When I was your age, the only designer handbag I owned was a Dooney and Burke all weather leather saddle bag that my parents got me after a lot of begging a pleading when I was 15. All the rest were no-name ones that I still love to this day because they were made by indie designers and have SOOO much personality and great design! (Plus they were frequently one-ofs so my friends couldn't run off to some store and buy one to copy my style). I encourage you to look at the budget constraint as a good thing because you'll have to really be in love with a bag to get it and you'll treasure it forever.
Do you own any non-designer/non high-end bags?
- Thread starter sesrup
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Oh yea! I love Avon and Target handbags, I don't care what name is on it, if it is cute I'll buy it. Of course I like having designer stuff too though!
I have a vintage feathered clutch that I love and a giant black heart tote that cracks me up - its even fake leather and I still love it, because its so amusing. Other than that I tend to buy designer, but quirky. I'm not a this season's bag kind of girl.
BagLuver said:
Is BCBG not considered designer? I know the BCBG Girls line wouldn't be but not BCBG Max Azria either? Ralph Lauren the same thing. I don't consider the Polo line to be on the high end of things but regular RL (black label and purple labels are high end). Ex. The Ricky bag that came out last fall. No?
I bet if I had saved all the money I spent on bags at Target, Forever 21, Ross, etc. I could buy a pretty decent high-end bag. But I adore my legion of cheap bags and wouldn't have it any other way. Especially for trendy pieces, cheap, non-designer bags are the best. It feels kinda ridiculous to be carrying my $$$$ bag while lusting after $20 bags at Target, or worse yet, fretting to spend $30 on a bag. I have to laugh at myself when I do that.
I only started obsessing about bags recently but I haven't made any purchases over US$400. My one very expensive bag (mulberry) was a "hand-me-down" from a (wealthy!) relative who bought it, decided it wasn't for her and insisted I keep in exchange for some help I extended to her and her daughter.
But one of my favorite bags is less than US$20; it's a brown, raw silk sling bag with intricate hand embroidery and embedded pieces of mirror, made in India by a women's charity cooperative. It has a lovely story behind it, and now that I reflect upon it, I think all my bags have a story to tell. The fact that I can associate each of them with a memory, a feeling or a story makes them as special to me as any high-end designer item.
But one of my favorite bags is less than US$20; it's a brown, raw silk sling bag with intricate hand embroidery and embedded pieces of mirror, made in India by a women's charity cooperative. It has a lovely story behind it, and now that I reflect upon it, I think all my bags have a story to tell. The fact that I can associate each of them with a memory, a feeling or a story makes them as special to me as any high-end designer item.
