What makes a handbag brand premier vs contemporary vs sub contemporary?

[taho]

I

Completely agree.
These are the kinds of puzzles that made me ask my question originally.

For example, I have a bag from Max Mara. In my mind the cost, quality and construction would certainly put it in premier presuming we have brands like Proenza Schouler, Tod’s, Chloé, etc. in that category.

But I don’t think those brands should go in the same category as Hermes and Chanel.

A brand like Louis Vuitton is a bigger conundrum. The brand may be one thing and I think we’d all agree it’s premier. But are their cheapest canvas bags premier? Should they be in a diffusion line? LV Jr? And if they are premier does that make sense against the best leather Lonchamp or Coach bags aren’t?

(I don’t have LV canvas, Longchamp or Coach so I don’t have an informed opinion. I’m going off comments on others here regarding the comparative quality and craftamship of these bags. And I know I’m mixing brand classification with specific product quality and materials. )

In any case, I still don’t know the exact answer to my question. But I’m still curious. Seems to me it is a mixture of brand heritage and price point. Quality tends to follow but isn’t fully aligned.

I agree that there's such a wide pricing spectrum with LV. When I was new to designer bags, my first most expensive bags were LV, they were in the 1.2-1.4k range at the time. They were very high quality and functional but the reason why I picked LV was because they're well known (I figure people are buying them for a reason). I still love their bags, they are so light weight (canvas) and very useful. I do notice that they do carry bags upwards of 5k and they tend to be non canvas like their epi leather or empreinte. If empreinte is lightweight too I'd love to own one someday.

 

[Cloudburst2000]

Hmmm...I think much of it comes from the marketing for these brands. If you go into a high end dept store and ask to look at high end bags/shoes/clothes, most of what it is TPF list is what will be shown to you (though no one has offered to show me a Marc Jacobs bag in years). There are varying levels in each designation. Some brands within high end brand moniker are higher end then other brands and the same with contemporary (what I usually call mid-range). There are brands that are higher level while some brands rank a bit lower. Some brands are gray area IMO. Brands like Proenza Schouler, Mulberry, Burberry, Alexander Wang, etc. They kind of have a toe in each, kind of sitting on the fence between the higher-level of mid-range and lower level of high-end. I think the designation each ends up getting is probably the price tag they end up putting on their items. Do they charge high end prices or do they charge more mid-level prices?

 

[bernz84]

Years ago I think the line between contemporary and premier was more distinguishable but these days I have a hard time telling the difference, especially now that a lot of supposed "contemporary" brands are really high quality and expensive!

Brands like Hermes, Chanel, Dior, Gucci, and LV will always be premier in my eyes, but other houses I'm not so sure these days...