Hi lovely tPF ladies,
Like many of you, the road to my first Kelly was a long one. It started a few years ago, after I had loved H for long enough to acquire several scarves, a couple of bracelets, a Cape Cod double tour, you know, the items many of us start out with as our love for the brand grows. Eventually, I decided I wanted a bag, but which one? I wanted leather, so no Herbag. My SA offered a Paris Bombay, but it was so wide, I knew I would bump into everything. I liked the Bolide, but DH hates it, and for that much money, I'm not going to get something he actively dislikes. My SA knows me well enough to tell me the Lindy would drive me crazy with the way it folds in on itself. What about a Kelly? My first reaction was, that clasp will drive me crazy! There was one on the shelf (that alone will tell you all how long ago that was!), it was probably a 28 sellier and I couldn't get over how stiff it was. It was questche, BTW -- I loved the color, but thought there was no way the bag could be functional for me.
Fast forward a year or so, and the store had a 32 -- it was the toile (?) one with the horse embroidered on the front, promised to another customer, but my SA let me handle it. It was DIVINE, and my whole mindset changed about the Kelly -- in this size, in retourne, it felt right. I still wasn't sure it would fit my lifestyle, but I was intrigued, so I started researching.
In the meantime, I got two leather Garden Parties -- azur and rouge H -- and used them constantly. But still, the longing for a Kelly continued, and grew. I talked to my SA. She called when a black 35 came in, but it looked like a briefcase on me. We decided gold was a better color on me, and I proceeded to wait for a gold 32 retourne with PHW. At one point, my SA told me she had made it into an order. I didn't ask her to, but she said that would guarantee it would be mine when it came in.
The waiting continued. I vacillated between rampant impatience and doubt that this was the right bag for me. In the meantime, I got a gold GP to satiate my gold lust. And satiate it it did, because a year later, when a gold Kelly finally arrived in my store, I no longer felt the love. Yes, ladies, I -- gulp -- turned it down.
Being the bag-obsessed person I am, I questioned myself to the point that the Spanish Inquisitors would have been proud. Was I crazy to turn it down? Did I simply turn down this one bag, or was the Kelly not for me? Yes, it's the most perfect and beautiful bag EVER, but would I, in my super-casual lifestyle, really USE it? If not gold togo, then what? And, not the smallest thing, was I absolutely and certifiably BONKERS for thinking of spending that much money on a handbag?
The idea of vintage slowly crept into my head. I knew I did not want to place an order and wait a year or two or more for it to come in. It was either, play roulette with what came in to the boutique, or go the pre-loved route, something I had never done or even considered before. More research.
Then, my money tree suddenly bore some unexpected fruit, and I knew it was now or never. The more I thought about it, the more I knew I didn't want to go through the boutique. I really love my SA, but the waiting drives me crazy, and then what if I didn't love the next bag that came in? I wanted to SEE the bag, not order, wait, and hope that I'd like it when it came in. I also wanted that feeling of my bag finding me.
Off to eBay I went. And Malleries, and Yoogi's Closet, and Haute Gallery, and Kaleidoplace. I didn't expect to find anything on the 'Bay, just wanted to research prices and conditions of bags, and see what was out there. Of course, there was one bag that caught my eye ...
Like many of you, the road to my first Kelly was a long one. It started a few years ago, after I had loved H for long enough to acquire several scarves, a couple of bracelets, a Cape Cod double tour, you know, the items many of us start out with as our love for the brand grows. Eventually, I decided I wanted a bag, but which one? I wanted leather, so no Herbag. My SA offered a Paris Bombay, but it was so wide, I knew I would bump into everything. I liked the Bolide, but DH hates it, and for that much money, I'm not going to get something he actively dislikes. My SA knows me well enough to tell me the Lindy would drive me crazy with the way it folds in on itself. What about a Kelly? My first reaction was, that clasp will drive me crazy! There was one on the shelf (that alone will tell you all how long ago that was!), it was probably a 28 sellier and I couldn't get over how stiff it was. It was questche, BTW -- I loved the color, but thought there was no way the bag could be functional for me.
Fast forward a year or so, and the store had a 32 -- it was the toile (?) one with the horse embroidered on the front, promised to another customer, but my SA let me handle it. It was DIVINE, and my whole mindset changed about the Kelly -- in this size, in retourne, it felt right. I still wasn't sure it would fit my lifestyle, but I was intrigued, so I started researching.
In the meantime, I got two leather Garden Parties -- azur and rouge H -- and used them constantly. But still, the longing for a Kelly continued, and grew. I talked to my SA. She called when a black 35 came in, but it looked like a briefcase on me. We decided gold was a better color on me, and I proceeded to wait for a gold 32 retourne with PHW. At one point, my SA told me she had made it into an order. I didn't ask her to, but she said that would guarantee it would be mine when it came in.
The waiting continued. I vacillated between rampant impatience and doubt that this was the right bag for me. In the meantime, I got a gold GP to satiate my gold lust. And satiate it it did, because a year later, when a gold Kelly finally arrived in my store, I no longer felt the love. Yes, ladies, I -- gulp -- turned it down.
Being the bag-obsessed person I am, I questioned myself to the point that the Spanish Inquisitors would have been proud. Was I crazy to turn it down? Did I simply turn down this one bag, or was the Kelly not for me? Yes, it's the most perfect and beautiful bag EVER, but would I, in my super-casual lifestyle, really USE it? If not gold togo, then what? And, not the smallest thing, was I absolutely and certifiably BONKERS for thinking of spending that much money on a handbag?
The idea of vintage slowly crept into my head. I knew I did not want to place an order and wait a year or two or more for it to come in. It was either, play roulette with what came in to the boutique, or go the pre-loved route, something I had never done or even considered before. More research.
Then, my money tree suddenly bore some unexpected fruit, and I knew it was now or never. The more I thought about it, the more I knew I didn't want to go through the boutique. I really love my SA, but the waiting drives me crazy, and then what if I didn't love the next bag that came in? I wanted to SEE the bag, not order, wait, and hope that I'd like it when it came in. I also wanted that feeling of my bag finding me.
Off to eBay I went. And Malleries, and Yoogi's Closet, and Haute Gallery, and Kaleidoplace. I didn't expect to find anything on the 'Bay, just wanted to research prices and conditions of bags, and see what was out there. Of course, there was one bag that caught my eye ...
