I'm new to Balenciaga and I'm planning on getting a Black RH City within the month or so. I'm a little confused by the ordering process, so hopefully you guys can help me out! I'm in CA, so should I order from NY or LA? Is there a difference or are they both tax/shipping free? Is Aloha Rag better? Another thing that's been confusing me is the leather. Are there different types of leather to choose from or something? I'm assuming the leather varies by the year of the bag, am I right? So how do I familiarize myself with the different types of leather and year? Are there a list of them? Whew~ Way too many questions! Thank you for taking the time to read this!!
Purchasing my first Balenciaga. Need a bit of help.
- Thread starter xsimplypink
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Since there's now a Balenciaga store in California (LA), you won't be able to buy bags tax-free. So it doesn't matter which Balenciaga store you order from. However, you can still get free shipping if you choose regular ground shipping.
Aloha Rag for you should be tax- and shipping-free.
Check out the reference library for lots of pictures of different colors/leather types. Leather really varies from season to season and even bag to bag. If you're buying blindly (that is, buying without seeing a bag in real life first) then it'll be a bit harder to get the type of leather you want. 08 bag leathers I've heard were rather thin. 07 has had thick and thin leathers. 06 I've heard is another year that had rather inconsistent leather. 05 probably had the best leather: thick and smooth. Since you say you're going to be buying a black City from Balenciaga or Aloha Rag, you'll probably be getting an 08 leather. You can still try to ask the SA (sales assistant) to pick out a bag with a certain type of leather, but there's really no guarantee that you'll get it.
Aloha Rag for you should be tax- and shipping-free.
Check out the reference library for lots of pictures of different colors/leather types. Leather really varies from season to season and even bag to bag. If you're buying blindly (that is, buying without seeing a bag in real life first) then it'll be a bit harder to get the type of leather you want. 08 bag leathers I've heard were rather thin. 07 has had thick and thin leathers. 06 I've heard is another year that had rather inconsistent leather. 05 probably had the best leather: thick and smooth. Since you say you're going to be buying a black City from Balenciaga or Aloha Rag, you'll probably be getting an 08 leather. You can still try to ask the SA (sales assistant) to pick out a bag with a certain type of leather, but there's really no guarantee that you'll get it.
Hi - I don't know where you live, but if you can actually go and see & touch some bbags, that will help you to know what you want. Some blacks are very smooth and even in color, some very distressed, others somwhere in between. The same is true of the colored balenciagas. So if you are close to a Saks, Neiman Marcus or Barneys, see if you can go in and take a look. You kind of need to see for yourself to truly know what you want. Then you can go order from Aloha Rag and describe to them your ideal bag & hope that they have one for you! I am posting a black city, very distressed that I ended up not keeping just FYI. I hope this helps you!!
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I was amazed at how different the leather was from bag to bag within the same collection. It is really good advice to look in person, or go through a lot of the threads in the Balenciaga section - The Black City club in the Balenciage clubhouse section has a lot of comments and phtos. Good luck with your purchase - you have made a great choice for your first Bal.
hm.... actually i just ordered two balenciaga bags from neiman marcus last week cos of nm's special promotion. buy 2 bags get 400bucks off. and i call NM white plains and a guy called James does help me a lots . u know he waived the tax for me( lol he said he will put that as a gift bag in order to waive my tax, in CA too). i got one yellow giant city and pink(bubble gum) classic part time. and got them last friday. i kinda thought part time is a bit larger for me.. sigh i should have order city iinstead. might return that one
u can try to call that store and look for james. lol if u want u can say u got to know him throu isabelle's recommendation.
good luck
u can try to call that store and look for james. lol if u want u can say u got to know him throu isabelle's recommendation.
good luck
Definitely the best is to go to a store so you can see and feel the bags & leathers. The next best is to read posts about peoples bags and look in the reference thread so you get to learn what people mean by veiny, distressed, smooth etc. Good luck.