Although a lot of people who frequently get designers bags are affluent to some extent, not everyone has hundreds of countless dollars in their annual budgets. (But among our readership, that’s absolutely the case for lots of people.) So this week, for our fourth edition of closet Confessionals, we’re spotlighting someone we think will be relatable: a 20-something living in a very expensive city, making five figures, and planning her purchases very carefully.
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Základy
Age: 27
Gender Identity: Female
Location: San Francisco
Occupation: graphic Designer
Industry: Varied
Income: $75,000/year
The Bags
Are you a PurseForum member? Áno
How lots of bags do you own? 30+. I collected a lot of vintage Gucci and used to work retail—the terrific enabler.
How much is your collection worth? Oh man, I’m a poor estimator of value but maybe in the $10,000 range? I might be lowballing myself here.
What is your a lot of expensive bag? I just got my Louis Vuitton world excursion quick 30, which stung a bit, but I do have a vintage (late 80s/early 90s) Chanel lambskin tiny flap bag with gold hardware. I know that is a bag that has boosted in value, and what I paid for it and a purse was an absolute steal. My mother’s pal needed the money and, in her words, hadn’t carried it much considering that she brought it home from the Beverly Hills I.Magnin. She wanted to give me first crack because she knew I would care for it and really love it.
What are the most crucial brands or pieces in your collection? I will always be very fond of the vintage Gucci. A lot of it came from my grandfather’s friend, who provided it to my mom. There are some really terrific shapes and styles that I just love. and lots of that blue pattern that started to come back! The two Vuittons I purchased myself (Mon Mono Neverfull and My LV world excursion Speedy) were things that I really, really saved hard for and felt so rewarded when they came. and the Chanel Mini, because I knew that the woman who offered it to me loved it but couldn’t use it and it indicated a lot to me that she asked me first. She could have gotten far a lot more if she had offered it by means of another route, but often the headache isn’t worth it.
What age did you get your first designer bag, and what was it? I had a great leather instructor carry bag my cousin purchased me when I was 14 and I was always welcome to borrow from my mom’s vintage Gucci collection, but my -first- was a Chanel WOC. Black Caviar. Silver hardware. I was 17. I was absolutely gobsmacked. I think in the Christmas pictures my mouth is large open, my short pink hair is spiked everywhere, and I can still hear the blood rushing through my ears.
Nakupovanie
How typically do you get new bags? Nie veľmi. I feel like considering that I got my Mon Mono Neverfull I’ve been…satisfied? and kind of disappointed by a lot of what was out there. maybe one really big purchase every few years, it seems.
Which stores do you frequent the most? Bloomingdale’s! What a terrific selection and terrific merchandising. I feel like their benefits for cardholders are very good.
Do you ever get second-hand bags? Áno!
Where do you get used? mostly stores like Crossroads Trading and thrift Town. I’m much a lot more of a shoe girl. I love browsing on The real Real because they have such terrific photos of their items.
Do you sell old bags to pay for new purchases? Áno. I had a white Marc by Marc Preppy Hillier Hobo from my retail days, and while I really loved the shape, I didn’t carry it. often things you thought you love just don’t end up working out. I’m pretty delighted with a lot of of my bags and have what I have for a reason. I offered mostly to Crossroads Trading, so the proceeds might not fun a new bag, but maybe a new outfit or something else.
Who influences your getting decisions? often I get that FEELING. When something is just so very YOU. a lot of recently I did this with the Bloomingdale’s incredibly brown Bag. It’s one of their little recyclable bags but it has incredibly Mario world graphics on it. I grew up playing that game and it was just perfect. Sure, I need another recyclable bag like I need a hole in my head but I love it. I also went ga-ga for the Keith Haring x instructor line. I constructed out with the heart bag charm and the flourish Box cam bag. I’ve always loved Keith Haring and was lucky enough to get one of the last flourish Box cam bags.
So I guess I’d say me. often a bag is so love-at-first-sight.
Are sales partner relationships instrumental to your shopping? Áno. I am not an online consumer by any means. That always feels like a lot more of a last-ditch thing to get something. My SAs like me because I really try to avoid getting something I’ll return. I love talking with them and hearing what other customers go for. When I put together my world excursion Speedy, I loved talking with my SA about what other clients go for. I chose the natural trim for mine versus the black leather, and she discussed that a lot of clients get the black leather. It interests me, partially because I have a background in marketing and love that kind of thing. one of my SAs (shoe-wise) is a pal from my retail days and he’s very helpful. I took my mommy to go get work shoes, and he found a best pair that fit the bill from a brand I wasn’t very familiar with.
Peniaze
Who pays for your bags? I do. My mommy was a compulsive consumer who had a taste for Louis Vuitton and so lots of other things. I have absolutely received great bags as gifts (hello, Chanel WOC for Christmas and quick 30 in Damier Azur for graduating from college), and I have seen the anxiety that compulsive shopping and debt bring on a marriage and I have been figured out to never repeat that in my own life. often the purchases were planned and other times they fell into my lap.
Do you set aside a budget for your bag purchases? I don’t, unless there’s a really big purchase I have in mind. My last spur-of-the-moment get was a Keith Haring x instructor cam bag.
The Taboo Topics
Have you ever bought a counterfeit because you couldn’t afford a designer item? once I purchased a furberry (fake Burberry) plaid scarf. It would deceive no one and was really cheap. I need to have been 14 and thought, “Well, no way I’ll ever own the real thing.” Well, a couple months later I ended up in Burberry and purchased myself my very own tissue weight brick red cashmere muffler, on sale. It was the most I’d ever spent on myself, outside of a game console—something like $221. but it was the absolute softest, warmest, dreamiest thing I had ever wrapped around myself. part of me couldn’t believe that I found it that easy to part with all that money for a scarf, but there I was, skipping down 5th Avenue with the bag in my hand, and I couldn’t wait to put it on. I was so much a lot more satisfied.
Do you ever hide purchases from your significant other? No, but I have hidden them from my dad. With a compulsive consumer (almost) ex-wife, he used to complain to my mommy about all the shopping bags I used to bring home from work when I was in college. She reminded him that I had a very generous employee discount and had been actively upgrading my professional wardrobe, as well as it being Christmas. He certainly did not complain about the mountain of gold-toe socks (his favorite), nor that I paid for our small family Christmas dinner!
What’s the craziest thing you’ve done to afford a bag? That’s a toss-up between setting myself up with a one-year saving plan to deposit money into a savings account for my Mon Mono Neverfull, and the unforeseen expense of getting the Chanel Mini/wallet. Again, a steal for those pieces at $800, but really not any money I was planning to casually drop at the time! I ended up stretching boxes of VALU TIME (“we took off the E to pass the savings on to you!”) mac-and-cheese, hot sauce, and a hot pet dog into lunches and dinners, and soon I’d recouped my purchase. I normally bring lunch to work, but I was determined. I employed the same method when I fell asleep driving my automobile and paid my daddy back for getting it repaired, and saving for holiday at the same time. It worked, but man, I could not look another box of macaroni in the face for a while!
I find that when I ask myself if I want that lunch out at work (easily $10, unless I get a McChicken!) or what I’m saving for, I hit my savings goal that much sooner. maybe I’m very good at convincing myself because it seems to work, even as I’ve progressed in my career.
Do you ever think your shopping is a problem? There was a time when it was. I had very severe health issues after I graduated from college, as well as my grandmother passing away after a long illness. It did set off a breakdown in me, and I am still digging myself out of that debt to the tune of less than $7,000, as a combination of shopping, specialists, and unemployment. I recovered, and all it takes is to remember that pinch of inputting the bill collectors into my contacts as “sharks” and setting their sound to silent. I am lucky, as I still have a place to live, did not have to declare bankruptcy, or anything else. It really hurts viewing someone go through a shopping addiction, and it is tough living IN it as well. I never want to be at a level where it drives me into deep debt, ruins relationships, etc.
The rest Of It
Any other expensive hobbies or passions? I used to collect video games. There are some pretty pricey things in that collection, and one that would easily fetch a great sum. and as I said earlier, my weakness is shoes. for years I dreamed of these 2008 Chanel bicolor Mary Janes. It took until 2014 that I found them at a local consignment shop. Dostal som ich z mysle roky, pretože som si myslel, že ich nikdy nenájdem. Milujem tiež šatky.
Milujem katalógy výstav a vždy som sklamaný, keď to nie je tak dobre zostavené, ako som dúfal. Sledoval som jednu z výstavy, ktorú som videl v roku 2007 v Rakúsku, pretože som si to nemohol dovoliť v tom čase, ani som si ho nemala požehnať ani na niekoľko týždňov. a romány vo francúzštine, grafiku alebo inak. Oh, nepohodlné, keď sa snažíte prečítať zvyšok XIII vo francúzštine, zatiaľ čo sa snaží nájsť sériu za dobrú cenu, ktorá sa dá dodať do USA!
Čokoľvek iné?
V mojich prvých dňoch, keď som sa snažil financovať, potom, čo som stratil svoje prvé zamestnanie na strednej škole, som predplatil veľa vecí z Thrift Town. Zistil som, že zachytím dobrú výstavbu oblečenia a doplnkov na okamih. Mal som detstvo, že som vyrastal s veľkými vecami a žasol nad ohromujúcimi vecami v Neiman Marcus, takže by som rád myslel, že som mal náskok. Čoskoro som si povedal (a potom mojimi rodičmi), že by som im nedovolil dostať svoje promócie na strednú školu. Jednoznačne si pamätám, že mi moja mama povedala, že by som sa radšej neobjavil v niektorých strašných svadobných šatách z 80. rokov a môj otec bol istý, že nikdy nenájdem nič. Nakoniec som našiel ohromujúce šaty Versace Shift od konca 80. rokov a zaplatil som za to 21,65 dolárov. Vzal som si peniaze, ktoré som ušetril, a dostal som nejaké pochúťky a farbu vlasov.