Gucci Striped Bowling Bag, $1350 via Net-a-Porter
Over the past couple months, I’ve written about a couple different Gucci Boston Bags – one had logo fabric, the other had a signature check flanking the webbed center stripes. I liked both, but I don’t make a habit of buying bags that cost more than $300 or so if the main material isn’t leather, so neither option was on my radar for personal use.
This version of the bag, though? This I can use. And would use. And maybe will use? $1350 isn’t a price tag to sneeze at, but for a classic, functional leather bag (with a little bit of flair) from a highly sought-after handbag brand, it’s not as bad as it could be. Particularly not when you consider how much a Louis Vuitton bag with a similar design would go for. (Hint: three times as much.)
Comparing this bag to the Sofia Coppola x Louis Vuitton collection is perhaps not entirely fair, but the similarities are inescapable. The Vuitton bags don’t feature the webbed stripes down the center, which are a Gucci signature, but I think I actually like it better this way. Solid leather mini duffels aren’t hard to find, even if finding them in leather as nice as that of Coppola’s bags can be a bit challenging. Gucci uses perfectly reasonably materials, though, and the center stripes give the bag a preppy-traditional flourish that an all-leather option would lack. Buy through Net-a-Porter for $1350.
