Hit the show as soon as the store opened. Here is what I saw:
*flaps, flaps and more flaps. Lots of metallic, gold, silver, pewter, bronze, glitter-look, patent, patent w/chains trimming the flap (the "weenus" bag)
*LOTS of patent for fall. ALL OF IT IS VYNAL. And let me tell you, it feels CHEAP. Best way to describe it is; it feels just like cellophane. Lots of hardware with them, gold and silver. Red, black, dk. grey, hunter green, burgandy, all shiny and geared toward the 20-something age bracket (as per the Chanel rep and the CHanel buyer who I chatted with for some time).
*The glazed calfskin is BIG. Makes the bags fell super soft and is supposed to be even MORE durable than caviar. That's what the reps said. You will see more and more of this. Customers want the softness of lambskin but durability of caviar. Here you go.
*Colors: don't bother w/Saks unless you want black, dk. grey or dk. brown. They bought only these shades in the majority of the lines. The Crazy 8 (I believe that is the name- I'm down for one) come in 6 gorgeous colors- Navy is beautiful- Saks ONLY bought black and grey in this line. You'll have to go to Neimans or the boutiques to get the additional shades. The totes all look roughly the same. Some interesting bag shapes, but nothing going WOWIE WOW.
*The Brooklyn: I'm getting this one, which is a large e/w tote that is a patchwork of glazed calfskin and patent leather (NOT vinyl). Sound "eh", but is really a gorgeous bag w/heavy silver hardware. Black only in Saks.
*lots of "puffy" pieces. LOTS.
*Limited edition: I would have gone for this if the hardware had been silver; only gold. It's a black lambskin clutch flap, with 2 chains that go across the front of the flap. One of the chains is a strand of CHanel pearls. This strand unhooks and becomes a Chanel necklace; GORGEOUS. Same quality, design and pearls used in Chanel Timeless strand of pearls. Also, it has a little fob that hangs down from one end and is a mirror. Can come off and be attatched to any Chanel purse, key chain, etc. $2600, there about.
Ok, some info: PRICES. According to the rep, Chanel corporate has been bombarded by customer calls, letters and emails about the price increases and they are PISSED. She says it is due to the Euro, and NO ONE who is an employee is thrilled, because they have 1) lost discount privilidges (how much they can buy is much less than before is what she hinted at), and the price has gone up for them too. The Classic line (not flaps) had not seen price increase in about 10 years. The new head pooh-ba wanted to bring them up to current costs. Also, and I found this very hard to believe, but she SWEARS it's true; CHanel did NOT make their financial goal last year in the purse/assessories/shoe division. They are still in the negative.
PINK: Pink is NOT NOT NOT being removed from the classic line. Chanel went bonkers and made WAY TOO MUCH of it and they have it sitting in warehouses all over. So, they are SLOWLY bringing it into stores in order to create a "hunger" for the product. NO NEW PINK ITEMS will be brought out, as per the rep, for the next year at least. So, no need to go crazy if you love pink.
ATTITUDES: Apparently corporate has ALSO heard about the snottiness of sales staff. They now have a new way of grading employees and want customers to contact them w/day, place and name of sales person if you have ANY problems. Again, this came from the Chanel rep.
Overall, the bags didn't wow me. Love the texture, but not thrilled that Saks didn't buy some of the lovely shades many of the bags came in. DO love the texture of the leather, however. The glazed calfskin is really beautiful. I also didn't realize (at first) that the Chanel rep goes to ALL the stores on the east coast; I though she was the Saks rep. No, she is EVERYONES liason to Chanel corporate and had book after book of pictures, colors, etc. She could tell me which store ordered what, what colors and how many shades to a specific store. Very nice person; no attitude WHAT SO EVER.
Last but not least: those who want Jumbos w/the OLD chain; they are out there in the warehouses and should be arriving soon. Will NOT be discontinued. I am on the list for a black jumbo w/silver and have no worries that it won't come in.
MAny of the new line ships June 1. The majority of the line is STILL being made, so no samples. Cruise (fall) is FULL of bright, hot, fun colors. Even the shoes will be HOT (her words, lol).
Well, HTH everyone and if you have any questions, I'll do my best to answer while everything is still fresh. Oh, and I saw NOTHING under $2200. NOTHING.
Oh, and I apologize for my spelling. Up all night w/the baby, 2 1/2 hours to get to Saks (usually 45 minutes, but the Beltway was a nightmare) and no caffine.
*flaps, flaps and more flaps. Lots of metallic, gold, silver, pewter, bronze, glitter-look, patent, patent w/chains trimming the flap (the "weenus" bag)
*LOTS of patent for fall. ALL OF IT IS VYNAL. And let me tell you, it feels CHEAP. Best way to describe it is; it feels just like cellophane. Lots of hardware with them, gold and silver. Red, black, dk. grey, hunter green, burgandy, all shiny and geared toward the 20-something age bracket (as per the Chanel rep and the CHanel buyer who I chatted with for some time).
*The glazed calfskin is BIG. Makes the bags fell super soft and is supposed to be even MORE durable than caviar. That's what the reps said. You will see more and more of this. Customers want the softness of lambskin but durability of caviar. Here you go.
*Colors: don't bother w/Saks unless you want black, dk. grey or dk. brown. They bought only these shades in the majority of the lines. The Crazy 8 (I believe that is the name- I'm down for one) come in 6 gorgeous colors- Navy is beautiful- Saks ONLY bought black and grey in this line. You'll have to go to Neimans or the boutiques to get the additional shades. The totes all look roughly the same. Some interesting bag shapes, but nothing going WOWIE WOW.
*The Brooklyn: I'm getting this one, which is a large e/w tote that is a patchwork of glazed calfskin and patent leather (NOT vinyl). Sound "eh", but is really a gorgeous bag w/heavy silver hardware. Black only in Saks.
*lots of "puffy" pieces. LOTS.
*Limited edition: I would have gone for this if the hardware had been silver; only gold. It's a black lambskin clutch flap, with 2 chains that go across the front of the flap. One of the chains is a strand of CHanel pearls. This strand unhooks and becomes a Chanel necklace; GORGEOUS. Same quality, design and pearls used in Chanel Timeless strand of pearls. Also, it has a little fob that hangs down from one end and is a mirror. Can come off and be attatched to any Chanel purse, key chain, etc. $2600, there about.
Ok, some info: PRICES. According to the rep, Chanel corporate has been bombarded by customer calls, letters and emails about the price increases and they are PISSED. She says it is due to the Euro, and NO ONE who is an employee is thrilled, because they have 1) lost discount privilidges (how much they can buy is much less than before is what she hinted at), and the price has gone up for them too. The Classic line (not flaps) had not seen price increase in about 10 years. The new head pooh-ba wanted to bring them up to current costs. Also, and I found this very hard to believe, but she SWEARS it's true; CHanel did NOT make their financial goal last year in the purse/assessories/shoe division. They are still in the negative.
PINK: Pink is NOT NOT NOT being removed from the classic line. Chanel went bonkers and made WAY TOO MUCH of it and they have it sitting in warehouses all over. So, they are SLOWLY bringing it into stores in order to create a "hunger" for the product. NO NEW PINK ITEMS will be brought out, as per the rep, for the next year at least. So, no need to go crazy if you love pink.
ATTITUDES: Apparently corporate has ALSO heard about the snottiness of sales staff. They now have a new way of grading employees and want customers to contact them w/day, place and name of sales person if you have ANY problems. Again, this came from the Chanel rep.
Overall, the bags didn't wow me. Love the texture, but not thrilled that Saks didn't buy some of the lovely shades many of the bags came in. DO love the texture of the leather, however. The glazed calfskin is really beautiful. I also didn't realize (at first) that the Chanel rep goes to ALL the stores on the east coast; I though she was the Saks rep. No, she is EVERYONES liason to Chanel corporate and had book after book of pictures, colors, etc. She could tell me which store ordered what, what colors and how many shades to a specific store. Very nice person; no attitude WHAT SO EVER.
Last but not least: those who want Jumbos w/the OLD chain; they are out there in the warehouses and should be arriving soon. Will NOT be discontinued. I am on the list for a black jumbo w/silver and have no worries that it won't come in.
MAny of the new line ships June 1. The majority of the line is STILL being made, so no samples. Cruise (fall) is FULL of bright, hot, fun colors. Even the shoes will be HOT (her words, lol).
Well, HTH everyone and if you have any questions, I'll do my best to answer while everything is still fresh. Oh, and I saw NOTHING under $2200. NOTHING.
Oh, and I apologize for my spelling. Up all night w/the baby, 2 1/2 hours to get to Saks (usually 45 minutes, but the Beltway was a nightmare) and no caffine.