This is my personal history with a lot of self-reflection. I first developed an interest in handbags in 2002. At the time, I was a student with very little extra income. In the first several years of my career, it was only contemporary designers that made up my purchase history. Looking back, that was definitely the result of what was popular and accessible back then (Coach, Kate Spade, Michael Kors, Orla Kiely, Tory Burch). You could buy them in any department store. It was easy. It wasn’t intimidating. The price point enabled my mentality of buying more and more. Definitely something of a compulsion to accumulate. To buy just to have or to be purchasing trying to fill some sort of void in my life or as a stress release. A perfect storm of price point, comfort, familiarity and accessibility. They were also bags I could easily re-home through eBay back then or give to friends when I tired of them a year or two later.
Starting in late 2000s, as my career developed, I was in a better position, both financially and with a self-confidence in my own style that I could carry off a higher end bag. It was then that I started to look at the luxury designers. I started with Miu Miu and Marc Jacobs and then moved into LV and
Gucci. Honestly, I was snob about it too, which is pretty gross. I’ve never taken the Hermes or Chanel (or even Celine) plunge. That is strictly the result of $$. Their pricing has always been a bridge too far for me.
From 2010 to 2016, my luxury designer purse purchases were limited to one every 2 years or so. I totally dropped the contemporary designers (except for 2 pieces from Sophie Hulme when she first arrived on scene). I was no longer accumulating spontaneously and mindlessly. I was very satisfied with what I now had. I guess I finally figured out what were timeless pieces for me, that made me happy, that I loved carrying. I finally felt that I was enough. That I had enough. I was also focusing my spending more on my home and travelling.
Other than 2 recent purchases on the resale market, I haven’t bought a luxury designer bag since 2016. It took me nearly 15 years to realize that I was using my handbag purchases as attempt to fill a void, trying to tell strangers that I had my life together, that I was accomplished, trying to tell myself that everything was great (narrator voice: “it was not great”). I have a very small collection now (less than 10) of only what I love. They are pieces I use every day. It includes both contemporary and high end. It took me a long time to get here. I still love handbags, seeing what’s new, living vicariously through other people’s collections and if a Chanel So Black reissue were to fall into my lap, you’d hear me squealing with joy, but I truly think I’m done with luxury spending. I finally figured myself out.
Yikes, that’s quite a word salad I’ve written. Sorry for treating this thread like my own personal therapy session.
But once I started browsing, and trying on and buying handbags, I first started with contemporary brands, and own a few of them. I then started looking at luxury handbags. Once I started buying luxury handbags, I stopped buying contemporary bags. But I still like the contemporary bags I own, they are well made, and I use them when I prefer to not carry a luxury brand (in some situations). And with the luxury bags, I would prefer to keep my collection size to twelve bags or so.
