In today’s installment of our fan-favorite closet confessionals series, we meet a young handbag collector hailing from London. This purse lover may only be 25, but she’s incredibly smart when it comes to bag buying, opting to research her buys well before pulling the trigger, and only buying pieces she truly loves. Sometimes that means new carries enter her life once a season, but other times that means passing up the hottest new releases and holding off for a bag that really catches her eye. While occasionally this confessor is made aware of a purse thanks to seeing it on the arm of a celeb or influencer, she remains true to herself and will not buy a bag just because someone famous is carrying it—wise for her age! Though this marketing exec first fell in love with handbags thanks to Nicolas Ghesquière’s reign at Balenciaga, currently she’s eyeing something Chanel, but is hesitant thanks to the recent price increases. All in all this bag lover knows how to budget and shops within her means, something many of us can aim to be better at. Read the full CC below and don’t forget to submit your own!
[sc_cc_callout]The Basics
Age: 25
Gender Identity: Female
Location: London
Occupation: Marketing Executive
Industry: Jeweller
Salary: $36,000
Household Income: $66,000
The Bags
Are you a PurseForum member? Yes
How many bags do you own? 20+
What bags are in your collection?
Celine Medium Luggage Tote
Celine Medium Triomphe
Saint Laurent Small Sac De Jour
Balenciaga Day with G21 GHW
Balenciaga City with G12 GHW
Balenciaga Envelope with G12 GHW
Balenciaga Neo WOC
Valentino Small Glam Lock
Alexander Wang Diego
Coccinelle Arlettis Mini
Longchamp Neo Large Shopping Tote
Longchamp Neo Small Shopping Tote
Longchamp Le Pillage Paris Edition Large Shopping Tote
Ted Baker Half Moon Crossbody
Plus 10 other non-branded
How much is your collection worth? $16,000
What is your most expensive bag? Celine Medium Luggage Tote
What are the most important brands or pieces in your collection? Balenciaga, I fell in love with Nicolas Ghesquière Motorcycle Bag in the 2010s and it kick-started my obsession with designer handbags.
What age did you get your first designer bag, and what was it? I brought myself a Balenciaga City with Regular Hardware at the age of 19, as a present to myself for finishing my undergraduate degree, which I started at the age of 16. It was a lot of money at the time but I had been saving from my part-time jobs for the last few years, so I felt it was the right time to make a purchase. Since then, I have sold this particular bag and bought a G12 Gold Hardware version in its place. But its fair to say my love for the Balenciaga Motorcycle style has not faded over the years.
Is there a specific bag you are looking to purchase next? I have nothing on my wish list at the moment but maybe a Chanel? But I just can’t get over these crazy price increases, so I might skip Chanel all together and aim for Hermès.
Any particular bag that holds a special sentimental value? Saint Laurent Sac De Jour because my dad, who is extremely against my love for designer items, bought it for me as a ‘well done’ present for finishing my Masters degree.
Do you feel like your bags change people’s perceptions of you or how you’re treated? I don’t think so and to be honest I don’t really care if it does or it doesn’t. I buy bags because I love them, not for anyone else’s benefit or to change people’s perception.
The Shopping
How often do you buy new bags? If a fall in love with a bag I will buy it, so it could be as often as once a season or I could go a couple of seasons without buying one at all. It just depends on what’s available and what I fall in love with. I try to research as much as I can before purchasing a new bag. I also try to limit what I have in my collection. So if I buy a new bag, I also try to let go of a bag from my collection.
Which stores do you frequent the most? Harrods all the way!
Do you ever buy second-hand bags? Where do you buy used? Yes, if I see the right bag at the right price. In fact my Celine Medium Luggage Tote is pre-owned from eBay, I was late to the game but the medium size (long discontinued now) is just perfect.
Do you sell old bags to pay for new purchases? Not necessarily but I do sell my bag to keep my collection limited.
Do you ever feel societal pressure to purchase more bags? No, I wouldn’t say so. Like I’ve said I only buy bags I love and while a lot of the bags in my collection are popular styles, I bought them because I love them, not because of trends or marketing.
Do you consider your bag purchases investments? They can be if you buy the right bag and keep it in the right condition. But it’s very rare to be able to make money on used designer bags.
Who influences your buying decisions? Myself and my own love of designer bags. Sometime influencers and celebrities will bring a bag to my attention but I wouldn’t buy it just because they are wearing it.
Are sales associate relationships instrumental to your shopping? I don’t have a special relationship with any SAs as it can be months or a year before I go back to the same brand again. But if I go into a store and have a bad experience with a SA, I simply just won’t buy anything with them. I will just leave it and buy it another time.
Why do you enjoy shopping, beyond just acquiring something new? I tend to already know what I want by the time I physically go to the store, so shopping is more of an end result rather than an experience. I enjoy researching and reading about the bags far more than the shopping experience itself.
Have you ever felt like you received inferior service at a store or boutique due to your appearance, ethnicity or gender? My friend from Asia was searching for a LV Pochette Metis last year, she tried everyday and in various LV boutiques around London but they would just turn her down saying they had none in stock. But when I asked, the SA simply wanted to see my ID (I gave her a my UK driving license) and she straight away said she had one available. So perhaps it does make a difference if you were wearing the right clothes (I was wearing a Burberry Trench Coat and carrying one of my Balenciaga bags) and came from the right country.
The Money
Who pays for your bags? Me
Do you set aside a budget for your bag purchases? I set aside shopping money every month, so when I see the right bag I have money put aside to make that purchase.
The Taboo Topics
Have you ever purchased a counterfeit because you couldn’t afford a designer item? No
Do you ever hide purchases from your significant other? No, if I bought something, I’m going to wear it.
What’s the craziest thing you’ve done to afford a bag? Nothing I can think of in terms of affording a bag. But I have asked a friend who was going on a 3 week trip around the US to buy a Chanel purse for me from London Heathrow duty free on her way out there and carry it around with her the whole trip with the box. She wasn’t someone who was interested in luxury and would never buy something that cost this much. So for her to carry around a $700+ purse in her bag left her scared that she was going to lose it or something would happen to it. It was a lot to ask and in hindsight maybe I shouldn’t have asked as she wasn’t as comfortable with luxury as I was.
Do you think your shopping is ever a problem? Have you ever felt like you were struggling with a shopping addiction? No, I only spend within my allowance and know where my limit lies. A word of advice to someone who want to buy luxury is to only buy what you can afford, no bag is worth getting into debt for.
The Rest Of It
Any other expensive hobbies or passions? Bags are pretty much the only passion and love.
Anything else you would like to include? Remember to be yourself, only buy what you can afford and love. Don’t buy something just because someone else has it or because it’s popular. As Coco Chanel said ‘Fashion fades, only style remains the same’, so it’s important to stay true to who you are and your style.
‘d like to think she’s a really nice lady, but she just came off as pretentious.
There were so many glaring typos in this piece wish they were fixed before publishing.
I fixed them all. Typically we try to leave the confessional as close to exactly what we receive from the submission, but this one needed a bit of work. Apologies! We will follow this better going forward
What stood out to me over and over again in these confessionals is that race and gender matters, even doing something as mundane as purchasing a luxury bag. The callousness of reporting this and even questioning this experience in the series without addressing how we as a society can change this feels off putting. This has put me off luxury, off the Vuittons and the Chanels who measure my worth of owning their product based on the color of my skin or my portrayal of gender. I would love to hear the response from fashion houses on these racist bigoted behaviors towards their customers, especially Asians whom they only seem to TOLERATE because of cash value.
We always ask that question because I think it’s important to note. Social equality is not the same for everyone and sometimes even merely reading about it in a few lines from someone else could be eye-opening enough for someone else to see things differently. There is so much bias when it comes to every aspect of life, and yes, would be great to hear how brands that have known problems plan to combat this.
Do you think there’s a better way we could talk to confessors about this or have them share differently to help bring this issue to light?
honey, when you went into inquire about the LV pochette metis for your Asian friend, it wasn’t your burberry or your balenciaga, it was your white privilege that came through for you. And you clearly said it yourself when you recorded that you came from the right country to own LV. living in the midst of the 2020 TRUMP CORONA double whammy, here is the pathetic state we are as a world. Can’t escape racial injustice even in a purse blog these days.
I wanted to respond to you as well, since I did the other commenters. I would never post a confessional to our site that I believed was making racist remarks. I did not read her comment as saying she was from the right country, I read it as her saying that she thought the SA was showing bias.
There is a ton of bias people face daily – and this highlights that. That you and I could both go into the same store and have an entirely different experience is a problem. I think sharing these experiences, especially since those who submit confessionals are from such a wide background, shows the inequality and should at the very least make many of us much more aware that this issue is deeper rooted than we may think.
I actually think it meant that she is Asian as well but her UK DL made it okay for her to purchase the item from LV, as supposed to her Asian friend likely from one of the Asian countries and holds a non-British passport.
Ah, Could be. I guess we are reading into it without knowing further. Truly, I did not read this as a remark of her finding superiority in herself, but in the SA deciding there was something better about her DL.
No, I disagree about her DL. What is the reason that no SA’s would sell to her friend?? She kept going from boutique to boutique, but no-one would sell to her? Or, were they sold out and miraculously had one when her friend inquired? Lastly, what boutique, in the world, would refuse currency? I’ve shopped in London and no boutique refused to sell me a bag. Idk, this article, at the least, was disappointing.
I’m not sure what the person meant by saying she came from the right country?
When she said she “came from the right country” she was obviously speaking from the perspective of the sales associate as she described how her Asian friend was disregarded.
That is how I read it as well. As I said upthread in comments, I did not read that as her saying she was from the right country but her saying that the SA was showing race bias toward her friend and treated her better because she was from the UK.
There’s nothing obvious here other than “came from the right country” should not come out of anyone’s mouth.
The question asked if she is treated differently because of her race. She answered with an example comparing her treatment to her Asian friend’s. The attitude was that of the SA who asked to see her ID before saying whether they had the handbag.
When she said she “came from the right country”, she was obviously speaking from the perspective of the sales associate as she described howi
She indicated her friend was from Asia-wrong country/continent and that she showed her “British driver’s license” so that must be the right country to be born for owning LV trash 🙂
I was hoping that wasn’t what she meant. Yikes.
there seems to be a whole lot of white privilege and entitlement masked in the writer’s tone for someone making barely minimum wage in North American standards
Purseblog editorial team, shame on you for publishing this piece of trash with no whetting of how racist and bigoted this confessional comes across to the average reader. then again what would a group of white middle class American writers understand about what it feels like to have your life’s actions be dictated by the color of your skin or being born in the RIGHT COUNTRY
She was simply stating how the sales associate treated both her and her Asian friend. It was the SA who appears to be racist.
That is also how I read this.
We would never knowingly publish something racist on our site. I did not read her remark as saying she deemed herself being from the right country, I read that as her saying the SA perceived that when it came to showing a bag for her or her friend, she picked her because she was from the UK and she thought the SA was showing bias.
We ask that question because a lot of people experience different shopping experiences because of their race, gender, size, looks, etc. But in no way would I post something thinking the confessor was being racist.
Megs Mahoney Dusil doesn’t need any defenders. This is a PRIVATE site, and although open to the public, one doesn’t have to subscribe, read or troll it. It’s POSSIBLE to make ANYTHING or EVERYTHING political, but this site is about INDULGENCE. Some people need to GET A DOG! ??
Yup, I wonder who edited this mess before it went up on the site!
Hey KAREN, we see you! come out of hiding 😉
You don’t get to act morally superior while insulting an entire group of women with the name Karen.
Yes, the “came from the right country” is ambiguous, but when she showed her UK ID she received the bag, but why? Why wouldn’t the SA’s sell to her friend? Why did she have to go from shop to shop and be denied? It seems that she was never told the reason and thus kept trying, but it feels racist. I reside in the USA, but when I traveled to London I bought what I wanted. No-one turned down my money. If I could buy then why couldn’t her friend?
The other problem is that the author reeks of entitlement because 1) her tone sounds braggadocio that she was able to purchase a LV bag when her friend could not and 2) she asked a friend, traveling to the USA, to buy a Chanel bag and CARRY it with her for 3 weeks? What?? This request is selfish, insensitive and rude!! Then she stated “Maybe I shouldn’t have asked?” MAYBE? Was she raised by a pack of wolves void of any social conscience??!!!??
Lastly, PB you really dropped the ball on this one. This piece should have been vetted before publication. I’ve always felt it important to give everyone a chance to redeem themselves, but this is really, really bad. What I also find disappointing is the lack of sensitivity and the extreme cultural deafness. You can’t support one group of people (Black Lives Matter) and then publish a piece that reeks of cultural insensitivity; it’s disingenuous and insincere.
I responded to some other comments but wanted to take time to respond to you as well.
The closet confessionals are all submitted to us, and we pick different ones to publish each week. Every confessional is from someone different who comes from a different background, different bags, different incomes, etc.
And with that comes different attitudes. However, and a BIG however, I would never publish something on our site that I found to be racist. As these aren’t interviews, they are filled in questionnaires, I can see that some of us read this differently from others. I read her response as saying that the SA was showing bias and chose to sell her a bag and not her friend and she thought it was because the SA thought her UK drivers license was better.
SAs are a big part of our shopping experiences and they can decide to sell us something or keep it for another customer. It’s a reason some people won’t shop certain brands. I could go into a store and not be offered a bag but the next person could be offered the exact bag I just asked for. The reasoning behind this all falls on the sale’s associate/store and there is a lot of bias in place here.
I believe that sharing a diverse selection of confessionals shows how different we are, how differently we live, how differently we are treated, etc.
The difference is that you Megs being a white American are most likely going to be offered the product or service you choose so you see the world as fair and just. I on the other hand being a visible minority woman walk into many luxury stores and don’t even have the items allowed into my hand to touch and inspect because of inherent bias that I am not of a demographic that has purchase power despite being a physician who can afford the items. Due to my lived experience, I read this story differently because that is my truth. You need to be open to the fact that your viewers saw racism and bigotry in this confessional and found it disturbing. Defending the writers behaviors as a single SA’s bias invalidates a wide readership experience of racism in luxury, which truly exists.
I agree with you re: looking at this experience of a single SA invalidates a wide readership experience of racism. This post is upsetting because it is personal to me. In retrospect, due to the obvious racially divisive overtones it should not have been published. It doesn’t matter that the author was asked if SHE had ever experienced any “inferior service…due to appearance, ethnicity or gender”. The fact that the author stated that it didn’t happen to her, but to her friend doesn’t mean that it wasn’t racism, when it was. I have always believed that “even if someone doesn’t acknowledge that something exists doesn’t mean that it doesn’t exist”, because it does.
You are absolutely right. My experiences shopping will be different being a white American woman than if I were a woman of color/minority.
I agree there was racism, but how I saw the racism was in the SAs behavior toward her friend. The question being asked/answered there was: “Have you ever felt like you received inferior service at a store or boutique due to your appearance, ethnicity or gender?”. She shared that her friend received poor service/lack of service and she did not.
I did not mean that I think there is not a major problem with racism, sizeism, heterosexism, nationalism, and many other problems plaguing the luxury shopping world.
We ask that specific question because we have such a wide and different group sending us closet confessionals. I believe that asking that question allows us to see that the experience some of us experience shopping varies greatly to others. It won’t change some of it, but it will also help us see this issue and be more aware of it – possibly then seeing it in person and saying something.
Yes, I’m familiar with everything that you stated. My one remaining issue the author stated re: her friend was: “she tried Everyday and in Various LV Boutiques around London but they would just turn her down saying they had none in stock”. The key words, as I’ve highlighted, are Everyday and Various Boutiques that turned her down. However, the author walked into ONE boutique and was offered the bag when she showed her ID? I still believe that the way her friend was treated was blatant racism despite that it was conducted by several SA’s and several boutiques and the author was provided preferential treatment. This is not, as you suggest, one SA holding back a bag to provide it to a preferred customer, but a group of people showing blatant racism to another person.
You state that you “would never publish something on our site that I found to be racist”, and I hear this. However, the fact that you don’t find this entire situation “racist” or even willing to reevaluate your views that suggest racism is honestly surprising.
I also agree with you that “sharing a diverse selection of confessionals shows how different we are, how differently we live, how differently we are treated, etc.” is important, but what is not “ok” is publishing something that many of your viewers find to be racist, as do I. I feel that PB should expand their viewpoint and realize that by publishing this it was offensive to many, many people. In the racially charged world we live in posts should be more culturally sensitive. I’m only asking you to give this more thought and to realize that while you may not see this as racism, it is. I appreciate your response, despite that we disagree, but it remains an important dialogue.
Yes, there was blatant racism but not by the CC writer. She simply recognized it and pointed it out. It seems that the racism was on the part of LV as a company, rather than a single SA, since the Asian friend was turned down at all the boutiques.
On another note, I did find it strange that she asked a friend to buy and carry around a Chanel bag. It’s a big burden to be responsible for someone else’s expensive item for several weeks.
No, you misread. I did not say there was blatant racism by the CC writer. I said it was by all of the SA’s in all of the LV boutiques that her friend went into. The author believed that she was able to purchase due to her attire and where she came from, but again she was not racist. Also, when I read that she believed she received preferential treatment, because of what she wore, I had to laugh. When I shop I always wear casual, comfortable clothes and I shop in high end boutiques. I won’t dress to impress any SA and if they want to look me up and down because my attire doesn’t meet their standards, well “ok”. In fact, I’ve been in Chanel where an SA did that to me and was “too busy” to help me when there was no-one else in the boutique. That’s ok, I just walked across the street into Hermes where my SA and I mutually respect one another.
The confessionals we receive are not something that we fact check. A few times I’ve followed up to ask for more details on a specific question, but mostly we publish what we receive as we receive it.
The details about going to many stores and not having the bag could be that those stores were sold out. I don’t know. But what she stated that her friend experienced compared to her in the same store was racist toward her friend. How I read it is that she believes she was dressed better and had a UK drivers license, and the SA decided she was worthy of the bag and not her friend who wasn’t dressed as well and wasn’t from the UK (she didn’t share ethnicity/color/nation they are from).
I want to clarify – that question we ask is something we include because like another poster said, just because I am treated one way as a white American woman does not mean the next person will be treated the same. We’ve had many different confessionals where some people shared that they have been treated poorly because they are a minority. I think it’s truly important to highlight that. It’s easy for someone like me to feel like a certain store has great service, when that service may only be great for me because of my color/background/looks.
What I meant to say that I don’t think I stated clearly is I am not going to post a confessional of the confessor sharing outwardly racist comments, but I do think sharing an experience that someone received while shopping that showed racism is important to share. Of course how the SA in the last store treated her friend was racist, but I do think that sharing these stories keeps all of us aware that there is a ton of growth that needs to be made on many levels. And maybe, it will help some of us be more aware of our privilege (myself included) and think about how our experience is not necessarily how someone else’s experience would be.
My god. She’s either extremely pretentious or she just doesn’t have the common sense to not come off as entitled. Making minimum wage but coming from the “right country.” Saying her friend “wasn’t as comfortable with luxury.” Bisch please. Next.
“Ya know, the Old Guy who feeds me, walks me, has me groomed, takes care of my health care, plays with me, ad infinitum (BIG phrase for a small doggie..) tells me I’m a luxury. I guess he means indulgence, which he can afford, just like the Coach Janice he got on Ebay, and uses it as a tote for me. HEY, got any bones?”
I really saw this as the author pointing out a SA’s bias, in which she speculated it may have been racist or nationalist. I did not at all see this as the author thinking that this bias was ok.
Why is everyone so pressed about this? Obviously when she said she “came from the right country” it was from the eyes of the SA, not her. This is unfair to her Asian friend, OF COURSE, but it’s not CC79 who refused to sell her the pochette métis, it’s the SA.
(And before anyone asks, yes I am a women of color)
It is possible however that the author’s friend looked at a time when Pochettes were actually sold out in London and later restocked when the author went to buy, but it nevertheless left a negative impression in the author, her friend and the readers of PB. It is in no way Purseblog or anybody’s fault that we thus jumped to conclusions that the SA was racist, only society maybe.
Wow, the world is truly turning to shit when so many people are trying the read the absolute worst into this piece of text. I’m sure you are all perfect human beings that never said or wrote anything that could somehow be misconstrued…
Stop spreading so much hate! Or spend the rest of your Sunday trying to dig up someone else that might have said something that could perhaps be offensive depending on how you read it, then cancel her! Your choice.
You’ve expressed your opinion, which is worth 2 cents, like everyone else. If anyone is uptight, defensive, angry and “spreading so much hate” it is you. Why don’t you try and relax on this beautiful, warm & bright Sunday!