2023 Resolution: Shopping my Own Bags and SLG Collection

[Vintage Leather]

A long standing tradition in this thread is to remind ourselves of how wonderful our own collections are by showcasing them. We can see how far we have come, collection wise, and we reminded that we have all (or most of) what we need making it easier to shop our own closets.



• New theme weeks start each Sunday

• Don’t jump ahead but, if you miss a week, please do show your bags “late”.

• Show bags individually or in a group

• You do NOT have to wear the bags that week

• For added fun, show old pictures from previous years to demonstrate how you have curated it over time.

• This is completely voluntary. There is no pressure to post at any time.





So what are the showcases? In the Fall, we group our bags by makers! Feel free to show bags, small leather goods, or however it is easiest to organize!

August 13 - Balenciaga, Bottega Veneta

August 20 - Burberry, Celine

August 27 - Coach, Chanel

September 3 - Chloe, Dior

September 10 - Dooney & Bourke, Fendi

September 17 - Ferragamo, Givenchy

September 24 - Goyard, Gucci

October 1 - Hermes, Kate Spade

October 8 - Loewe, Longchamp

October 15 - Louis Vuitton, Marc Jacobs

October 22 - Michael Kors, Miu Miu

October 29 - Mulberry, Prada

November 5 - Proenza Schouler, Rebecca Minkoff

November 12 - Saint Laurent, Tods

November 19 - Tory Burch, Valentino

November 26 - Bags by Jewelers: Bulgari, Cartier, Tiffany Co, Van Cleef & Arpels. Alternatively, the pillboxes, compacts and other lovelies made by jewelers that fit in your bag.

December 3 - independent artisans and custom bags.

 

[880]

@880 - Thanks for the tag!

Happy new year to all!

I usually don’t do well with sticking to New Year’s resolutions so I figured I will try to keep things simple this year.

Bag Goals:
I am pretty happy with my bag collection so I don’t really have anything on my list that is a “must have” so my bag goals this year are:
- be more deliberate with my purchases and avoid impulsive buys ..(easier said than done);
- during Covid years, I purged my bag collection and got it down from over 100 to 50. I know this is still a lot but this is over 15 years of collection and I’m at a point now that I appreciate and love every bag in my collection. My goal this year is to keep to that number so this should hopefully force me to be more selective and really think about whether a new bag is worth it enough to let go of one of my older bags.
- I also hope to rotate my bags more to bring down my cost per wear and shop my closet and avoid further purchases at least for the 1st quarter …baby steps ..

As for personal goals, I need to stop drinking diet soda and drink more water which may be harder to do than not shopping for a whole quarter…

So far I’ve been good with the shopping ban but I’ve already fallen off the wagon on the diet soda..but I’m jumping back on since I have to do this for better health.

Good luck to everyone on sticking to their resolutions!

To get from 100 to 50 and to love every bag is fabulous

 

[dcooney4]

I’ve struggled with things not moving. So far, I have three strategies:

1) accept that I value the space more than the money and haul them to a consignment or thrift shop. This is when I don’t want to deal with sales or bags ever again.

2) Drop prices/make offers to liners that are low. Insanely low.

3) Put the bags in a box with a lid. Ignore them. Don’t think about them or stress about them for 6 months or a year. If you get sales in the mean time, you know where the box is. But delete posh, ect off your phone so the unsold items don’t affect your thoughts or quality of life.

Thanks! All good ideas. I am going screenshot your advice.

 

[dcooney4]

@880 - Thanks for the tag!

Happy new year to all!

I usually don’t do well with sticking to New Year’s resolutions so I figured I will try to keep things simple this year.

Bag Goals:
I am pretty happy with my bag collection so I don’t really have anything on my list that is a “must have” so my bag goals this year are:
- be more deliberate with my purchases and avoid impulsive buys ..(easier said than done);
- during Covid years, I purged my bag collection and got it down from over 100 to 50. I know this is still a lot but this is over 15 years of collection and I’m at a point now that I appreciate and love every bag in my collection. My goal this year is to keep to that number so this should hopefully force me to be more selective and really think about whether a new bag is worth it enough to let go of one of my older bags.
- I also hope to rotate my bags more to bring down my cost per wear and shop my closet and avoid further purchases at least for the 1st quarter …baby steps ..

As for personal goals, I need to stop drinking diet soda and drink more water which may be harder to do than not shopping for a whole quarter…

So far I’ve been good with the shopping ban but I’ve already fallen off the wagon on the diet soda..but I’m jumping back on since I have to do this for better health.

Good luck to everyone on sticking to their resolutions.

Great job getting down to fifty . It is wonderful that you love all you have left. I enjoy variety as well.

 

[Jereni]

@jblended
I decided to keep my partly painted bag its dark color as is, and instead decided to add a credit card holder in the front if the bag for a fun look.
I love how fun it is now!View attachment 5683314

Wow it looks so fun!

@880 - Thanks for the tag!

Happy new year to all!

I usually don’t do well with sticking to New Year’s resolutions so I figured I will try to keep things simple this year.

Bag Goals:
I am pretty happy with my bag collection so I don’t really have anything on my list that is a “must have” so my bag goals this year are:
- be more deliberate with my purchases and avoid impulsive buys ..(easier said than done);
- during Covid years, I purged my bag collection and got it down from over 100 to 50. I know this is still a lot but this is over 15 years of collection and I’m at a point now that I appreciate and love every bag in my collection. My goal this year is to keep to that number so this should hopefully force me to be more selective and really think about whether a new bag is worth it enough to let go of one of my older bags.
- I also hope to rotate my bags more to bring down my cost per wear and shop my closet and avoid further purchases at least for the 1st quarter …baby steps ..

As for personal goals, I need to stop drinking diet soda and drink more water which may be harder to do than not shopping for a whole quarter…

So far I’ve been good with the shopping ban but I’ve already fallen off the wagon on the diet soda..but I’m jumping back on since I have to do this for better health.

Good luck to everyone on sticking to their resolutions!

Great goals!!! Wow 50 bags - I can’t wait to see your collection during the color weeks!!!

Great job getting down to fifty . It is wonderful that you love all you have left. I enjoy variety as well.

Agreed. I love variety. I have 37 or 38 bags right now and while I’m planning on selling 6 or 7 of them, I also love variety.

 

[papertiger]

I’m so so sorry about your mom. I lost mine in 2018 and obv there are no words. Sending hugs your way.

I'm so sorry . Same here Jereni, it took years not to tear up thinking about her. She would have hated the whole covid thing though, she was such a sociable person (even though she was surprisingly shy).

 

[papertiger]

@880 - Thanks for the tag!

Happy new year to all!

I usually don’t do well with sticking to New Year’s resolutions so I figured I will try to keep things simple this year.

Bag Goals:
I am pretty happy with my bag collection so I don’t really have anything on my list that is a “must have” so my bag goals this year are:
- be more deliberate with my purchases and avoid impulsive buys ..(easier said than done);
- during Covid years, I purged my bag collection and got it down from over 100 to 50. I know this is still a lot but this is over 15 years of collection and I’m at a point now that I appreciate and love every bag in my collection. My goal this year is to keep to that number so this should hopefully force me to be more selective and really think about whether a new bag is worth it enough to let go of one of my older bags.
- I also hope to rotate my bags more to bring down my cost per wear and shop my closet and avoid further purchases at least for the 1st quarter …baby steps ..

As for personal goals, I need to stop drinking diet soda and drink more water which may be harder to do than not shopping for a whole quarter…

So far I’ve been good with the shopping ban but I’ve already fallen off the wagon on the diet soda..but I’m jumping back on since I have to do this for better health.

Good luck to everyone on sticking to their resolutions!

You've done so well, that's amazing.

 

[papertiger]

@jblended
I decided to keep my partly painted bag its dark color as is, and instead decided to add a credit card holder in the front if the bag for a fun look.
I love how fun it is now!View attachment 5683314

That's cuter than the Hermes Quelle Idole that sells for crazy prices on the resale market, ingenious

 

[JenJBS]

• Read 3-5 books about designing and building a house (recommendations?).

I'm of no help with designing and building a house, but once it's built I can recommend some great interior decorating books if you are interested then.

 

[Vintage Leather]

Read 3-5 books about designing and building a house (recommendations?).

The Visual Handbook of Building and Remodeling by Charlie Wing
- breaks a lot of the tough technical language into easy to understand terms, and has some great diagrams.


The Complete Guide to Contracting your Home by Kent Lester
- talks about some of the nitty gritty legal and financial details about working with contractors, in addition to the fun stuff.


How to Build Your Dream House without Getting Nailed by the Chubby Builder
- a good starting point for designing and budgeting.


The Complete Visual Guide to Building a House by John Carroll
- a step by step guide, essential if you are going it alone.


There’s also a great magazine, “Fine Homebuilding” that is fun to leaf through (John Carroll is a major contributor to the magazine.)

I have a “Sunset Guide to Building a Cabin” published in the 1940s. And every decade or so, I think that I’m going to get away from it all, buy a plot of land, build a cabin and live off the grid. Then I go to Cartier and the urge passes.

 

[Bag peace]

@jblended
I decided to keep my partly painted bag its dark color as is, and instead decided to add a credit card holder in the front if the bag for a fun look.
I love how fun it is now!

Oooh! Such a great idea to modify it! Did you use rivets to attach the card holder? I love it! It looks better than the current Coach bags with faces! (I take it the card holder is from that collection?) Awesome job!

Seeing it, I'm glad you didn't try to dye it. Mine was a low-value beater that could handle the change, and would have just become a pouch for my jewlery if the dye-job didn't work out. Your bag is too lovely to alter drastically with a dye job. Your simple modification took it up a notch and gave it personality without risking the integrity of the leather and shape. Just genius!

during Covid years, I purged my bag collection and got it down from over 100 to 50.

Wow! That's impressive!

And every decade or so, I think that I’m going to get away from it all, buy a plot of land, build a cabin and live off the grid. Then I go to Cartier and the urge passes.

 

[Sunshine mama]

Oooh! Such a great idea to modify it! Did you use rivets to attach the card holder? I love it! It looks better than the current Coach bags with faces! (I take it the card holder is from that collection?) Awesome job!

Thank you J!
I got the bag out to start stripping the color, but it just seemed too daunting at the time, so I decided to jettison that idea.
I used some screw-on purse feet to adhere the wallet to the bag.
The wallet is from an older collection from the outlet from some years back, and the bag is from even an older collection.

 

[Jereni]

The Visual Handbook of Building and Remodeling by Charlie Wing
- breaks a lot of the tough technical language into easy to understand terms, and has some great diagrams.


The Complete Guide to Contracting your Home by Kent Lester
- talks about some of the nitty gritty legal and financial details about working with contractors, in addition to the fun stuff.


How to Build Your Dream House without Getting Nailed by the Chubby Builder
- a good starting point for designing and budgeting.


The Complete Visual Guide to Building a House by John Carroll
- a step by step guide, essential if you are going it alone.


There’s also a great magazine, “Fine Homebuilding” that is fun to leaf through (John Carroll is a major contributor to the magazine.)

I have a “Sunset Guide to Building a Cabin” published in the 1940s. And every decade or so, I think that I’m going to get away from it all, buy a plot of land, build a cabin and live off the grid. Then I go to Cartier and the urge passes.

Wow thank you!!!

 

[BowieFan1971]

I’ve struggled with things not moving. So far, I have three strategies:

1) accept that I value the space more than the money and haul them to a consignment or thrift shop. This is when I don’t want to deal with sales or bags ever again.

2) Drop prices/make offers to liners that are low. Insanely low.

3) Put the bags in a box with a lid. Ignore them. Don’t think about them or stress about them for 6 months or a year. If you get sales in the mean time, you know where the box is. But delete posh, ect off your phone so the unsold items don’t affect your thoughts or quality of life.

I’ve struggled with things not moving. So far, I have three strategies:

1) accept that I value the space more than the money and haul them to a consignment or thrift shop. This is when I don’t want to deal with sales or bags ever again.

2) Drop prices/make offers to liners that are low. Insanely low.

3) Put the bags in a box with a lid. Ignore them. Don’t think about them or stress about them for 6 months or a year. If you get sales in the mean time, you know where the box is. But delete posh, ect off your phone so the unsold items don’t affect your thoughts or quality of life.

Happy New Year, everyone! Took a break with all the business of Italy, adjusting to my son being home, minor renovations/updating the house, visiting my dad for a week and the holidays. I have time now…broke my toe yesterday while painting and am now forced to wear a boot, ask for help and slow down, much as I hate it since I have a house stalled now in mid-painting chaos. Cue Munch’s The Scream….lol

Listings are sitting for me too, but I know it is not just me (or you all) because every day I get emails from Fashionphile and The Real Real with reductions on bags I pinned. Bags that should have definitely sold. Some have been so good they are hard to resist but I am not going to buy anything without a bag selling, if at all. I bought a few when prices started to drop and Japanese resellers were really cheap. Like I got a Garden Party that just needed cleaned and touched up on the corners for $350. I am thinking about taking back the bags that are sitting at the consignment shop, especially the LV canvas given they are going to cut back production, and just putting them in another closet and holding them until things bounce back.

I was able to buy only two bags in Italy, both from this wonderful shop in Florence that handmakes their bags in their backroom workshop you can see through a door in their shopfront. Classic styles in yummy, chewy pebbled leather that are well made at extremely reasonable prices…think full price Coach quality at Coach Outlet prices. It is third generation family craftsman owned and operated and they are truly nice people who obviously love what they do. I love supporting a business like theirs. Pelletteria Artigiana Viviani…check them out, they ship quickly too. We sent a bag to my SIL for a Christmas gift.

Hope everyone is well. Glad to be back!

 

[BowieFan1971]

Happy New Year all!

I actually have no goals for 2023 in terms of buying or selling. I'm just going to follow my heart. I've had a tough year last year(witnessed my mom's passing at hospice after an extended stay) so I'm going to keep it easy this year.
In terms of wearing bags, I'm still just going to follow my heart.
So I guess following my heart is my goal.

That said, I've been really enjoying featherweight bags lately.
This Moynat Yoyo bag is the lightest bag I own and for that reason, I really use this bag a lot. (There's a tiny amount of cream on the bag from the waffle in the 2nd picture) View attachment 5682161View attachment 5682164

I am so sorry about your mom. I can empathize…in some ways brain cancer has already taken mine from me and it is only a matter of time before she is truly taken from me. I can only imagine how it feels for you. Big hugs!

But your dome bag is truly adorable and really inventive, guaranteed to raise a smile!

 

[Sunshine mama]

I am so sorry about your mom. I can empathize…in some ways brain cancer has already taken mine from me and it is only a matter of time before she is truly taken from me. I can only imagine how it feels for you. Big hugs!

But your dome bag is truly adorable and really inventive, guaranteed to raise a smile!

Thank you.
I am sorry about your mom as well, and big hugs to you too. May true peace be with you during this difficult time!