Hermes Kelly ok for me?

Twinklette

Over*the*Rainbow
Feb 22, 2006
3,674
3
A friend of mine is looking to sell her Hermes Kelly 32cm vintage black for $1350 USD. I am wondering though if I can pull it off. I tend to not dress up a lot, only for work, and even then not much so as we are business casual - I don't own designer or upscale clothes. I tend to carry LV and love that line but have been eyeing the Kelly forever. SO my question is would this bag be practical for me and could I carry it daily? I guess my concern is it might be too upscale or too dressy for little ol me :weird: ? I know it's a classic but I'd love thoughts. I have never seen one in real life unfortunately :cry:
 
Oh my goodness, Twinklette. I wish I had a friend like that. I would have already bought that bag!
My own opinion is that it is possible to carry a kelly with anything.
 
Twinklette, is your friend's Kelly a souple or a rigid Kelly ? You can ask her if you're not sure.

A souple style Kelly has a more "relaxed elegance" look...it's great with casual wear & is not too dressy. Rigid Kellys are usually more formal looking. Just my 2cents. Hope this helps! :smile:
 
I will ask her as I'm not sure! She is sending me pictures tonight so I'll post them here to have you guys check them out. I hope it's the soft one as I'm not too keen on the rigid for me.

Gigi - do you think that the price is good for a vintage bag? She said she's taking it to Hermes to have it cleaned but it's already been authenticated. Can Hermes give her a paper confirming that? I told her I'd like to have that and also the receipt that it was cleaned from Hermes.

--> another thing is that it doesn't have the shoulderstrap. Did all the Kellys come with one? She's going to ask Hermes for me about it as I told her I'd like the optional strap if possible, if it goes on this bag.
 
Twinklette said:
I will ask her as I'm not sure! She is sending me pictures tonight so I'll post them here to have you guys check them out. I hope it's the soft one as I'm not too keen on the rigid for me.

Gigi - do you think that the price is good for a vintage bag? She said she's taking it to Hermes to have it cleaned but it's already been authenticated. Can Hermes give her a paper confirming that? I told her I'd like to have that and also the receipt that it was cleaned from Hermes.
Twinklette, you can post the pics here & we'll help you take a look. From your first post, I figured you'll be happier with a souple Kelly.

As for the price, I would say it depends on the age & condition of the bag. One way to tell the age is by the date stamp on the strap. So you should ask her for a pic of that and lots of pics to help you determine the condition of the bag.

Don't believe what you read on eBay. Hermes will NEVER give verbal answer or written paper to confirm authenticity. The only way to tell is to send the bag for repair or cleaning. Hermes will charge a fee for the cleaning & a receipt would be issued.

p.s. I don't mean to ask you to doubt your friend but anyone can send in an authentic bag for cleaning and give you the receipt and a fake bag..:worried: so be careful.
 
Oh believe me I am going to be careful. But this girl sells on ebay too and she sells only authentic items so I trust her more than most :smile: She is a bag fiend like the rest of us lol. She told me Hermes said it was authentic but that it's going back for a cleaning. S so there should be no problem getting the receipt from Hermes for the cleaning and possibly for the shoulder strap.

What pictures do I specifically need to verify authenticity? I need to tell her so that she can take them tonight. Where is the datecode, on the handheld strap? The shoulder strap is not with the bag.

Is there a website that shows Kelly bags being modeled? I'd like to see what they look like on shoulder and being handheld, the 32cm size.

Thanks you are all so helpful!
 
No shoulder straps on Vintage Kellys and the HW might be brass instead of 24 K gold.
That is a great price. If you're sure it's authentic. Can you get pics and post them here? We can have a looksey for you if you'd like.

You can wear any kind of Kelly with jeans and a tank top as far as I'm concerned!
 
I am definitely going to post pics here before sending any type of $$$ for SURE. I am too scared not to lol.

Great, so I can wear it with anything. That means a lot! CAN you get a strap to wear on the vintage or would it look funny.
 
To be quite honest...if it is authentic and you take a fancy to the bag I would purchase it as long as it is good condition. YOu can pretty much carry your Kelly with anything. Think about this though...so what if you can only carry it with 50% of what you wear? I would say that is quite fine myself. This would be a great start to your new Hermes lifestyle.
Also, these days in purse world you can hardly buy a great leather bag for $1000. I walked by Coach a week ago and $798 bought like a straw type of bag with leather trim. What is that? That is something to think about.

Post some pics and give all the info. you have to the experts here. The will help you incredibly as they have done with me.
 
Kelly thank you! True I would never pay that for Coach. I could buy an LV for that price, it's ridiculous!!! I am definitely going to post pics as soon as I get them.

***does anyone have pictures of themselves carrying their Kelly bag, either in hand or on shoulder? I'd like to get an idea of size. Is the 32cm a decent size to hold stuff? Thanks!
 
I have a 28 cm Kelly in black box calf and it is a beauty.:biggrin: I would say that would be too small for an every day person who carries a lot of goodies in her bag. If you carry less in a purse you would be fine with a 28. (By the way I am also a small person 5' 1"-2" and petite. I think the bag looks bigger due to that, but it is still a smaller bag)
Now, a 32 cm is quite a bit larger, so more room. The only thing I want to say is a Kelly is not like carrying any other top handle tote purse. It does have its limits to an extent. You can't be a junkie and think you are going to fill it with a ton of suff. To an extent you need to streamline.
You should go to a store and find a similar style purse and stick all your daily items in it. See how you feel with the shape of the bag.
That is one reason why I will buy a larger Hermes (A Birkin) the next time around.
Remember, even if you are getting an amazing buy it is not a great buy if you want to use it daily and it won't work for you.
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