When I first saw the Maiyet Sophie Shoulder Bag, I spent a couple hours turning it over in the back of my mind, trying to remember what exactly it reminded me of. There was something about the hardware, but I couldn’t exactly place why it seemed familiar. Finally, it hit me – it was like a curvier, more detailed version of the clean, modern Saint Laurent Lulu Shoulder Bag.
My feelings (and most of yours) about Saint Laurent’s venture into handbag design under new creative director Hedi Slimane have been mixed, but the Lulu is probably my favorite of the nascent range. It feels modern, it has a bit of signature hardware that matches that overall feeling, and the combined effect features just the right amount of restraint. It’s not too minimal, and it’s not too obviously inspired by something else. Even though these bags are quite similar, the curvy hardware and braided texture of the Maiyet option lends itself to a more bohemian aesthetic, while the Saint Laurent bag feels more fashion-forward. Because of that, the Saint Laurent bag wins my heart, but we want to know which bag you prefer in the comments.
Saint Laurent Lulu Shoulder Bag
$2,150 via Neiman Marcus
Maiyet Sophie Shoulder Bag
$1,895 via Net-a-Porter
I would say Maiyet is more feminine. i can see a guy wearing Saint Laurent’s lulu w/o any problems.
Maiyet hardware looks like a gentleman’s thing.
Yeah, I was thinking that the hardware reminds me of something too, but it’s not from another bag …
once you see it, there’s no way to not see it !
rofl, true
Sorry, Amanda, coming right after the Aussie man candy post with his … hmmm.. unisex … eye candy bag … both of these look positively boring … please don’t hold it against me!
Hugh’s been distracting me from everything else on the front page for the past 24 hours too, so I can’t blame you.
As a commenter said, the Maiyet’s hardware looks like a guy’s…. “thing”, that’s not cool, and SLP’s is very modern looking, going into unisex territory
last time you were trashing Saint Laurent’s bag and now you are thinking of getting the Lulu bag, glad to see you’ve finally realised his bags were great a part for the copy of the Birkin, I love them all!!!
Well, I’ve never reviewed the Lulu before! I like the Duffel and the Lulu and would consider buying both of them if they were on sale in a color I wanted. I don’t know if I’m ready to go full price with them yet, but they’re definitely the best of Saint Laurent right now.
True although your general bag critic toward Hedi was pretty harsh…
My fave from Saint Laurent by Hedi is the Lulu as well and I love the leather/suede one!!! The Duffel reminds me of LV’s Coppola bag although I love it (and same love goes for the Classic Sac De Jour bag a.k.a. the Birkin look alike but I am not liking the price tag although more affordable than a Hermes!). I am also a big fan of the Betty bag, the Classic North-South Shopping bag as well as the flat shopping bagQ! What do you think of those?
saint laurent all the way!! 🙂
Love the Saint Laurent style!
I just got small lulu bag in black with really good deal. It is first time having Saint Laurent bag and I am not sure if I need to keep it. Because I can’t find any celeb references of lulu bag anywhere..
Small lulu is not a bag. My phone barely fits in. It is a cell phone case.