When did your love affair with handbags begin? And do you remember THE bag??
- Thread starter xquizit01
- Start date
TPF may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, and others
From a clock to Birkin...your tastes have changed. 
(teasing!)
I started late...early 20s. My mom was always obsessed with Coach and suddenly I saw why. My first "fancy" bag was a lovely black tote from Coach from my then boyfriend for Christmas. It was a very special Christmas for me!
Since then, I've always loved Coach and still do...but I've also discovered and become obsessed with other designers: Dior, Valentino, Prada...and I finally got my first Chanel woc last summer and then saved for a Chanel Petite Shopping Tote, which I got right before the new year. I love it so, so much. It's a slippery slope!!!
(teasing!)I started late...early 20s. My mom was always obsessed with Coach and suddenly I saw why. My first "fancy" bag was a lovely black tote from Coach from my then boyfriend for Christmas. It was a very special Christmas for me!
Since then, I've always loved Coach and still do...but I've also discovered and become obsessed with other designers: Dior, Valentino, Prada...and I finally got my first Chanel woc last summer and then saved for a Chanel Petite Shopping Tote, which I got right before the new year. I love it so, so much. It's a slippery slope!!!
CoachCruiser, if you're a late starter I don't know what to call myself! I've always had purses (whatever was given to me or didn't cost much) since high school but I never cared about having any particular one until I was past 50! The first designer one I wanted was a patchwork Coach tote that I saw someone carrying, but when I went to buy it I found out it was an old style and no longer available. I ended up with a black leather Coach Hailey which I still use occasionally.
I had bags before, and I liked them, adored them but then....the Gucci Horse-bit Chain convertible clutch came along, one of the first bags Frida G ever designed for Gucci in 2002. I could NOT get it out my head. I bought a large plain black leather (red bag in this pic)
Attachments
Mulberry Roxanne. I wanted it soooooo badly back in 2000 when I first really discovered designer handbags.
I couldn't afford it then and when I was finally in a position to by it (round about 2008) it wasn't available in the shops anymore and would have had to have been preloved. But..... it's bloody heavy and that put me off
It's still my iconic Mulberry and the first ever bag I've really wanted. But I don't have one in my collection as I just don't think it would ever get used.
One day maybe..... I'll have one, just to admire on the shelf.
I couldn't afford it then and when I was finally in a position to by it (round about 2008) it wasn't available in the shops anymore and would have had to have been preloved. But..... it's bloody heavy and that put me off
It's still my iconic Mulberry and the first ever bag I've really wanted. But I don't have one in my collection as I just don't think it would ever get used. One day maybe..... I'll have one, just to admire on the shelf.
I was 22 and I fell in love with a Guess Tote, my then fiancé bought it for me and I loved that bag! I wore the crap out of it and I still have it and now store sewing things in it. After we got married I fell in love with and then bought myself a Juicy Couture bowler bag (yes those velour ones 
) and the rest is history.
) and the rest is history.
I first started to be interested in fashion and bags when I was 16 in 2004. Fast-forward 18 months and it's December 2005, I am 18 and buying my first Dior. I am not sure if it was a certain bag that started it for me. I remember that the first it-bag I really noticed what the Chloe Paddington, but that was later I believe, in 2006.
Throughout high school I was very interested in fashion but wasn't necessarily a purse lover. The love affair started more in college when I really wanted a Chanel flap. Obviously, I couldn't fund it myself since I didn't have a job, and my mom wasn't willing to buy it for me (understandable), so I got a quilted Chanel evening bag instead from a consignment shop. The agreement was that I would pay half, and my mom would pay half. My mom decided to just pay for it all though and make it my gift for my birthday (I think it was my 18th or 19th?). I thought it would be the only Chanel and high end designer bag I'd ever own. I loved it so much I slept with it the first night lol.
Fast forward, and I started shopping online for preloved Chanel for my mom and for myself. My addiction turned into hers as well! I still love Chanel even though I'm quite content with the collection of Chanel I have. Now that my mother is no longer with me, it's even more special to me. I can't bear to part with any Chanels.
Just a week ago, I decided to use my little evening bag for my husband's birthday dinner. It brought back such good memories, and I felt the excitement I felt years ago when I first received it.
Fast forward, and I started shopping online for preloved Chanel for my mom and for myself. My addiction turned into hers as well! I still love Chanel even though I'm quite content with the collection of Chanel I have. Now that my mother is no longer with me, it's even more special to me. I can't bear to part with any Chanels.
Just a week ago, I decided to use my little evening bag for my husband's birthday dinner. It brought back such good memories, and I felt the excitement I felt years ago when I first received it.
I used to have some nice and unique purses back in high school, but my first super-duper-loved bag was Burberry Manor, which my then-fiance-now-hubby got me, I was 21 by then, I guess.
It would still be alive, but last year my dog chewed its handles, so now I consider it handicapped
It would still be alive, but last year my dog chewed its handles, so now I consider it handicapped
stephc005, your story was so touching, I almost cried. (And by the way, I have slept with handbags next to my pillow at night before, too!)
Way back before everyone here on this board was born, I worked at a very famous Iconic Corporate Office Building. There was a stylish boutique on the mezannine where I bought a gorgeous black patent leather bag for the ungodly price of $40. It was practically my entire week's pay. But I was 18 then, and I seem to remember that was when it all started. I can't even tell you how long ago it was, but it was totally a different era.
Glad to hear I'm not the only one who has done that
My mother was the type who would never spend money on herself, but instead always on us kids. She didn't start to indulge and spoil herself until the last few years of her life (although of course none of us knew it would be that way). She was always down to earth though, and I try to live the same way.
What a lovely story! I'm so glad you still have that evening bag and that using it brought back such a good feeling.
For me, although I always loved bags, I didn't get hit with major lust for one specific bag until 1993, when I saw a friend's Mark Cross Murphy bag. OMG, that bag was everything I ever wanted -- lush black pebbled leather, messenger style, etc, etc. My then-boyfriend got me one that Christmas -- it was our first Christmas as a couple, and no one had ever bought me a gift that expensive. Fast forward 20 years, and that BF is now my DH (and has been for 17 years!). I still have the Murphy bag, although I no longer wear it -- it's pretty heavy and has no designated cell phone pocket. But it's in my closet, in it's dust bag, in pristine condition even though I wore the heck out of it for the first year or more!
I can remember the moment exactly. It's an unnecessary long story.
In the fall of 2000 my best friend had purchased the Kate Spade "Sam" bag in black nylon. At the time, I thought she was crazy for spending that much money on a bag. However, she was working, while I was a broke student starting my last year of law school.
Fast forward to March 2002. I was in middle of my articling year and had never been so stressed in my life. I lost a Motion in Court, tripped and fell on my way back to office (in the pouring rain) and was fighting the tears when I got back to the office. I just sort of snapped. I called my friend who happened to work near to Holt Renfrew, told her that I was about to do something drastic and asked her to meet me at Holts on her lunch hour.
We met up there and I bought the first Kate Spade bag to catch my eye. It was a black and white stripped canvas tote with a bright crimson red lining. I swear to you all, that day money did buy happiness.
The SA was so nice to me. I may have told her it was my first "real grown-up lady purse", so she wrapped it up in one of the hot pink Holt Renfrew boxes and even tied it up with ribbon for me.
I returned to the office. At the time, all the articling students shared one big space, with each of us having our own cubicle. Of all the students, I was the only female. So I strutted in to the office, announced that I had spent the last 7 months listening to their guy talk and they owned me 5 minutes of girl-bonding. I proudly displayed my beautiful new bag to them. To their credit, they played along, offered several compliments and told me I deserved it.
It was the uniqueness of that particular bag, the quality of the construction, the feeling of luxury and the idea that I could reward myself, that "flipped the switch". I began to take an interest in fashion and worked on developing my own style.
That bag would be the gateway to many other "because I deserve it" bag purchases over the years. A lot of those subsequent purchases have gone on to new homes. I've refined my tastes and edited the collection quite a bit in the 12 years since that fateful day. But I still have that first bag. And it was a google search I did about 2 years ago trying to find the name of that first bag that lead me to TPF. I've lurked here ever since.
In the fall of 2000 my best friend had purchased the Kate Spade "Sam" bag in black nylon. At the time, I thought she was crazy for spending that much money on a bag. However, she was working, while I was a broke student starting my last year of law school.
Fast forward to March 2002. I was in middle of my articling year and had never been so stressed in my life. I lost a Motion in Court, tripped and fell on my way back to office (in the pouring rain) and was fighting the tears when I got back to the office. I just sort of snapped. I called my friend who happened to work near to Holt Renfrew, told her that I was about to do something drastic and asked her to meet me at Holts on her lunch hour.
We met up there and I bought the first Kate Spade bag to catch my eye. It was a black and white stripped canvas tote with a bright crimson red lining. I swear to you all, that day money did buy happiness.
The SA was so nice to me. I may have told her it was my first "real grown-up lady purse", so she wrapped it up in one of the hot pink Holt Renfrew boxes and even tied it up with ribbon for me.
I returned to the office. At the time, all the articling students shared one big space, with each of us having our own cubicle. Of all the students, I was the only female. So I strutted in to the office, announced that I had spent the last 7 months listening to their guy talk and they owned me 5 minutes of girl-bonding. I proudly displayed my beautiful new bag to them. To their credit, they played along, offered several compliments and told me I deserved it.
It was the uniqueness of that particular bag, the quality of the construction, the feeling of luxury and the idea that I could reward myself, that "flipped the switch". I began to take an interest in fashion and worked on developing my own style.
That bag would be the gateway to many other "because I deserve it" bag purchases over the years. A lot of those subsequent purchases have gone on to new homes. I've refined my tastes and edited the collection quite a bit in the 12 years since that fateful day. But I still have that first bag. And it was a google search I did about 2 years ago trying to find the name of that first bag that lead me to TPF. I've lurked here ever since.
Last edited: