follow up on Chanel’s latest bag offerings from the Spring/ Summer 2008 collection:

The Satin Ribbon Cabas (ok forgive me for inventing names , but I rename them as I see fit :D)
That quilted reissue- style “belt”middle is a very nice touch.

A nice metallic bag that folds over and can be worn with a longer shoulder strap.
(and of course you wonder, where’s the signature Chanel logo? :D)

Then THIS comes along. Something remarkably kitschy, something quite unique that you just
“have” to have!
I personally am loving the yellow one (which I’m dying to find out if it will truly be available at Chanel boutiques!)

Then the classic quilted camera bag of Chanel with a modern twist which made me dub it the “mongrel” bag *muwahahahaha* ok ok that was real unsavory…. instead, let’s not be uncouth and call it the Chanel collage bag (this comes a close second in comparison to the limited edition LV patchwork bag *balk*). Hideous enough for the average bag lover to question its very existence, yet hideously expensive enough to be snatched up by the discriminating Chanel collector.

A beautiful white Chanel clutch, a take from the older version of the timeless clutch… Bigger logo on the clasp 🙂

A sequined cabas which made me wonder, would this be cheaper if it were made in China? You gotta hand it to the Chinese manufacturers– they’re good with sequins! (Oh My Gawd, if you read the book Deluxe, you’d really begin to wonder which premier designer brands have subcontracted some manufacturing work in China… *what a ghastly thought!!*)

And once again you find yourself wandering into the Hermes boutique where everything’s just oh-so-orange and oh-so-luxurious. Hermes. The last “bastion” of luxury. First, you buy a Garden Party bag. It may just be made of canvas, but it’s a very well- made bag which sets you back by about US$1,800. You like the bag because it sets you apart from the rest. Because this bag is not something that everyone easily recognizes. But those who do recognize it, know your bag taste is already leaning towards the exquisite. *Woohoo, you’ve moved up the social bagladder!!!*

Then of course, being the baghags that we are, we are just not contented anymore. We’ve become so jaded. We aspire to reach Bag Mount Everest. After all, who wants to step down when you can climb up? *wink wink– perfect parallelism to Social Purgatory vs. Social Heaven– which would you pick, right? 😀 *

The Hermes birkin. The most elusive handbag of all. One that would set you back by over US$8,500. The one bag that you just can’t seem to get right away in the boutique (unless you get reaaaaaalllly lucky). And you thought money can buy everything al punto. Everything else but this bag. Because like other non- celebrity/ non-socialite clients of Hermes, you sorta have to wait for this one. It’s alright though, because once you get it, you subsequently end those sleepless nights. 🙂

About 20 years ago, we were already setting ourselves up *albeit unconsciously* to pick more “known” brands than others. I remember wanting a Khumbmela backpack so bad *Oh my! Memories!!* (which I think would be the equivalent of JanSport today) and how I wouldn’t settle for anything non-branded. That my schoolbag “had” to be a Khumbmela backpack *in purple please! Hehe my obsession with this color still remains after 20 years… ok let’s not get smart and start calculating my age hehe* was already indicative of my early love for “branded” merchandise. My DM luckily fed my obsession by buying me that bag– and I gloated and paraded it around my DBs (because they started showing off their Khumbmelas first, prompting me to obsess about it!). My “need” for that Khumbmela backpack 20 years ago is equivalent now to, say, some highly privileged kids’ so-called “need” to have a Goyard tote or a YSL oversized muse as a schoolbag. And once they have that coveted bag, they move on to a more exclusive (think expensive) brand. Think about it. Our designer bag (ok, let me use the word “branded”) obsessions started early– we just didn’t realize it. I know, this is such a shallow analysis of the evolution of our designer bag obsession, but each time we start obsessing over a bag, such obsession hits our system with severity– don’t deny this. We’re talking bouts of anxiety, and yes, sleepless nights.

Oh well, perhaps we’d still have some good sense in us to realize that we don’t “need” to own a Hermes crocodile birkin with diamonds even if that’s the last thing we don’t yet have on our list of bags to own in our lifetime (that is of course if we even have the moolah for that bag *har di har har*)

But then read this– by that time, it may no longer be about a Hermes birkin with diamonds. It could just be about diamonds.*Bling Bling Bling!!!*

Oh dear. And that would be an entirely new obsession altogether 🙂 Ring a ding ding, think Suzy Menkes and her statement that “jewelry is the new handbag”… I shudder to think further 😀

Have a good day!

(photo credits: style.com and eluxury.com)

xx
Mrs.T