My bark LENA has arrived!!!

Halzer

Hooked on Classics!
O.G.
Mar 11, 2007
1,271
2
Ok..
So I had a card through my door this morning saying that a parcel was being held at the local depot as it had customs charges on it. *sigh*
I knew it had to be my Lena as its too soon for the Brynne to get here. I raided my hubbys wallet for cash and raced round there to bail her out.

I MUCH perfer the lena to my scarlett. When I opened the box I got that 'love at first sight' feeling ( not that 'Ummmm' feeling I had when I first saw my scarlett). But guys....there is a smell issue! It smells like cod liver oil, but hey I have had leather bags that smelt worse and that smell faded, so Im not worried about that.

The colour is just what I wanted!! Not a choc brown but a mid brown..like bark! And I understand what you all were saying about a touch of olive to it. Its not a flat colour at all. I really think it will rock once its been used a while. Im not going to protect this bag like I did with my scarlett as I think it will look even better with the colour more 'distressed'.

I took my lena out when I went to get my daughter from nursery. I didnt have any problems with the strap at all. Maybe because my coat is suede and give good grip on the handles...or maybe because I put the outer strap underneath the inner one so it doesnt fall anyway. My scarlett was always dropping, I think because the handles are too long for that little bag, but my lena's straps are much more in proportion. Also the weight is 'normal' for me. After carrying around an Isabella Fiore hobo which was soooo heavy, the Lena feels so comfy.

Im going to wear my Lena around the house for a few days too, to break it in more quickly, as its more firm than my lambskin scarlett, so I want to soften the handles up a bit.

Im very happy right now with my lena. I will review my post after a month, but at the moment...:yahoo:.

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I'm so glad you like it! Doesn't that color ROCK??? It's hard to explain but I think it's simply lovely. A brown bag with "Zing".

And yes, there is that smell. It's the only Kooba I got that smelled that way so it muct be the dye. I remember getting it and thinking it might be fake because I had never smelled leather like that. Hope it fades soon for you.

P.S. Is it cold in London??? I'm not good at geography at all. Is it Winter were you are? I forget there are people in here from all over. I saw that coat and thought "Boy, she's going to be roasting cuz it's suppose to be 70 today!" LOL
 
P.S. Is it cold in London??? I'm not good at geography at all. Is it Winter were you are? I forget there are people in here from all over. I saw that coat and thought "Boy, she's going to be roasting cuz it's suppose to be 70 today!" LOL

Ahahaha! Well its meant to be late spring/coming into summer...but as usual its cold here and its been raining all week.:rolleyes:

One good thing about that is that I dont have to worry about matching my bags to my entire wardrobe, just my coats, as 80% of the year Im wearing one.
 
I have taken some more pics in better light. I have also re-belted the sides my way and given more width to the way...as it was a bit narrow before.

I like to tinker with my bags and get them 'just right'...:lol:
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Halzer, it looks great on you!:yahoo: I've been wearing my black one this week, trying to make it a bit more worn in...

Weather should warm up a bit now, though (even though it's always unpredictable.. when I came over in July a few years ago, it was about 10C, had to go out and by coats, nearly froze to death..and then last summer we hit the heat wave and they had 36C and everybody was dying and I was like, what's the matter with you all?, go and get a drink and sit in the garden, it's lovely...LOL

Couldn't live in a cold country now, Australia has spoilt me...
 
I have to admit being a sucker for belts on a bag. That is what drew me to Kooba early on.

Your Lena is a beautifully structured bag with great styling. You will be able to use that bag forever and so will any other female in your family, great longevity.

Simply wonderful.

And thank you for the great photos, we really appreciate you taking the time to do them for us. They really help show the bag at it's best.
 
I have also re-belted the sides my way and given more width to the way..

^^^
Maybe I should do that, it is quite narrow..I'll go and try it now!

Maggie...definatley try widening the sides. The bag looks much better and more 'rounded' than when I first saw it. I flattened the pockets out sideways and re-belted the sides the opposite way to how it came. Before, the diagonal part of the Z on the sides was away from the leather, but I changed it so that part was flat against the leather to hold the newly flattened sides in place more. LOL...does that make sense?
On my first pics there is a shot of the side ...and in my second side pic you can see the different re-belt.
 
I just realized that the color looks like Lindt Milk Chocolate Truffles.

No wonder I love that color! :drool:

LOL! Well I hope you like fish 'coz it smells of cod liver oil:nuts:

I hope that fades soon. My hubby laughed his head off when we realised that my lena smells 'fishy' as he has already made fun of my 'brine' (brynne) that is on the way.

Now he says that kooba bags must be made in a fish market!:confused1:

Pfft! Men!!!