Depending on how you select items, both chanel and Hermes can be styled to skew urban or country, older or more youthful. Neutral Color and phw can make something look more urban, even more so if the item doesn’t appear brand spanking new. It’s simply personal preference, style, and context. I happen to wear birkenstock sneakers or doc martens with chanel or H RTW to tone down the outfit. JMO though
Chanel VS Hermès
- Thread starter Nathaniele
- Start date
Well, Chanel is a fashion house and Hermes is a leather house. As brands/companies they have different priorities.
I became fascinated with Chanel in college, I thought their designs were ladylike and glam, modern and vintage at the same time. I saw a picture of someone wearing jeans, heels, and a Chanel tweed jacket while holding a reissue and I fell hard. To me it was the epitome of chic.
I didn’t know Hermes existed until the infamous SATC episode and I was so confused because I thought the bag was ugly. Like, it looked like a briefcase. But when I turned 35 I started to appreciate their aesthetic, focus on building relationships with customers as well as vendors, their quality leathers and color selection.
I became fascinated with Chanel in college, I thought their designs were ladylike and glam, modern and vintage at the same time. I saw a picture of someone wearing jeans, heels, and a Chanel tweed jacket while holding a reissue and I fell hard. To me it was the epitome of chic.
I didn’t know Hermes existed until the infamous SATC episode and I was so confused because I thought the bag was ugly. Like, it looked like a briefcase. But when I turned 35 I started to appreciate their aesthetic, focus on building relationships with customers as well as vendors, their quality leathers and color selection.
I wear both, but tend to favor Hermes since Karl Lagerfeld passed. I am older and have two girls, one in her teens and another in her 20s and we share clothes. My teen wears my Chanels and the older one prefers Hermes. I prefer Hermes because they are less obvious. I live in LA and regularly travel to large urban cities and Chanel is too obvious. Because I typically travel alone and only with my girls or sisters, I prefer to wear something nondescript like Hermes. I know it seems nonsensical, but I buy my daughter, who lives in Chicago, Hermes because it is not identifiable as designer. I do not like to waste my money on disposable clothing, so if I shop for her it is forever clothes with zero label.
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I have both and they have different aesthetic so one cannot replace the other. I thought as well once I started buying hermès that I would be done with chanel but I still ended up buying a few more chanels. Hermes quality is superior and I only wish chanel kept or improved that with their increases. I may stop buying chanel and still continue with hermes but not because they are of the same price point but mostly coz I still have a few items I want from H. For chanel, it’s really just the color at this point.
Your girls are extremely lucky for many many reasons having nothing to do with clothes, but the clothes help lol
I personally think chanel tailored garments still have better construction, but I like more and more Hermes items which are better priced. Hermes has also started to up their tailoring which is absolutely necessary to sell RTW
I buy a mix of chanel, dior, Hermes, brunello, and Now Loro P, based on where my SAs have landed. They know what I like almost better than I do. Everything I buy has to play well together
I also didn’t really appreciate H aesthetics until my 30s, before then I thought H items looked super boring. It definitely takes a certain degree of mental maturity (for me) to appreciate a more understated style.
That said, when I was a teenager, all the way to my early 20s, I thought Chanel was super boring and dreaded being dragged to the store when my mother wanted to buy a bag. Oh how the time has changed.
I'm still a Chanel girl. When I was very young, I thought the classic flap was the best looking bag in the whole world, and I still kind of do. I would buy Chanel even if it weren't hyped up, but I can't say I would still be attracted to hermes bags. That being said, I simply can't afford to play the Hermes game mentally or financially. At least with Chanel it's upfront. Maybe when I'm older my opinion will change, but as of right now I don't wanna start any journeys with Hermes.
When I think of Chanel or want to go shopping at Chanel, I think of everything they have to offer. When I think of Hermes, all I think of is some of their handbags and a few of their tableware.
Chanel has more categories that I like which is why I prefer it to Hermes. If I am not a fan of a house RTW, it makes it hard for me to get into what they have to offer as a whole. This doesn’t mean I would not shop at Hermes, I would, it’s just not the place I think of straight away. For me Chanel and Hermes aesthetic and vibes are different from each other. There were times when I side eyed Chanel for not being upfront about the price increase by not showing the new prices right away online but that hasn’t stopped me from shopping there.
Chanel has more categories that I like which is why I prefer it to Hermes. If I am not a fan of a house RTW, it makes it hard for me to get into what they have to offer as a whole. This doesn’t mean I would not shop at Hermes, I would, it’s just not the place I think of straight away. For me Chanel and Hermes aesthetic and vibes are different from each other. There were times when I side eyed Chanel for not being upfront about the price increase by not showing the new prices right away online but that hasn’t stopped me from shopping there.
I like mix and match too. Every designer house has its own allure and its own strengths, and shopping is supposed to be fun.Your girls are extremely lucky for many many reasons having nothing to do with clothes, but the clothes help lol
I personally think chanel tailored garments still have better construction, but I like more and more Hermes items which are better priced. Hermes has also started to up their tailoring which is absolutely necessary to sell RTW
I buy a mix of chanel, dior, Hermes, brunello, and Now Loro P, based on where my SAs have landed. They know what I like almost better than I do. Everything I buy has to play well together
Cant really compare both brands coz of the different experience and "difficulty" in getting bags from both brands differ in terms of time, effort and cost.Now that Chanel has officially entered the Hermès price pool, what are your thoughts on those brands positions in the market / luxury community? How do you feel about people comparing the two and how comes Hermès did a better job rationalizing their profit margin to the audience?
I recently got my first birkin 25 of my choice (etain, ghw , togo) via a reseller route. I had to pay a premium above the retail price at an equivalent to the pre-spend ratio 3:1, I just didnt want to embark in a long marathon "relationship" with an SA, involving in pre-spend on items that I do not fancy and yet at the end of the day run a risk of not getting the bag of my specifications.
This very smart marketing pyschology of Hermes of playing hard to get definitely works on the human pysche of not getting what they want or crave ,and then eventually getting them hooked and addicted to the "Game" and continue playing it until they get the bag of their choice.
With almost fewer boutique globally (carrying waaay fewer product variety) and also rather muted marketing /advertising campaigns with equally uninspiring fashion run ways shows compared to Chanel, I guestimate that H prolly do enjoy a higher profit margin than Chanel actually.
After my experience of buying from a reputable H reseller in Singapore, I figured that many of them got new H bags stocks directly from the boutique and they prolly have built strong relationship with H SA's to get first dip of the bag stocks. I was completely astounded when this reseller pulled out a 3 drawer full of NEW rodeos/pegasus bag charms when i asked to see a few of them as they are almost impossible to get from the boutique direct . They also carry quite a variety of H accessories which are also mostly New too
For Chanel as someone said it before, it is slightly easier to acquire a bag and also lower acquisition cost However going forward, i do see Chanel becoming more like H in terms of the relative ease of getting the popular bags which will be getting harder in the future . Chanel has instituted quota bag rule , also requiring customers to also buy their other products like jewellries, rtw and all these on top of increasing their bag prices
It's like comparing apples to oranges. Aesthetically, they're not even close. If I had to choose one over the other, I would lean Hermes because I see more use of what they offer in my wardrobe. I've recently been purchasing more handbags and I'm considering the Chanel 19. The price increase doesn't bother me as long as the quality is suffice. But I'm definitely considering on starting an Hermes journey to get a Birkin 30. I think people should buy what they would use and enjoy.
This may be an unpopular opinion, but prices on resale are cyclical. 15 years ago, when people bought 35B and 32K, there were deals on smaller sizes. A decade ago, Bergdorfs and saks, and even chanel 57 had up to 60% sales on chanel seasonal bags. During Covid, I picked up deals on 28Ks and 30Bs, averaging 7K USD. (All structurally sound, gorgeous leather, with some easily fixable cosmetic flaws). Nowadays, there are probably deals on chanel jumbos and 35Bs. I have a feeling that if one shops carefully, with recession, there will be more deals forthcoming. I for one am getting a bit tired of mini bags, mainly bc they make me feel preppy and chunky (I’m medium build and short). The demand is still relatively strong for both chanel and Hermes bc of strong resale of top models/specific bags, but it’s good to have options. I would caution anyone who starts down the Hermes path not to rehome their Chanel’s too quickly. Bc there is plenty of room in one’s wardrobe for both.
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My Chanel 19 and my B30 are my most used bags hands down. I have two of both. Will definitely get another B30 if offered. The price increase on the Chanel 19 does bother me. I was ok with $5700 for a 19, but not $6200(?). But I prefer the 19 over every other bag Chanel offers, including the CF.
I think my biggest issue with Chanel is the lack of after sale service. It is stressful to keep so many iridescent bags that can’t be serviced if they start peeling. My Chanel milk bag has a corner that has started losing its iridescence. I still love it but I can only imagine how stressful it would be to have a large collection of these. I haven’t sold my Chanel classics but I don’t use them either. At least I know my Hermes bags can be repaired.
However, I will say while Karl was alive this was a lot of fun. I enjoyed watching the shows and picking out a trendy bag or a new jacket. I watched the Hermes show this past weekend and texted my sa what I wanted. I nearly had a heart attack because I was worried she would respond “no you are not vip enough to reserve any of this.”
Lol. I miss the days when I could go to my Chanel boutique and say to my sa “hey wanna come to my wedding? You are my bff since I text you more than any of my friends.” Lol my Hermes sa is not my bff, she is like that douchy dude from my 20s that kept ghosting me and refused to meet my friends.
However, I will say while Karl was alive this was a lot of fun. I enjoyed watching the shows and picking out a trendy bag or a new jacket. I watched the Hermes show this past weekend and texted my sa what I wanted. I nearly had a heart attack because I was worried she would respond “no you are not vip enough to reserve any of this.”
Lol. I miss the days when I could go to my Chanel boutique and say to my sa “hey wanna come to my wedding? You are my bff since I text you more than any of my friends.” Lol my Hermes sa is not my bff, she is like that douchy dude from my 20s that kept ghosting me and refused to meet my friends.
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