In The News

We are all very aware that we pay mark up on our designer handbags, and if you are not aware, get out from under that rock. I love designer handbags, obviously, but sometimes even I gasp at the price tags. If you ever shop with me you may see me peering at price tags and my face becoming flush and then I walk off and browse more. That is from the price tag, the exorbitant price tag. But I keep on buying and I keep on sharing with all of you the next hot handbags and those that are not. The writer of Deluxe: How Luxury Lost Its Lustre, Dana Thomas, compared Louis Vuitton to McDonald’s, being recognizable as the golden arches with no pizazz from the chairman of Louis Vuitton, Bernard Arnault.

Dana Thomas is stuffing envelopes with copies of Deluxe: How Luxury Lost Its Lustre and writing notes to go with them. What to say to Bernard Arnault, chairman of Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton, one of the world’s biggest producers of luxury goods? “Oh, I dunno. ‘I hope you enjoy my book’,” she says. Arnault will have a fit.

The French mogul is fingered as a fiendish money-making former property developer with no artistic sensibility and Louis Vuitton is characterised as the McDonald’s of the luxury industry. “A million served,” says Thomas drily. The logo is as recognisable as the golden arches. “It really is. I would certainly put it in the top 10, along with Nike, Coca-Cola.”

Read the entire article at Executive Style

Is luxury losing its wow factor to any of you?

Keira Knightley is face of the scent Chanel Coco Mademoiselle. The Chanel Coco Mademoisella commercial features the stunning Keira Knightley paired with the heavenly sound of Joss Stone singing ‘Nat King Cole’ L-O-V-E. And earlier for the fall Ad, Keira stripped down for Chanel and for a reported $1 million dollar contract to be the face of the new scent. The young actress is not known for her curves, but she still has a body that entices the masses. Keira knows her strengths and says, “I have certain tools. One of them is my body.”

Via Daily Mail

Don’t forget to sign up for our Botkier Sasha Giveaway!!

Thanks to the good people at Botkier, we are giving away a chic Botkier Sasha tote in black leather for the month of September! The rules to participate are simple, head over to the Purse Forum, register an account if you already haven’t, and submit your entry to win.

Many thanks to Botkier!

On my way back from Florida to Columbus I was in dire need of reading material to pass the 4 hour journey without suffering of boredom. Usually I’d be picking up a car magazine, one on the newest tech gadgets or even a celebrity trash pamphlet. This time however, the Fortune magazine caught my attention. The cover boasted stories on Ralph Lauren, Marc Jacobs and the Brooks Brothers. Working in the field that I do, I couldn’t possibly pass that up.

While the articles on Lauren and Jacobs were equally interesting and educative, it was an article titled Mass vs. Class that I found to be the best read. Basically, the article by Peter Gumbel discusses the accessibility of luxury to the masses, traditional fashion brands breaching out to the lower cost markets and its naysayers. I’ve scanned and uploaded the article in PDF form here (right-click, Save As…), I apologize for the lousy quality of the scan ahead of time. Do yourself a favor though and pick up a hard copy of the magazine, it is well worth it.

I would like to encourage a weekend debate. What is your opinion on the matter? Has the perception of luxury become dilated in recent years? Do you feel like your pricey designer items have become banal?

Don’t forget to sign up for our Botkier Sasha Giveaway!!

Thanks to the good people at Botkier, we are giving away a chic Botkier Sasha tote in black leather for the month of September! The rules to participate are simple, head over to the Purse Forum, register an account if you already haven’t, and submit your entry to win.

Many thanks to Botkier!

Visionaire is a multi-format album of fashion and art produced in highly exclusive limited numbers and editions. One of the newest editions, 52, which will be available in October, features designer Marc Jacobs posing nude. Not new to the nude front, Jacobs embraces this issue and even left his photos untouched. The price will be $375. While the price is steep, keep in mind this will be a limited edition and finished off with a Louis Vuitton gold monogrammed case.

Will you be interested to take a peek?

Marc Jacobs is clearly proud of his bod — and bares it all again in the latest edition of Visionaire. The 168-page oversize book, sponsored by Louis Vuitton, includes nude photographs of a bevy of models, actors and celebrities, including Jacobs, this edition’s guest editor. Visionaire co-founder Stephen Gan said the concept was conceived more than two years ago and most of the photos were taken late last year. “The idea was to do personal nudes of famous people. We came up with a list of who are considered the most beautiful people in the world,” he explained. That list includes Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony, Mariah Carey, Drew Barrymore, Naomi Campbell, Scarlett Johansson, Christy Turlington, Gisele Bündchen, Jamie Dornan and Selma Blair, all shot by Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott. Though most of the images are quite revealing, “not everyone is stark naked,” Gan said (Lopez and Anthony appear clothed, most of the models, including Daria Werbowy and Natalia Vodianova, do not). Thus, the latest edition is entitled “Private.”

Photographs of Jacobs appear in the last pages of the book, where he appears lying across an oversize teddy bear in one image and draped in black rope in several others. (”His photographs were not retouched,” a Visionaire staffer added.) Jacobs is no stranger to baring it all: He appeared naked on the September cover of Out magazine, and on the cover of WWD in September 2006, along with his business partner, Robert Duffy, to raise awareness of skin cancer. And Jacobs hasn’t posed naked only when he’s fit — the designer also bared all for Vanity Fair in the Nineties.

Voyeurs and others can buy the issue for $375 beginning in early October; 2,500 copies will be printed. But before sulking at the hefty price tag, consider “Private” will be sold in a limited edition Louis Vuitton gold monogrammed case. At least they thought to dress the book up, even if its subjects inside aren’t. — Stephanie D. Smith

Via WWD

Not only are the ‘grown-ups’ dishing out more money on designer clothing, but now kids are too. And this means that the kids parents are willing to spend money on designer clothing and handbags for their children to take to school. While a Jansport backpack was norm when I was in school, girls are now carrying designer handbags such as Coach and Louis Vuitton. While jeans look laid back and casual, a pair of True Religion jeans can run around $250. Designer shades, clothing, and accessories are being sported by tweens and teens, which means an entire generation of youth believes this is the way to go. This story focuses on the Orange County, California area, but this designer explosion is happening nationwide.

For those of you with tweens and teens, what did you send your kids back to school wearing? It is utterly ridiculous that 15 year olds have jeans that cost $250, sunglasses that cost $300, and a handbag that costs $500?

Many teens polled were prone to vying for designer brands just as much as any fashionable grown-up. Girls listed Juicy Couture, Coach, Chanel and L.A.M.B as favorite brands, in addition to traditional surf brands like Roxy and Volcom. Girls also said they favored Pink by Victoria’s Secret as a more affordable alternative to Juicy Couture, with the line’s comfortable, girly sweatpants and cutesy graphic tees. Seven for All Mankind and True Religion were popular denim brands.

Read the entire article at OC register

For those of you who have or those of you who want, there is a great article about the artisans behind Hermes in Vanity Fair. With the price tag of a Birkin starting around $7,000 now, many people may wonder why the large price tag. The artisans meticulously work on each Birkin, spending between 18 to 25 hours creating it. The Paris workrooms produce only five Birkins per week, which then are supplied world wide. It now makes sense why the wait lists are so long. Yet luxury prices continue to go through the roof. People seem to have no issue spending over $1000 on a handbag, which two years ago seemed steep. A $2500 bag is the new $1000 bag. When will it end?

Almost two centuries ago, a royal coronation might be delayed until the arrival of its exquisitely stitched Hermès carriage fittings, just as today even the richest women must wait for an exquisitely stitched Hermès Birkin bag. With the family-run French company passing to a sixth generation, the author chronicles its rise to global pre-eminence, where a modern aesthetic meets the humble tools—awls, mallets, needles, knives, and stones—of unsurpassed tradition.

For 28 years, from 1978 to 2006, the most quotable voice in retail—pragmatic, poetic—came from Jean-Louis Dumas, the head of a company that in every other way speaks with its hands. It is an old company with a Protestant spine and a Parisian perfectionism, one of the oldest family-owned-and-controlled companies in France. Its name alone prompts sighs of desire among those in the know, and those in the know run the gamut from French housewife to fashionista to queen (both kinds), from social climber to Olympic equestrian to C.E.O. The name itself is a sigh, a flight, and its proper pronunciation must often be taught. “Air-mez”—as in the messenger god with winged sandals. Mischievous, witty, ingenious Hermès.

“We don’t have a policy of image, we have a policy of product.”

Read the entire article at Vanity Fair {link}

While our site reads “Shallow Obsessing Strongly Encouraged“, there is so much more to the people of Purse Blog and Purse Forum. Boasting over 68,000 registered members, The Purse Forum is one of the fastest growing and most active communities on the web. Nestled in the vast forum are sub-forums upon sub-forums of members. These members have congregated because of their passion for handbags yet in the end have formed much more. Many have met others and become great friends, while groups of members are enjoying meeting up to shop and eat. This past spring a group of Hermes members did just that, resulting in a fabulous weekend and a feature in the New York Times. Christine Muhlke from the New York Times met with the Hermes ladies to see a little bit into their world. Yesterday in a special style section of the NYT was an alluring article about some of the women behind the Hermes group. For a fun read about our amazing Hermes Forum please check out the article at NYT!

Special thanks to all of the ladies who participated and Christine for featuring the fabulous members of our forum!

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If you are not great at conversions, just think that the USD is about double the GBP. Carolyn Langmead, a secretary from the UK, has been put in jail for stealing $300,000 from her boss to blow on designer labels. While I love my designer labels as much as you, I really do believe that this woman is suffering from many issues, mostly mental unstable ones. What I am really baffled by is how they found over 30 designer bags in her car. Why did no one break in? Make this crime be the victim of a crime. I have nothing left to do but .

A secretary has been jailed for stealing £150,000 from her bosses and blowing it on hundreds of designer handbags, clothes and shoes.

Carolyn Langmead, described as “obsessed” with shopping, wept as she was sentenced to three years for writing hundreds of cheques to herself.

She spent the cash on filling her wardrobe with leading labels such as Louis Vuitton, Prada and Gucci.

The 52-year-old grandmother was such a good customer that upmarket fashion shops often closed their doors to allow her to browse alone.

When police raided her home in Bournemouth, they found 27 bin liners stuffed with exclusive clothes and accessories.

Her company car was also crammed with more than 30 bags, along with a stash of unpaid bills she had hidden from the firm.

In total, she had around 1,500 items. Most had never been used and many still had their price tags.

Read the rest of the story at Daily Mail