Chloe Handbags

In all honesty, the Chloe Paddington is probably why I’m here today. It was the first designer handbag to totally capture my attention when I started to become interested in bags circa 2005, and although I never had the funds to buy one back then, I searched eBay daily, hoping for a good deal on my elusive cream-colored Paddy. And I wasn’t the only one that caught the Paddington fever - fashion magazines dubbed it the fastest-selling bag in history and our Purse Forum, then in its infancy, talked non-stop of ways to acquire one.

And now, approximately four years later, I saw a Paddington on Nordstrom’s website today and it got me thinking - how does the purse world feel about this historic handbag a few years down the road from its peak popularity?

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Chloe always sticks out in my mind as a brand that takes a hit handbag and makes as many variations to cash in as humanly possible. Not that I blame them - if you’ve created something good, you have every right to reap the benefits of that. Let the haters hate - It Bags don’t design themselves, after all.

Another reason that I sometimes like when Chloe does this is that occasionally I like the derivative bags better than I like the original. I think that’s the case with the Chloe Heloise Hobo. I wasn’t a huge fan of the original Heloise satchel, but this? This I kinda like. I’m partial to hobos in the first place, the the knotted strap and pieced body give it just enough visual interest to not be boring, and it seems more functional in this configuration than as a satchel. I’m a little meh on the color, but we all know how I feel about neutrals. This is a fairly interesting shade for a beige, though - it’s a little grey, a little cream, it’s kinda nice. Look at me, liking neutrals. I guess there’s a first time for everything. Buy through Saks for $1595.

I’m not sure about the Chloe Heloise Small Hobo. Like, I’m just really, really not sure. Let’s hash it out: the braiding on the handle is, in my opinion, genius. The thick braiding gives the bag heft while still retaining a sort of girlishness, like a thick elementary-school plait. I also can’t get enough of the tiny, tiny pocket on the front of the hobo. What is it for? A penny, à la penny loafers? I don’t know, but the fact is, it is there. And some haters will say it serves no purpose and therefore it’s stupid to have there, but I think it’s cute.

Now, on the bad side: there’s something off about the flaps (pleats?) on the front of the hobo, and the bottom of the bag also has flaps that make it look too heavy. Also, the cream and blue color options are just not quite right- it’s like Chloe was a shade off. Even though I like a few details, the fact that the color and overall shape are wrong just makes the whole bag seem icky. Next time, Chloe, keep the good deets but get your colors right. Buy through Saks for $995.

Have you ever seen a woman in the mall or wherever who is impeccably coifed and seems to just have that air of luxury about her? If you know whom I am talking about, because we have all seen her, this Chloé Sally Calf Leather Shoulder Bag is what she’d be carrying. Doesn’t it just exude a quiet sophistication? The structure especially points towards times past where people just didn’t walk around in sweatpants or ripped jeans, but where polished was a must. That said, this bag would look equally amazing with a starched white button-down and slacks as is would with a white tee shirt and boyfriend jeans.

The accent to detail in this bag is what makes it gorgeous. Notice the careful gold hardware outline of that makes the subdued violet color pop, the delicately woven gold straps, and the overlap on the double-flap front. By taking advantage of Net-a-Porter’s Zoom-In feature, you can get a close-up on the gorgeously pebbled calf leather. It’s a fancier bag and you can see that in the construction, which is exactly why I’m lusting over it. And of course it helps that my favorite color is purple. Buy through Net-a-Porter for $1396.50.

Ladies, I’ve done it. I’ve done the impossible, and now we can all rejoice and hold hands and sign songs of happiness. I’ve found a Chloe bag at a somewhat reasonable price point. I thought that this was a feat I would never accomplish, but today I dared to dream, and when I opened my eyes, the Chloe Victoria Tote stood before me.

And it’s…perfectly serviceable and at least as nice as some of their designs that are much more expensive. We’re not breaking new ground here, design-wise, but the leather does look quite nice (if a bit too glazed and shiny for my taste) and the bag looks like it would be enormously functional and useful for women with all kinds of different personal tastes and lifestyles. I could see it on everyone from a working mom to a downtown hipster, and at the somewhat reasonable price point (for Chloe), a lot more people will be able to consider adding it to their collections than with most of the brand’s other bags. I can’t find anything to dislike here, and I even tend to like the shades of tan that Chloe uses, as much to my own surprise as anyone else’s. Buy through Saks for $1295.

I’ve never owned a Chloe bag before, but I’d really like to before my bag days are over. They’re a bit out of my current price range, but I’ve fondled many of their bags at stores in the past few years, and their leather quality and feel never cease to amaze me. Why can’t all high-end bag manufacturers use leather that thick and soft and wonderful? I mean, if they can, why not others?

Which is why I want to talk about the Chloe Shelby Shopper today. Holy crackers, look at that leather. I can almost feel it through my computer screen. This is one of those bags that, if it were mine, I would be constantly petting it. The Shelby has that super-matte, velvety texture that reminds me all over again why I love handbags in the first place. And when you combine that leather with a beautiful, rich, unexpected color that can be used year-round, you get a handbag that will be on my mind for some time to come. Buy through Nordstrom for $2175.

We’ve already talking about the Chloe Sally Bag in it’s original incarnation a little over a month ago, and you ladies seemed intrigued by it’s simple design and clean lines. Because of that, I couldn’t resist the urge to show you the runway version of the bag: the Chloe Sally Bag in Safari Print. Some people like pattern bags, some don’t. I do, but I’m not sure I’d pay this price for one. Despite the price, though, I think the bag is really well-executed.

The pattern is large enough and contains a small enough amount of colors that it would still be wearable with a number of outfits and colors, and the colors of the bag are attractive in their own right. The bag’s flap is made of Ayers snakeskin, which is a type I’m not familiar with, but the scales look smaller and flatter than python. This may or may not make the snakeskin more durable, but my best guess would be that it would result in less flaking. Also, I just kind of generally like it when a brand uses a snakeskin other than python - it shows a bit of creativity. This bag might be a BIT theme-y for me, but overall, I think it’s theme-y done well. Buy through Net-a-Porter for $2560.

I’ve really enjoyed all of the Chloe bags this season so far, so seeing the Chloe Ely Medium Bag today for the first time made me kind of sad. It’s the first of this season’s accessories line that I don’t like in any way, and I’ve got a couple reasons as to why. First, it’s just kinda…square. It looks more like a carry-on for an airplane, or maybe a toiletries case, than a handbag to be used for everyday purposes. Second, the finish of the leather.

I HATE when designers do this - it’s somewhere between regular leather and a full-on patent gloss, and it tends to make leather stiffer, less touchable, and less like anything that actually came from an animal at some point. In short, it makes the bag look cheap, and they did some weird striping with it that made me questions whether it was real leather or just a treated canvas. For two grand, I don’t want to have to question. This also isn’t my favorite color, but compared to the other issues, that’s not that big of a deal. On the upside, it does look nice and roomy, the lining is light-colored for easy of use, and I like the woven handles. But that’s really the only upside I’ve got for you on this one. Buy through Net-a-Porter for $2055.

First, I’d like to say that I don’t like pink bags. Or pink in general. I was a tomboy as a kid and although I’m a girly girl now, I don’t think I ever quite grew out of my irritation over the belief that all girls love pink. We don’t! That being said, I’d like to completely contradict myself by liking the Chloe Ethel Tote. It’s pink. Quite pink, even though Nordstrom calls it purple. And not a shade of pink that I normally embrace. Maybe it’s the kicky little orange handles that are clouding my judgment, but this leather (it’s lambskin, drool) looks so soft and smooshy and WONDERFUL that it could be the color of poop and I’d probably still want one. If there’s one way to make my eyes glaze over and my jaw go slack, it’s lambskin. So maybe I’m merely willing to overlook the pink in favor of embracing the leather, which is nothing if not embraceable. Also take note of the price - while certainly not a bargain by any means, Several people complained about the price point of the Chloe Sally Bag that we reviewed earlier this week, and this one comes in a full $600 lower for a bag with more supple leather. Suddenly, $1395 doesn’t seem so bad. Pre-order through Nordstrom for $1395.

I saw the Chloe Sally Flap Bag yesterday at Saks in Atlanta and thought to myself that I’d really like to be able to write about it, but it’d probably be a while before I saw it online. I check all of my favorite sites for new bags basically every day, and it hadn’t appeared on any of them even for a moment, so I figured that all was lost. Sometimes bags don’t make it to the internet, and sometimes if they do, it’s so woefully late that there’s not much of a point in writing about them. So I was delighted when I got home from the mall and found that the bag had suddenly become available for presale at Nordstrom (who has really stepped up their game recently when it comes to designer bags, in my humble opinion). In person, the bag is deceptively simple: it looks like a normal, medium-sized flap bag at first, but I found myself impressed at how clean and precise its lines were. The pebbled leather also makes it a more casual option than a Chanel flap while still being some of the most beautiful textured leather I’ve seen in while; it’s sturdy but soft at the same time. From the front, it also looks much smaller than it is - at the bottom, it is a good bit deeper than a similar Chanel. The strap is long but not nearly long enough to be a crossbody bag, and the overall effect is tailored and polished, just like it should be to be a part of the “flap bag” trend that is gaining steam. This bag and those like it appear to be a pointed response to the needlessly huge bags of seasons past, and they’re making a very good argument for themselves. Pre-order through Nordstrom for $1995.