...I dump my stuff on the counter and make it fit into the new bag before I buy...
I've probably heard a better bag buying tip sometime or somewhere, but I can't remember what it is.
Another one of those things that makes you go "oh DUH. Why in the world did this never occur to me?"
Thanks! Although I am on a Total and Eternal Shopping Ban, I firmly believe you will have changed the course of entire wardrobes with this.
My own Bag Buying Tips are nowwhere near as spectacular, but in case they will be useful to anybody, I originally posted them talking about buying metallic bags, but they are equally applicable to all bags so just substitute any color for the term "metallic" in the below:
...Think of the most casual clothing you ever wear out of the house, and imagine the bag with that. Now think of what you wear when you are as dressed up as you can possibly get, and imagine the bag with that. It is not enough that you do not go "ew" upon imagining both. You must go "oooh" both times or it is not the right bag.
Whether you are rich or poor, and can afford one or two or a dozen metallic bags, choose each one keeping those color palettes, both wardrobe and self, foremost in your mind, and if you do not look at yourself holding bag candidates in a mirror as a matter of course, it is imperative that you do this with metallics, because of the increased amount of light reflection activity that goes on. I suspect the involvement of Science, but whatever it is, the wrong color metallic bag can do things to your complection, and if your hair is a color, as opposed to basic black, it can do things to it too.
And to your clothes, and it will do it in all different kinds of light, and there you are looking at it in store light, which is found nowhere else, so you are going to have to do a lot of extrapolating and contemplation.
This is why it is best to buy metallic bags when the weather is cool, so that you can layer clothing items in different color families, etc and look in the mirror holding the bag and wearing those various pieces. Take someone along to hold your layers if the store does not have little benches or cooperative salespeople in the bag department.
Link to Original Post
http://forum.purseblog.com/3670113-post12.html
And in case it is necessary, I will point out that just as the wrong color, or shade or tone of a color, can do things TO your skin, hair, etc, obviously the right color can do fabulous things FOR your skin, hair, etc!
A bag may be beautiful, but unless it enhances YOUR beauty, unles you are planning to buy it for purely display purposes, leave it on the shelf, no matter how much you love it.
You may be blinded by the stars in your eyes now, but sooner or later you will realize that it does not do a thing for your skin or your hair, or bring out some color or other in your eyes, if you have colored eyes, or that the silhouette makes your butt look fat from a certain angle, and when you do get around to noticing that, you will stop using the bag, and the laws of the universe being what they are, if you are a bag flipper, your sharpie marker will have gone pipi all over the lining and you won't be able to get much for it on eBay.
So avoid all that trauma, and embrace the truth that any bag that does not make you look more beautiful is somebody else's bag, and leave it there for her, while you go find the bag the universe has chosen for
you!
Thanks, ShimmaPuff! And this little routine actually became the easiest thing in the world to do, after all of the SAs I've ever asked (if I could do that) said "Sure, no problem, I can understand that you'd want to do that". It made me feel like it was a perfectly ordinary thing to ask.
-- eye for color, so seldom make color mistakes. But I have learned that sometimes a pop of color can elevate an outfit, so I'll buy an unusual color IF I LOVE that color and own at least one outfit it will showcase marvelously. Otherwise, I simply spend even more money accessorizing my bag with new clothes.