Screw the new bags- oldies anyone?!?
- Thread starter babybean
- Start date
The jury is out for me. My last bag is a black 2007 bag, which I'm very happy with - but i'm a bit annoyed that balenciaga is
*getting rid of the pocket in the mirror,
*the thinner ropes on the handles,
*the "odd" smell that people keep talking about -
what gives?
*getting rid of the pocket in the mirror,
*the thinner ropes on the handles,
*the "odd" smell that people keep talking about -
what gives?
I'm a bit bummed that they keep rehashing the same old colors instead of coming out with something new. They could have done soo many different colors. I mean then just did violet, magenta & pine green last season so why now amethyst, evergreen, and sapphire? They are cutting corners: no extra tassels, cheaper (??) leather quality, no feet on the PT and funny leather scent? Not to mention the price increase on the First and that the mini mini cp cost the same as the regular size cp. This season has just disappointed me all around. Argh! Sorry just had to vent!
Um, I haven't been buying Bals all that long but have aquired many different years actually from 04-08. My 08 pre-fall sapphire day bag is great and I love it. The smell is great, smells like leather and the leather etc. is excellent. I have bought over 20 bags and have now, after selling a few, over 15 bags so far, different styles and years and colors. I remember everyone writing about the 07's not being so great, but my 07's were wonderful. I agree with the 06's on some of the colors being thin but not all. I love my 04's but who knows if that will be again. I heard that the saddle color is close to it.
Just because Bal decides to not give tassels, which were given in order to replace bad splitting tassels, which how many of us actually did replace them? Although if they made them so they don't split, that is a plus!! And for Bal to take off the pocket on the mirror, should not be a reason to put down the bags themselves. Balenciaga could have raised their prices $100 a bag and then we would have had that to complain about more. I remember when I collected LV's, they raised the bags about every four months. After a years time a bag was at almost, if not more, $100 more. I am very pleased so far with the 08 pre-fall leather and bags. I wasn't happy with the colors so much for the spring 08. They were too bright, but that was what was in with all the designer's. They do follow the trends. I have one coming any day now, pre-fall saddle and one on order for fall 08 rubisse.
I am happy and many others might be even if the colors are a little bit as old colors. Others who haven't been with Bal as long and wanting colors close to the old ones, now can have an opportunity to acquire a new bag close to an old color without paying the inflated old color price. Who says buying a special color bag, used, 4 years old should be worth twice what it sold for. Some of us can do that and some of us just can't. Actually I think that I haven't ever seen Charbon before and it is going to be a great color, Sapphire is different than Violet, thank goodness, the saddle is lovely, like nothing else before, and for fall and winter, there is not a great variety of color combos to choose from. I would rather have great leather, not a price hike, then free $7.00 tassels and a pocket on a mirror that I never use much anyway. I love the mirror, would never want them to get rid of it, but don't care about the pocket.
I would rather Bal think about doing something different with the GH for sure cause it is not loved by all and most would rather it be a little smaller, but time will come that they will do that. In the meantime, I am liking the colors, the leather is great. Plus the prices didn't go out of site. I appreciate that.
Just because Bal decides to not give tassels, which were given in order to replace bad splitting tassels, which how many of us actually did replace them? Although if they made them so they don't split, that is a plus!! And for Bal to take off the pocket on the mirror, should not be a reason to put down the bags themselves. Balenciaga could have raised their prices $100 a bag and then we would have had that to complain about more. I remember when I collected LV's, they raised the bags about every four months. After a years time a bag was at almost, if not more, $100 more. I am very pleased so far with the 08 pre-fall leather and bags. I wasn't happy with the colors so much for the spring 08. They were too bright, but that was what was in with all the designer's. They do follow the trends. I have one coming any day now, pre-fall saddle and one on order for fall 08 rubisse.
I am happy and many others might be even if the colors are a little bit as old colors. Others who haven't been with Bal as long and wanting colors close to the old ones, now can have an opportunity to acquire a new bag close to an old color without paying the inflated old color price. Who says buying a special color bag, used, 4 years old should be worth twice what it sold for. Some of us can do that and some of us just can't. Actually I think that I haven't ever seen Charbon before and it is going to be a great color, Sapphire is different than Violet, thank goodness, the saddle is lovely, like nothing else before, and for fall and winter, there is not a great variety of color combos to choose from. I would rather have great leather, not a price hike, then free $7.00 tassels and a pocket on a mirror that I never use much anyway. I love the mirror, would never want them to get rid of it, but don't care about the pocket.
I would rather Bal think about doing something different with the GH for sure cause it is not loved by all and most would rather it be a little smaller, but time will come that they will do that. In the meantime, I am liking the colors, the leather is great. Plus the prices didn't go out of site. I appreciate that.
I agree with you too. I feel that Bal is tremendously lacking of high quality control for the price we pay for the bag.
I agree and my purchases reflect it. I have bought ONE agneau bag and that was bubblegum. I will buy one more this fall because I want the Besace with regular hardware, that's it for me. When they switched from Chevre to Agneau and gave those lame excuses and stories, I was pretty much done for a while. I used to buy about 7-10 bags a season, now nothing.
The colors are flat, they raised the prices and cut back on quality and extras. It's not the tassels and it's not the mirror pocket, it's mainly the leather issue with me. The leather and the flatness of the colors. I still love the ones that I have and will continue to collect pre-agneau colors that I don't have.
The colors are flat, they raised the prices and cut back on quality and extras. It's not the tassels and it's not the mirror pocket, it's mainly the leather issue with me. The leather and the flatness of the colors. I still love the ones that I have and will continue to collect pre-agneau colors that I don't have.
I'm sad to hear all this because I just got on the bandwagon. I'm privileged to say that most of my bags were 2007 and earlier, but because I haven't had the privilege to collect many from previous seasons, I'm really looking forward to this season's offerings.
I haven't had the chance to really do a comparison (because I haven't anything to really compare it to) so it's really a sad thing to hear that the quality and the bags are going downhill - especially for the people who loved Bal from the start.
I haven't had the chance to really do a comparison (because I haven't anything to really compare it to) so it's really a sad thing to hear that the quality and the bags are going downhill - especially for the people who loved Bal from the start.
Count me in, Louis_gal.
I feel the same, also if I'd like to buy something in agneau and try to use it, to see how will it break in (was thinking about a MU).
Sometimes I see very beautiful pictures of agneau bags and this makes me think "Luckily..there's still hope!", but the truth is that if I have to choose I prefer an older bag.
I feel the same, also if I'd like to buy something in agneau and try to use it, to see how will it break in (was thinking about a MU).
Sometimes I see very beautiful pictures of agneau bags and this makes me think "Luckily..there's still hope!", but the truth is that if I have to choose I prefer an older bag.
I feel much the same way. The lack of the pocket on the mirror doesn't bother me that much. But I would like spare tassels, just because I haven't had to break out the spares yet doesn't mean I won't sometime in the future. I only started buying Bals late 07 and have read so much about how wonderful the leather is from the earlier years are. Sadly I have to yet to experience this for myself. My 08 bals don't have as nice a leather as my 07s do. And I am having so much difficulty trying to hunt down a bag with even saturation, even distressing etc. Really makes the buying so stressful esp when I do most of it sight unseen as there are no Bal stores here, and the only one here has a really high markup on prices. Colour wise I am not impressed either. On one hand I agree that producing similar colours to before helps the people who get on the Bal bandwagon later. But, these new colours are but poor substitutes for the originals, I feel. I have yet to buy anything from 08 Fall either.... just am not excited enough.
Well, I have always been a 05 lover! I bought my first Bbag (a 05 BG Pink City) in August of 06, and after acquiring my HG's from past seasons, I was really looking forward to buying new bags, and being the original owner. Well, after buying upwards of 50 bags since then, the only new bags I have kept is a 08 BG Pink City, a 08 Turquoise City, and a 08 Amethyste City, and the rest of my bags are 05's. My SA has learned what kind of leather I prefer, so the three 08 bags have very nice thick leather, with little to no distressing, and clearly have the potential to become buttery soft with use. However, I am not happy with the price increase, especially coinciding with the cutbacks on the extra tassels and the mirrors, and the quality control issues that seems to be increasing.
I don't understand how they can be sure these "new" tassels are split proof, until they can be used on a bag for a long period of time. In fact two of the tassels that came with my Amethyste bag have spongy parts on them, and these are brand new tassels!!! I am currently waiting for my SA to send me replacements. In my personal opinion, even if all the tassels on the bag were perfect, I cannot see any tassel lasting the lifetime of a Bbag! I think it must have been a man who came up with this bright idea of saving the company money by not including extra tassels, because a woman would be savvy enough to know, giving a customer extra tassels might be a little enough thing to keep us happy when spending over $1300 on a handbag. In fact, if I worked for them, I would suggest, for any customer who could provide a original receipt from Bal for their handbag, should get replacement tassels for free as long as they have the bag! My other complaint that has really surfaced this year, is the major inconsistency's from bag to bag. You can see one 08 Pale Magenta with relatively smooth leather, and then see another with leather that is so cracked and overly distressed that even gals that like some distressing in their leather, don't like it! I am not talking about small differences in shades or leather, I am talking about leather so different you would never think they came from the same color and season!
With the economy the way it is right now, many are changing their spending habits (or at least trying
! So I imagine it is very competitive between the high end designers to keep customers coming back and buying handbags in these high price ranges! I definitely believe that the quality, service, and looking at what we are getting for our hard earned dollars, is now more important than ever, and Balenciaga should be thinking more along the lines of what they can give the customer so they keep us coming back, rather than what they can take away!
Here is a photo of one of the two spongy 08 Amethyste tassels that came with my new City, next to a good one...
Although I can't say if it will lead to these splitting, the tassels were pretty thin. Needless to say, unless Bal comes out with a knock out color that I just have to have, I too will be taking a break from buying Bbags from new collections!
Here are some of my beloved 05's, with two 08 City's on the ends in the top row...
My HG, 05 Bubblegum Pink...
08 BG Pink with 05 BG Pink...
05 Turquoise and 05 BG Pink City's on top, with 08 Turquoise and 08 BG Pink on the bottom...
Outdoors 05 and 08 BG Pink on top, and 05 and 08 Turquoise on the bottom...
On the left is 05 Magenta, and on the right 08 Amethyste...
My 05 Magenta First and City on the top and the left, with my 08 Amethyste City on the right...
Although 08 Turquoise and 08 Amethyste, are not as deep of colors as 05 Turquoise and 05 Magenta, I have to say they are both super pretty colors, and very vibrant in real life.
I don't understand how they can be sure these "new" tassels are split proof, until they can be used on a bag for a long period of time. In fact two of the tassels that came with my Amethyste bag have spongy parts on them, and these are brand new tassels!!! I am currently waiting for my SA to send me replacements. In my personal opinion, even if all the tassels on the bag were perfect, I cannot see any tassel lasting the lifetime of a Bbag! I think it must have been a man who came up with this bright idea of saving the company money by not including extra tassels, because a woman would be savvy enough to know, giving a customer extra tassels might be a little enough thing to keep us happy when spending over $1300 on a handbag. In fact, if I worked for them, I would suggest, for any customer who could provide a original receipt from Bal for their handbag, should get replacement tassels for free as long as they have the bag! My other complaint that has really surfaced this year, is the major inconsistency's from bag to bag. You can see one 08 Pale Magenta with relatively smooth leather, and then see another with leather that is so cracked and overly distressed that even gals that like some distressing in their leather, don't like it! I am not talking about small differences in shades or leather, I am talking about leather so different you would never think they came from the same color and season!
With the economy the way it is right now, many are changing their spending habits (or at least trying
! So I imagine it is very competitive between the high end designers to keep customers coming back and buying handbags in these high price ranges! I definitely believe that the quality, service, and looking at what we are getting for our hard earned dollars, is now more important than ever, and Balenciaga should be thinking more along the lines of what they can give the customer so they keep us coming back, rather than what they can take away!Here is a photo of one of the two spongy 08 Amethyste tassels that came with my new City, next to a good one...
Although I can't say if it will lead to these splitting, the tassels were pretty thin. Needless to say, unless Bal comes out with a knock out color that I just have to have, I too will be taking a break from buying Bbags from new collections!
Here are some of my beloved 05's, with two 08 City's on the ends in the top row...
My HG, 05 Bubblegum Pink...
08 BG Pink with 05 BG Pink...
05 Turquoise and 05 BG Pink City's on top, with 08 Turquoise and 08 BG Pink on the bottom...
Outdoors 05 and 08 BG Pink on top, and 05 and 08 Turquoise on the bottom...
On the left is 05 Magenta, and on the right 08 Amethyste...
My 05 Magenta First and City on the top and the left, with my 08 Amethyste City on the right...
Although 08 Turquoise and 08 Amethyste, are not as deep of colors as 05 Turquoise and 05 Magenta, I have to say they are both super pretty colors, and very vibrant in real life.
Last time I bought a current season Bal bag was August 2006 when I bought my A/W 06 Sapin and Truffle. Since then, I've bought three 05 bags and one 03 bag. Unless Bal comes out with a bangup-I-must-have-it color...I think I'm done with buying new season's bags.
i'm addicted to the oldies too but even then there's a limit (hopefully!)
the new colors don't do it for me, the new leathers make me sad to touch. i am buying a few accessories but by and large i think i might be done. i love old bags but even then, there's a limit to how many old bags i can lust over! and the fact that it's almost impossible to find mint makes my wallet a little happier.
i think there are still a few gorgeous new bags but now that i've moved out of the states, it will be impossible to pick one out in person..
the new colors don't do it for me, the new leathers make me sad to touch. i am buying a few accessories but by and large i think i might be done. i love old bags but even then, there's a limit to how many old bags i can lust over! and the fact that it's almost impossible to find mint makes my wallet a little happier.
i think there are still a few gorgeous new bags but now that i've moved out of the states, it will be impossible to pick one out in person..
07 was the last of the best of Balenciaga. Anyone else feel the same way?
I feel the same way - I have been thinking this exact same thing a lot lately. While it would be nice to see some original colors I'm almost glad that there aren't any exciting, unique new colors to lust over because I'm so disappointed about the inconsistency in the leather and the fact that they are giving you less and less - no extra tassels, smaller mirror, no feet on the PT! And don't even get me started on the fact that it SO hard to find a Black bag that's actually Black
. I can't say that I've lost the love for Bal, but if this keeps up I doubt I will ever be buying anything new, either (though I do still have a store credit at BalNY that I need to use, so after that...
).
Wow, I was in Barneys last night thinking exactly that! I am not at all grooving on the agneau - it is heavy and it doesn't have the same character as the chevre, and the colors are so obviously straight out of one of those trend-predictor companies' color charts.