What are the differences between Contemporary vs Premiere Designers?

pandorabox

pandorabox

"She was wearing all Chanel."
O.G.
May 2, 2011
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#1
I know this might be a silly question and I do sort of know the answer but I cannot find the definitive answer located anywhere. Aside from the price point ( which I am not sure about that because some contemp have similar price points - what really sets apart a contemp designer vs a premiere designer? I have also been home sick with the flu and now my sick 3 year old so I have had lots of time to ponder and be on TPF. Lol. I might be delirious with fever. Lol.
 
#2
Hey Pandorabox! Hope you feel better! I opened this same thread about a year and half ago and basically thoughts were the leather is better on premier. I don't agree with this anymore and quality workmanship has gone down since everything is being imported in the premier market. Every time I go to click the trigger on an expensive purchase I think twice and don't buy.
 
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#3
BgaHolic said:
Hey Pandorabox! Hope you feel better! I opened this same thread about a year and half ago and basically thoughts were the leather is better on premier. I don't agree with this anymore and quality workmanship has gone down since everything is being imported in the premier market. Every time I go to click the trigger on an expensive purchase I think twice and don't buy.
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Hey Bgaholic! How are you? Yes I could have sworn there was a thread on this and I could not find it. Lol. Yeah I was wondering. I have seen some DB and Kate Spade as well as Linea Pelle that has some amazing soft luscious leather with pretty fair price points. There is also some RM and Hayden H those are all contemporary.
 
#4
I would venture to say that if you purchased a premier designer bag in the 60's, 70's and 80's or 90's, you might have gotten the quality that you thought you paid for. My total belief is that if you purchase a premier designer bag today, you get the satisfaction of carrying around a bag that has a designer label but you will not see the quality that was there before. Same goes with Contemporary. You just have to decide how you want to spend your money, as everything seems to have gone downhill these days.
 
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#5
Compass Rose said:
I would venture to say that if you purchased a premier designer bag in the 60's, 70's and 80's or 90's, you might have gotten the quality that you thought you paid for. My total belief is that if you purchase a premier designer bag today, you get the satisfaction of carrying around a bag that has a designer label but you will not see the quality that was there before. Same goes with Contemporary. You just have to decide how you want to spend your money, as everything seems to have gone downhill these days.
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Yeah, I think is totally true, too. I always have bought contemporary but a while ago I was going to look into purchasing my 1st premium designer bag, but every time I chose one I liked the look of, it just didn't live up to the quality that I would expect to see in a bag costing that much money, so I opted out and continue with contemporary designers with good quality or vintage bags from back when they really were well made.
 
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#6
Hi everybody!

Can someone please explain what the difference is between premier designers and contemporary designer. Sorry I don't understand this, but English is not my first language :P Hope someone can explain me this and hopefully I've put the thread in the right forum.

Best regards
Theresa :biggrin:
 
#8
In My opinion, Premier these days means you get an LV, Hermes, Chanel...or some other "celebrity branded" name on the bag...thats ALL. Contemporary bags are more affordable in general and easier to access in everyday department stores. Again, in my opinion, quality really has nothing to do with it because I've seen some Dooney and Coach that take quite a beating and keep on ticking. But yeah....it mostly is meant to distinguish who can afford them or not.....:hrmm:
 
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#10
snsaundersva said:
In My opinion, Premier these days means you get an LV, Hermes, Chanel...or some other "celebrity branded" name on the bag...thats ALL. Contemporary bags are more affordable in general and easier to access in everyday department stores. Again, in my opinion, quality really has nothing to do with it because I've seen some Dooney and Coach that take quite a beating and keep on ticking. But yeah....it mostly is meant to distinguish who can afford them or not.....:hrmm:
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Unfortunately, this is a successful marketing tool which works well with most womens' mindsets. As Papertiger said the main difference is price not necessarily quality.The psychology is if the masses are wearing it is affordable and this is true but it is also true that there is a large majority of "wannabes" saving up their dollars to attain status. IOW's the major difference is price!
 
#11
I just love bags which includes premier and contemporary. I love premier bags because of their design. The designs look more fashionable to me. I use to love Dooney, but now a lot of their bags are not my taste. Some of the bags look western to me. :shrugs: I agree with previous posters that Dooney bags are durable. I like some coach bags too.
 
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#13
I would say that premier designers seem to set the trend and style, and this trickles down to contemporary designers who make similar looking purses to the premiere ones. (See, eg. the majority of Popular MK bags reminiscent of everyone from Hermes down to LV). Basically, premier designers use the houses names to set the style and others follow suit, mixing in the trend purses with their own designs for seasonal releases. Now of course this isn't the case 100% of the time (eg. MK totally) and some contemporary designers have excellent quality (I only have one contemporary piece, a Kate Spade that is extremely well made and one of my workhorses), but I would say generally, that is the rule.
 
#14
I've been a bit confused on this too, as the OP said there is not always a lot of difference in price between the top of the line contemporary and lower end premier (example you can get a $1,000 Coach or a $1,000 LV).

Very expensive (Hermes, Chanel) are obviously premier and other than than I'd say longevity of the brand (LV, Chanel, Hermes that have been around for a long time) - can't always say that either because there is for example Jimmy Choo that is premier but hasn't been around that long.

I wonder how tPF staff made this decision, as I see they are divided into premier and contempory in the menui?
 
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#15
BrandSnob said:
I would say that premier designers seem to set the trend and style, and this trickles down to contemporary designers who make similar looking purses to the premiere ones. (See, eg. the majority of Popular MK bags reminiscent of everyone from Hermes down to LV). Basically, premier designers use the houses names to set the style and others follow suit, mixing in the trend purses with their own designs for seasonal releases. Now of course this isn't the case 100% of the time (eg. MK totally) and some contemporary designers have excellent quality (I only have one contemporary piece, a Kate Spade that is extremely well made and one of my workhorses), but I would say generally, that is the rule.
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BrandSnob, you summed up exactly how I see the difference between contemporary and premier. It's all about the designs, the history of the fashion house, and the types of material used (luxury) that makes the difference to me.
 
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