Hermes: Pre-Sex-in-the-City Days

T

transcendent1

O.G.
Sep 12, 2007
1,506
6
#1
To those who have loved Hermes for as long as they can remember...

What was the Hermes experience like before Sex and the City and the Lindsay Lohans and the like changed Hermes?

How was inventory?

Was the Birkin or special Kellys always hard to get?

Was it always this crazy at Faubourg and Wall Street? How was it back then?

Were the waitlists always closed in Asia?

I would love to have gotten into Hermes in the "vintage" days; I somehow feel like getting into H recently is not unlike the scenario of getting into the stock market when the price is high and then sell when it's low. I have no regrets and I really love my H pieces, but the acquisition aspect can be stressful.
 
#2
Excellent question. I am so mad at Sex and the City for ruining labels like Hermes, Manolo Blahnik (and the Magnolia Bakery which used to be just a sweet little cake shop and then became just another overcrowded tourist trap). It's hard to find something special with Nicole Richie and La Lohan have multiples...
 
#4
Great thread. I'd love to know. There are pros to this, because it gets the brand name out there to many people who many not have access to a boutique near them. Then there are the cons such as what mitsouko pointed out. With stereotypical tourists, entitled celebs and people in general who really don't care about the brand, and only want a HERMES!BIRKIN! It must have been lovely to go into a boutique in 1983. It must have been quite a different experience compared to today.
 
#7
mitsouko said:
Excellent question. I am so mad at Sex and the City for ruining labels like Hermes, Manolo Blahnik (and the Magnolia Bakery which used to be just a sweet little cake shop and then became just another overcrowded tourist trap). It's hard to find something special with Nicole Richie and La Lohan have multiples...
Click to expand...
The Magnolia Bakery is SOOOO good.

Anyway, I agree that it must have been nice going into the boutique then. I suppose that is why some Hermes SA's come off a bit "rude" when people approach them about Birkins. They want people who appreciate the brand...not people who just want a bag because someone on Sex and The City wanted/got one.

But I also blame some rappers and other signers for ruining labels. When you splash these brands all across your videos, it makes people covet them even more. Rather sickening to say the least. Hence why i'm losing interest in LV.
 
#9
I've thought about this for moment, and I just have some thoughts. I'm not sure how this got started. But as I sit here thinking, it seems to me that it isn't all Sex and the City's fault, young starlet's nor rapper's fault for the success of Hermes and other small businesses. These businesses want their goods out there and to some degree (not sure how much) they do what they have to make money. They want to make money. I appreciate that Hermes still has an old fashion way of doing business, and they may not have to contact stylist and "push" their goods (I'm not sure who contacts whom) but it's safe to say they are happy people want their business. I heard of Hermes long before Sex and the City and it not because of its star status that I'm just now deciding to try Hermes. It's because I'm tried of throwing away my money on bags that don't last. It took me waaaay toooo long to figure out that it isn't always good to take the least expensive route. With
all the money I put into bag that didn't last, I could have had 3 to 6 Hermes bags. I have some of my mother's bags, (sadly, none Hermes) and they are still beautiful and timeless today. It makes me sick to know that the poor quality bags I bought won't last 1/4 of the time my mother's bags lasted. Just my 2 cents. Thanks for reading my rant.
 
#13
I have no advice to offer about this pre-celebrity boom, because while I knew what H was, and loved it, and knew how special a Kelly was (didn't really care about Birkins when I was 7 because PRINCESS GRACE had a bag..kwim?), I was a kid! So there is no way in heck my parents would even come close to buying me H. Ah, but a kid can dream.

Anyhow, I guess it is sad that I feel fortunate I don't have my eyes on a Birkin for quite some time, and that I want a Lindy and perhaps after that, a picotin or a bolide. I feel fortunate because this means that SA's will like me for not jumping straight into the major leagues, although I think: ALL their items are the major leagues.

I want to go in there and have a great conversation with an SA about how much I have always loved H, since I could talk and read and understand things, and how I have been literally waiting my whole life to own something from their wonderful craftsmen, and to pretty please see if there is anything in raisin :smile:

I do agree that not enough people really care about anything other than, as KB said: HERMES!BIRKIN! That does have something to do with VB and the like carrying around Birkins as though they are pairs of underwear, but you can't really blame them in full.

The real issue is that we are just a commodity-driven society and we all think we deserve a big piece of luxury. Rare is the person that is satisfied with what they have and will strive for more, but not to such an excessive degree that it consumes their life.
 
#15
I can't remember how long ago it was when I first went into the NYC Hermes store (it was on E 57th St at that time). I think it must have been about 12-14 years ago. The SA was very snooty when I asked to see some small leather goods, and I had sticker shock when I saw them. I wouldn't have dreamed of asking to see a bag - don't think she would have shown me one, either. Now I was dressed in a full-length mink coat and was wearing a Vuitton bag so I didn't exactly look shabby, either!

I think I might have gone into the Bond St Hermes before - probably in 1985 - my friend was looking for a scarf, but I was not tempted as I was in London to buy fabric for curtains and wallpaper for a new house into which we had just moved. I wish now I HAD bought some things - the pound was at $1.10 at that time!!!!

I had known about the Kelly bag and the Constance since the early 1960's - the Birkin is something I have only known about for the last 2-3 years.
 
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