@sunshineshiney: Thank you so much for sharing your insights! Your collection sounds amazing 🤩! It's a relief to know that fabric linings held up well for almost 2 decades!
I agree that fabric helps keep the bag lightweight for larger bags for practicality. But for smaller bags I think it's more of a cost issue. More expensive small bags will be leather lined.
The small bag I'm interested in is on the lower end of the price range for Chanel handbags, coming in a tiny bit more than a classic no frills mini flap (which is still an insane amount). So they fabric lined it. (Hence why I'm interested if other recently released minis got fabric lining or it's just luck of the draw).
The corresponding WOC on the other hand, comes in the mid-higher price range for WOCs. So it's got more leather compared to other WOCs. (I've learnt that WOCs also come fully fabric lined and sometimes silk lined).
So did I keep the "better quality" WOC in the end? No, I exchanged for the handbag, and here's my reasoning:
I'll start by saying that it was a heart wrenching moment when I handed over the WOC for the exchange 💔. By that time I've had the WOC in my possession for a week. I had fallen in love with it and was about to name it Squishy.
I still stand by my claim about quality. Though they are both lambskin and look similar in photos, they feel very different. The WOC (MIF) was soft and matte and delicate.
The handbag (MII) was shinier, puffier, had a thicker finish, and therefore felt hardier.
I loved the texture of the WOC and every time I opened it it brought me joy, but I knew that every time I used it it'll give me grief 😂. The WOC was adorable. It was like a baby.
It needed to be babied. I couldn't bear the inevitable signs of wear and tear, especially the U-shaped top ("bowing" effect) from the way all WOCs bear weight. For me, it's very noticeable from afar.
And then there was the
capacity difference. I had to take off my phone case in order to fit what I needed inside the WOC, it felt like a brick in the end.
But the fundamental, and very superficial reason for my decision was that
the handbag just "looked" better on the outside. It was better proportioned on my frame (5'6"). When I posed with different outfits it looked better in every photo imo. If this handbag didn't exist I would happily put outfits together with the WOC and I would think it looks perfect. But I can't unsee how the handbag looked on me. And
I couldn't rationalize choosing the WOC based on texture and what's on the inside, but is mostly going to sit on the shelf for fear and inconvenience of using it.
It was a hard choice, and after I exhausted everyone I could ask an opinion from, I asked my daughter. She picked the handbag over the WOC. Her reason was: because it's SQUISHY. And that's the end of Old Squishy's stay in the family, and in came New Squishy. (Yes I took fashion advice from someone whose full collection of handbags consists of a fuzzy watermelon crossbody and a Cat on Chain) 😬
To be honest I regret my choice a little bit. My advice? 1) Don't let yourself fall in love with a bag you might exchange, even if you know you'll love the other one even more. 2) Don't start on the Chanel journey, you'll definitely end up with more than one. (I really miss that WOC...)
Oh geez I'm so long winded 🫣
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. When I got my first WOC ages ago, I was actually wanting something smaller. But I quickly realized it was perfect to go inside my larger Chanel bag, running errands, going out, etc (just as you said!!)
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