In today’s installment of closet Confessionals, we’re checking in with a young collector hailing from Vienna by way of London. This wise collector enjoys everything that goes into shopping for (and loving) designer bags, carefully curating her collection and appreciating every single piece she has. because her collection is well thought out, this confessor doesn’t resell bags in order to fund new purchases, and though the resale market doesn’t scare her as she enjoys purchasing pre-loved bags, she prefers to do so in-store versus en línea. A true bag lover at her core, like many of us this confessor didn’t grow up living the luxe life, rather she fell in love with bags thanks to a stylish Aunt. This confessor has been lucky enough to receive some of her bags as gifts, but she also buys them herself, al the while carefully watching her spending and only buying bags that fill a need within her collection. This CC is well thought out, and truly honest. read the full story below and please be sure to submit your own!
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Los basicos
Age: 26
Gender Identity: Female
Location: Vienna, Austria (until recently London, UK)
Occupation: currently student. I was working at an embassy in London, but I decided to go back to university for an economics MSc. I had job offers for part-time positions while I would study, but unfortunately they were all withdrawn when corona happened. So I am currently living off savings, but I hope that will change soon ? The salary I am listing below is what I earned previously! (My ego didn’t let me put zero, sorry)
Industry: Diplomacy
Salary: $40,000
Household Income: $70,000
Las bolsas
Are you a PurseForum member? Sí
How many bags do you own? dieciséis
What bags are in your collection?
Chloé Paddington, baby blue (my 1st designer bag)
Chloé Marcie, cream
Chloé Madeleine, vernis petrol
Chloé Nile, motty grey
Proenza Schouler, PS1 black leather & cotton philodendron plant print
Balenciaga, Motorcycle bag, dark silver
MiuMiu Matelassé leather “shoulder” bag, black (a “meh” bag)
Fendi Baguette, jeans with white daisies embroidery
Stella McCartney Falabella, SHW & dark grey
LV Noé, burgundy epi leather (the indestructible work horse)
Burberry country animal clutch (fox head), beige suede & dark brown leather (look it up!! It’s gorgeous)
Givenchy small Antigona, blue-ish teal
Chanel small Flap Bag, GHW & dark purple caviar (wait for the story behind it^^)
Manu Atelier Cylinder, brown embossed “python” leather (<3)
Manu Atelier mini Pristine, white, black & red colour block
By far Rachel, neon pink (massively disappointing bag)
Yuzefi mini Delila, blush & nude colour block
How much is your collection worth? about 15 000 EUR, but I hardly payed full price for any of them and some are second hand. I’d say some family members and I payed about 8 000 EUR overall? Da o toma.
What is your most expensive bag? According to the bag price when newly bought, it would be my LV Noé. At the time it was about 1 600 EUR I believe. I got it for my 21st birthday and my parents, grandmother and me split the price to make it less daunting. I am in deep love with that bag to this day.
But if we go by re-sale value it is my Chanel Flap. The story of how I got it is a bit surreal: I always told myself that I would save up for it from my first full time job and buy it as a professional milestone marker. and that actually happened, just a bit different then I expected. You have to know that I spent years of my youth researching this bag and learning how to authenticate it, because.
So while living in London, waitressing, I had a habit of spending some days off strolling through brick Lane and looking at interesting second hand shops. one day I found it. My friends that were with me at the time all laughed when I showed them the kind of squished bag. It is just so unlikely to find the real thing for 35 GBP, but I trusted my acquired hobby skill and bought it. and yes, I got it authenticated with a small second hand luxury store. They also think it’s real. Make of this what you will, but I am very sure that I got the jackpot. I adore the bag, I just wish the brand history wasn’t what it is.
What are the most important brands or pieces in your collection? all of my bags are the most important pieces to me tbh. Each one of them marks a milestone in my life, they remind me of my parents and my aunt, who gifted me some of my bags, and I don’t regret getting any of them (maybe apart from my MiuMiu bag, it’s just very fiddly to open, close and get stuff out of, as well as having a “saggy bottom”, even though it’s a somewhat oval bag anyways?? The shoulder strap is also so tight that the top flap is in constant contact with my arm pit. I swear it was advertised as a shoulder bag).
Now the brand that really influenced my bag obsession is the old Chloé. As you can see from my bag list, Chloé is pretty much the only brand I have multiple bags from. In my opInion Chloé solía ser una marca que diseñó las bolsas más singulares que eran funcionales mientras eran piezas de arte. ¡La calidad es simplemente hermosa! Desafortunadamente, el nuevo Chloé no lo hace por mí.
¿A qué edad obtuviste tu primera bolsa de diseñador y qué fue? A los 16. Era un Chloé Paddington de segunda mano (la bolsa que comenzó mi obsesión) de eBay. Era alrededor de 100 euros y estaba temblando en gastar tanto dinero a la vez. Fue una búsqueda de meses para la mejor condición por el mejor precio, pero por fin lo obtuve. Creo que todos pueden relacionarse con el asombro que uno siente al desempacar una bolsa de diseñador por primera vez.
Poco sabía que mi sensibilidad a los precios para las bolsas desaparecería en el aire diez años después. Ja ja.
¿Hay una bolsa específica que esté buscando comprar a continuación? Una bolsa que hizo que mi corazón se detuviera cuando yo era adolescente era una Lady Dior azul marina de Vernis con GHW. Pero el precio estaba tan fuera de mi alcance que no pensaba en tener uno. Mi familia es bastante de clase media, y al crecer nunca vi nada de una marca de lujo en las personas que me rodean. Solo cuando me acerqué a una de mis tías que está muy bien con su negocio independiente, tuve que experimentar a alguien, p. Comprar un par de zapatos Prada solo porque son agradables. Hablando de mi fantástica tía: me compró mi Falabella (solo porque) y mi bolsa del Nilo (graduación de soltero), lo cual fue muy encantador.
De vuelta a Lady Dior: Una vez que pueda volver a trabajar nuevamente (y Covid ya no es un gran problema), realmente quiero ahorrar para esa bolsa. Por ahora me siento lo suficientemente mayor como para llevar una bolsa como esa. Siempre pensé que se vería un poco tonto si lo usara a mi edad. Un poco como el síndrom impostor, supongo. ¡Sin ofender a los jóvenes con bolsas de alta gama! ¡Disfruto ver a otros con ellos!
Personalmente, me hizo sentir culpable que no pudiera comprar bolsas elegantes de mi propio dinero, sin embargo, mi familia me compraría bolsas de diseñador para mis graduaciones y cumpleaños importantes. Todos tenían menos de mil euros, ¡pero ese es un regalo muy delicioso para existir!
¿Alguna bolsa en particular que tenga un valor sentimental especial? Mi antigona. Mi madre me lo compró cuando tuve la graduación de mi maestro. ¡Me visitó en Londres durante una semana, lo cual fue un gran evento para ella porque nunca había viajado sola! Fuimos a pasear a través de buenas tiendas, sin tener la intención de gastar dinero. Pero luego vimos esa hermosa Antigona por un poco de menos de 600 GBP, apuesta. Mi madre no sabía qué era, pero cuando se la expliqué, inmediatamente agarró la bolsa y se apresuró al mostrador para pagar antes de que alguien más pudiera. Que mamá.
¿Sientes que tus maletas cambian las percepciones de las personas sobre ti o cómo te tratan? Eso depende. No tengo bolsas de logotipo aparte de mi colgajo Chanel, y la mayoría de mi familia y amigos no están muy interesados en las marcas de lujo. A veces recibo cumplidos por una bonita bolsa, pero eso es todo.
Sin embargo, cuando uso mi bolsa de colgajo, que es una historia diferente. Por lo general, necesito explicar cómo sucedió, y cuando fui a un pub, las chicas venían a mí para hablar de eso, lo cual siempre es tan encantador.
Otra cosa: las personas de caridad que recolectan donaciones en público no se acercan a mí cuando uso el Chanel. Y soy el tipo de persona que es seguida por personas de caridad. Trabajé para una organización benéfica y supongo que me veo parte. ¿Si eso tiene sentido? ¿Cómo es una persona de caridad?
Las compras
¿Con qué frecuencia compra bolsas nuevas? Muy irregularmente. Mi papá y mi madre me permitieron elegir un regalo para los hitos, por lo que el historial de mi bolso coincide muy fuertemente con importantes cumpleaños y graduaciones, así como ventas. Creo que las únicas bolsas de precio completo que tengo son las que obtuve de mi tía y mi LV Noé ... ¡y el Burberry!
Trabajé en la industria de servicios mientras estudiaba, pero mi salario fue costoso por los costos de vida, por lo que no había posibilidad de que yo yo mismo comprara una bolsa. Fue solo después de la graduación que pude y lo hice. Compré unas tres bolsas en mi primer año de tener un salario decente y no me arrepiento de nada. Mi SO piensa que es un poco extraño, pero también soy el financieramente responsable en la relación (lo juro: tengo un diario escrito a mano por cada libra/euro que pasé desde que tenía 14 años. Es una gran lectura), por lo que no es Asustado de mi "pasatiempo".
¿Qué tiendas frecuenta más? No hay nadie en particular. Prefiero en la tienda en línea siempre que sea posible. En línea es muy arriesgado para mí, porque nunca se sabe qué tamaño y color es realmente una bolsa, o cómo se siente el material. Así que generalmente miro las bolsas en persona. Si amo uno, lo sé de inmediato. El MIUMIU fue una compra en línea (adivinó bien). Cuando lo obtuve no estaba en la luna, pero aún así me gustó lo suficiente como para mantenerlo. Si lo hubiera probado en la tienda, no lo habría obtenido. Eso te dice todo lo que necesitas saber.
Además de eso, realmente me gusta tener SA conocedoras que también me tratan muy bien. Si recibo un servicio grosero o descuidado, no quiero gastar dinero allí. Si es una tienda de cierto BRand it honestly puts me off the whole brand. happened with Montclair. The SA kept rushing me and taking things away from me as I was trying them on so I had to run after her to get them back. then she told me that the zips of their coats will break about once a year because its so high tech and I will be charged 200 EUR for getting it fixed/year. No me parece.
Do you ever buy second-hand bags? Where do you buy used? ¡Hago! but I am picky. I frequent small second hand luxury boutiques. If you have one in your area, I recommend checking it out! From my experience you can get bags in an fantastic shape for a fair price. Also, you know what you are getting.
Back to online shopping: I find it very stressful. This Christmas I got myself the Yuzefi bag off the RealReal. It was new w/tags and half price. I was suspicious of that. The colour was generally appealing to pretty much anybody. but I thought maybe that’s a Covid side-effect. So I bought it. Imported it. and I opened the parcel. and my whole flat got filled with this unbearable stench, I almost got sick. I have never smelled something like that before. It was a mix of mold, moist cellar, cigarettes and general decay. The bag looked fine however, beautiful as in the photos. I have since treated the bag with all anti-smell methods I could find, I even baked it. I am happy to say that it is almost usable, but it nevertheless needs some professional help. I should mention that the RealReal refunded the shipping cost (overseas), but I don’t think I will get online second hand bags again. The environmental factor of having a bag shipped around the globe also isn’t something I am proud of. I’ll stick with brick shops.
Do you sell old bags to pay for new purchases? No tan lejos. I rotate through my bags quite often, so I don’t really have unused bags lying around that feel obsolete. On top of that I would be too sentimental to give any of them away! It’s my bag family.
Also, I have a certain buying philosophy: I only add a bag to my collection if it is a noticeably different style, size and colour from what I already have. That way I can easily pass on bags that are similar to something I own, while ending up with a bag for every outfit and occation ?
Do you ever feel societal pressure to purchase more bags? rather the opposite! I do feel guilty about having such a vast and expensive bag collection, but I don’t regret it and it definitely helped me to feel appreciated. I moved to a foreign country on my own when I was sixteen and worked in so many odd and underpaid jobs. When I was studying full time, I was at times working both an unpaid internship and a student job. It was exhausting and you don’t even get appropriate financial compensation. and with my family in a different country, I wasn’t able to go home to eat there or have my parents take me out for dinner, so I had to be very cautious with the money I spent. getting gifted a nice bag for special occations just made a difference. You might think it’s odd that I got luxury bags instead of extra money, and it might as well be. but only having the bare necessities is exhausting.
Do you consider your bag purchases investments? No necesariamente. I know that if I am ever in urgent need of money I can (sadly) sell my collection and maybe get some thousands back. but I don’t think of making profit. The resale value is not a factor for me when buying, because I want to wear my bag babies until they fall apart (so far, none of them have. That’s what’s so great about them).
Who influences your buying decisions? PurseBlog. people on the street. looking at bags in shops. I need to see myself styling it with my wardrobe, as well as being in awe of it’s beauty. I sometimes find myself swayed by ads and seeing others rave about a bag to a point where I want it. but I don’t really give in, because I know what true love feels like (apart from that o