The reader response to our first edition of Closet Confessionals was overwhelming, and this week we’re back with another anonymous look inside the closet (and budget) of an anonymous reader. This week, we’re talking to a creative professional in his mid-20s about how he became a handbag expert and what he does to afford his rotating lineup of ultra-expensive handbags—especially Hermès.
For years, we’ve heard readers and friends wonder about how people manage to afford their bag habits, so now we’re trying to find that out, one person at a time. You can learn more about that effort in the introduction to our series, and if you want to share, you can do that by clicking the link below. All your personal details will be kept anonymous!
[sc_cc_callout]The Basics
Age: 25
Gender Identity: Male
Location: New York City
Occupation: Artist—Painter
Industry: Fashion
Income: $100,000
The Bags
Are you a PurseForum member? No
How many bags do you own? It varies because I’ll buy and sell them, but right now 12
How much is your collection worth? $25,000
What is your most expensive bag? A 40cm Hermès Birkin. I had a 40cm Rubis Togo Birkin from 2010 that I got as a perk in my last employment contract (I know, good perk). After I left that job, I sold it on eBay for $8,150, and that same day bought a 1995 40cm Toile Birkin for $3,500, which was then custom painted. I’ve been told it’s worth close to $15,000 now.
What are the most important brands or pieces in your collection? My previous job was as an Hermès expert at an auction house, and it is now very clear to me that Hermès bags are just the best. I only look to buy Hermès bags and was so excited to be able to special order a Birkin from Hermès last fall, so that will be my next big purchase, whenever it arrives! (35cm Black & Etain Epsom Birkin with brushed PHW and white stitching). The only thing other than Hermès I’d buy now would be some Louis Vuitton Monogramouflage. I had the canvas Treillis bag and sold it! Regrets!
What’s currently in your collection? Right now, I have an Hermès vintage 28cm Black Calf Box Sellier Kelly with gold hardware, which I just found through a Japanese dealer on eBay for cheap! I have an Hermès Etoupe canvas Garden Party that I painted camo. My workhorse bag that I’ve had for years is a yellow (it started out nude) Proenza Schouler Python PS1 that I got on eBay on my birthday a few years back. I also have an Hermès canvas Evelyne II that I painted camo, a black canvas Herbag TPM, a 40cm vintage canvas Birkin with Gold Courchevel trim that is also painted camo (I’m on a bit of a camo kick lately), aaaaaand (drumroll please) my Special Order Birkin came in ON MY BIRTHDAY last week. It’s a 35cm Black and Etain Epsom Birkin with white stitching and brushed palladium hardware. I also have a few Birkins at home that belong to my clients, waiting to be painted.
The Shopping
How often do you buy new bags? Never, I only buy bags on the secondary market (accept when I can get Birkins or Kellys from Hermès). Usually I can’t go two or three months without impulse buying a bag.
Which stores do you frequent the most? Fashionphile, The RealReal, and eBay are basically it, along with auctions.
Do you sell old bags to pay for new purchases? Of course, I could never keep them all. Sometimes I think about how incredible my bag collection would be if I had kept everything, then I think about how much money that all would have cost! Most of the time I’m at my spending limit, so I have to negotiate and trade with myself, like, “I really want this Birkin, so I’ll need to sell a Garden Party and an Evelyne to make up for it!” Usually I’ll sell on eBay because I can negotiate directly with the buyer and the total fees are only about 13%, but if it’s a big money bag like a Birkin or Kelly, I’ll usually choose auction. Even though it’s usually six months between consignment and payout, the results can be really high and I can often get a small advance up front.
Who influences your buying decisions? I love my own taste, but I cannot deny being influenced by the Kardashian/Jenner/West clan from time to time. All their Monogramouflage makes me very jelly.
Are sales associate relationships instrumental to your shopping? Only at Hermès, where you cannot get Birkins or Kellys without one. I treat my SA they’re like my best friend and tell her all sorts of elaborate stories to keep her thinking about me. It’s gotten me some incredible bags! Without buying much else, I’ve gotten a limited edition Kelly, a Special Order Birkin someone didn’t come to pick up, and I was able to order my own special Birkin, all in about 18 months!
Are there any purchases you regret? Yes, and I’m very quick to get rid of something when I regret it. Back in the day, Ugly Betty was my favorite show on TV, and there is an episode in the first season called “Swag,” where Marc covets this 85th anniversary Gucci velvet Jackie bag. It’s one of the best episodes, and the whole thing revolves around this bag. So a little over a year ago, I see one pop up on a second-hand site for cheap, like $250, so I bought it, I couldn’t control myself! It arrived and I immediately was like, “What was I thinking, I’m never going to use this.” So I threw it on eBay that day and got about $200 for it. I guess it worth the $50 to have the satisfaction of owning this bag for a day!
The Money
Who pays for your bags? Me.
Do you set aside a budget for your bag purchases? Not at all, I know I cannot control myself. My budget is my credit line(s). I know I’ll be able to liquidate enough to pay for anything I might splurge on. (I’m not splurging on any croc Birkins, though.)
Have your shopping habits ever worried you financially? A few times I have nearly drained my bank account to buy a bag and shortly afterward, a big financial obligation popped up. Luckily, bags are very liquid and I never had trouble quickly reselling what I had just bought!
The Taboo Topics
Have you ever purchased a counterfeit because you couldn’t afford a designer item? No, that’s why I buy pre-owned.
Do you ever hide purchases from your significant other? My boyfriend doesn’t know or care. He has some vague idea that I buy and sell so everything just about evens out, and he doesn’t worry about it when he sees new bags around, if he notices them. It’s all my money anyway.
What’s the craziest thing you’ve done to afford a bag? I have a good credit card and don’t have to worry about paying things off for six months, which is always enough time to sell other bags, or resell the one I bought!
The Rest Of It
Any other expensive hobbies or passions? I have the collecting bug, and there are plenty of other collectibles that call out to me, like Supreme or Victorian Majolica. But until my budget expands dramatically, my focus will be on bags. The only other thing I’ll spend big on is travel.
What was it like being a professional handbag expert? How did you become one? I started buying and reselling clothes and accessories when I was about 12 (my parents gave me $100/month of spending money even through college, so I had to learn how to make that work for me). By the time I left college, I had a really strong grasp on the whole secondary luxury market, and there was an online resale startup that I thought was very promising. I contacted their management with some ideas of how they could improve and they moved me out to San Francisco to work for them the day after I left college. That is where I got my first serious hands-on experience with bags and started to focus my expertise on Hermès.
The company moved me to New York, and I became interested in an auction house in the city that had a department specializing in Hermès. I saw an article about the director of the department and immediately knew I wanted to work for him. So I sent him an email, and after one conversation, our mutual Hermès appreciation was obvious, so he offered me a job as a cataloger. This is where I saw more Hermès bags than you can imagine, and my expertise grew and grew every day. Shortly after I started, I was promoted to Consignment Director and Senior Specialist, so now I was going into people’s closets, meeting with clients every day, and really spending all day, every day immersed in the Hermès secondary market. There is really no way to become an expert in Hermès (the brand or in authenticity) without simply seeing thousands of bags and being able to examine them inside and out.
I left that auction house earlier this year and started my own business custom painting on Hermès bags (I’m also an artist), so in addition to my own collection, I often have other people’s bags at my house waiting to be painted.
This guy seems awesome – I’d love to talk bags with him 🙂
Too bad I won’t be able to find out who this gentleman is; I have bags that I’m interested in getting painted and would have loved to see his work.
Google Max Brownawell, it is definitely him, his LinkedIn profile is literally word for word exactly what he says he did for work previously. He now runs and manages Max Paints Bags.
Oooo. Thanks for the detective work. And he does an amazing job! https://www.thenational.ae/bag-yourself-a-hand-painted-herm%C3%A8s-1.44703
I got it wrong it is Max Brownawell Max Paints Bags in New York.
I checked maxpaintsbags, him or not, those bags are true pieces of art!
I just checked that Insta as well and I’m sure of it! 🙂 They really are beautiful. The camo Evelyne and the Garden Party are both on there. If not, it’s definitely a bag twin.;)
Fascinating stories, keep them up!
I suppose people who inherited wealth or have a rich spouse / SO would be the majority of designer bag buyers, but also way less likely to submit their stories, and I’m curious what people earning a high salary do.
Me too! I have been a member here for years and wondered that. So glad to see this series
This is a fantastic story!! Love the different perspective and the resale aspect instead of buying new. Now if I could borrow his knowledge to score my own preloved beauty 🙂
Interesting and unique story that displays much initiative, charm and the substance to back it up. Kudos!
Damn, I wish he was single!
I don’t get the whole painted bag thing it seems like destroying it to me. Is this guy Alec Monopoly?
I like hearing about a guy who loves his bags.
Wow! This is super cool! I’m glad it seems he’s living his life to the fullest even at young age and having fun!
That’s a cool profession, I wonder what happens if you do painting mistakes eek.
Amazing and very interesting story! So nice to know that the young person appreciates the high end bags, learn/works and later paints on them! Nice income (not so big for NYC) and the same headache of wanting, splurging, selling. Thank you it was a pleasure to read.
Note to Ms. Amanda – would you please number the ‘confessionals’ so it would be easier to search if life becomes a fast stream and I miss a couple of issues 🙂 Tnx
We’ll make sure to include the volume # in the title going forward!
This guy will one day be one of the people who are going bankrupt in their senior years due to not saving enough, not putting enough in their 401K, and having lots of credit card debt (read article in NYTimes). This impulse buying and buying luxury items on a not-at-all luxurious salary for NYC, is utter madness.
Honestly, I didn’t get that from this story and I’m not sure why you would. He explicitly says that the bags he buys are very liquid in the line of work he’s involved in. He has made purchases and sold at a profit, and bags he has kept have increased in value. He could sell his collection quickly and come out far ahead. He doesn’t says he’s maxed out all his credit cards anywhere, just that he had one experience with an unexpected payment right after he bought a bag, and had zero trouble selling a bag to recover. Plus, there are no questions about 401ks, profit sharing or investments, so we know nothing of how he manages any other aspect of his finances. His parents may be wealthy and he’ll have a trust fund when he’s 30. The list of possibilities unanswered goes on and on-all things we don’t know. He may have all of thise investments through his job, but how would we know? It’s not on the questionnaire. And it shouldn’t be, this whole series is about how people buy their bags. Now if you want to look at the entire financial picture of a bag buyer, those questions could be added but they’d be so invasive nobody would reply.
People assume far too much based on answers to questions that show a tiny slice of one aspect of behavior. And remember, to get this series, there is just a list of questions people answer-there is no follow-up questioning. This is not journalism. So you can’t assume anything beyond what these people say about buying bags. Whatever story you tell yourself beyond what is said here says more about you and your life and beliefs and assumptions than it tells the truth about him.
You literally have no idea how much this person saves, nor how responsibly he manages his credit card(s), nor how much debt he routinely carries. This pathological need to dissect and criticize other people’s entire financial situation based on just a snippet of their lives is why people are reluctant to share their personal stories in the first place.
Great story!
(except when I can get Birkins or Kellys from Hermès)
Nice that he loves his Hermes, but sad that he buys them constantly on credit. Hope he’s saving for his future as well. There is something to be said for fiscal responsibility and restraint. And your Email teaser header — “This 25-Year-Old Affords Hermès Bags on Just $100K a Year ” is woefully out of touch. “JUST” $100k/year? Laughably naive! MANY people support entire households on far, far less.
This blog and this particular article is about purchasing the luxury bags. People have different priorities in their lives and we are here confessing at what level of income we are purchasing them. We are not discussing what people are supposed to be doing with their income and money. There is always someone will be making more money then me, will have more/less bags then me, someone better then me etc.
Of course they are. But introducing the concept of “affording” these bags inherently raises other issues, and this entire series is premised on the idea of fundamental financial wherewithal: HOW do you afford your luxury bags? It BEGS for information about how people pay for their purchases. Ergo, it seems willfully blind and disingenuous not to critique those responses as well. You do not need to agree; I truly don’t care whether you do or not. But I am certainly within my right to express my opinion that continually using credit up to your limits to finance unnecessary luxury purchases can be a slippery slope. Hopefully, he is able to remain above water and still enjoy his Hermes. And outside of NYC and SF and LA, $100k/year for one person is a very decent salary… not “just.” Cheers.
Thank you. There is nothing “sad” about him buying bags on credit and liquidating/selling to reimburse himself. People sound really jealous when they can’t just say “cool story” and move on.
Perhaps you are tone-deaf or don’t read particularly well: No one said anything about being jealous of someone who prefers to borrow money to finance their purchases. His choice; my opinion. Don’t like it? Too bad. BTW, insisting it’s a “cool story” yet bashing someone else’s opinion that borrowing to buy Hermes is “sad?” Really? How mature of you! Please do move on….
Take your own advice, Chris.
My, “Butterbox.” How original. Truly funny that you also are triggered by someone else’s opinion. IMO, it is SAD that people feel it’s more important to LOOK as though they can afford certain status material items than to do the work to actually be able to afford them without going into debt. Oh, well. Hopefully, you can pay your own bills when you grow up.
You don’t have to say you’re jealous. It’s obvious. Sad.
Look in the mirror and repeat your own words, darlin’ Your juvenile rants and obvious materialism are truly SAD. Differing opinions seem to trigger you. Oh, well….
Utterly baseless and absurd.
I realize $100k a year is a lot in general, but in Manhattan it really isn’t. Especially if you’re buying Hermès bags all the time.
Yes – I have to say while I love this blog and bags there is something about the way they are framing monetary worth that is entirely unattractive and off putting. 100k is a lot, not only for a large majority of the population of the USA, but the world for which many of whom 100k would be a vast sum. There is a great video on YouTube about the inequality of the distribution of wealth in the country that is eye opening that I suggest everyone watch. And I’d like to see one of these on how someone on a salary closer to the national average for a person or below manages to fill their closet with bags.
I agree. Stop framing the story around $$$$. We’re interested in the handbag collection. Not very useful without photos, though.
We can work on adding some photos when they are included! The point of sharing annual house hold income is to give a bigger look at the whole picture. We are only 2 confessionals in, we will have more more coming from every end of the spectrum!
I wish we could get an idea of their entire luxury picture, not just their bags, but shoes, luxury scarves and possibly jewelry as well.
The last question asks about other areas the person may indulge or splurge. The more details anyone gives the better!
I actually agree with your earlier sentiments Megs, that adding photos could possibly affect the anonymity of the confessional. This could put some people off from sharing if they are later ‘outed’. For ex, see how easily this fine gentleman was identified (allegedly) below, simply based on how descriptive his confessional was. It’s a fine line to tow tbh…and at some point, not all suggestions need to be taken on board to keep with the spirit of these series 🙂
I also respectfully disagree with the earlier comment on not framing the story around income–I thought that was the entire point of this series; otherwise, one could simply read the other series on What’s in my bag or PF member round up or any other article about closets out there…
Perhaps I should have been more clear. It’s not the use of income that bothers me. It’s fine if they want to offer their income level, which I do think is interesting, and pertinent to the story. It’s the way they are choosing to describe their income level in the click bate title that I find grossly out of touch with reality. The descriptions written by the people themselves are not so much the issue, it’s the way the purseblog has decided to frame those stories that I think is a detriment to this society in that it does nothing but help to perpetuate the quite frankly immoral levels of disparity of wealth in this country. The video I mention above is by a YouTube channel named politizane and is called Wealth Inequality in America. I think everyone who reads this should watch it so they can get a better perspective of the true nature of wealth in this country, and I actually think it behooves the purseblog to eventually do some sort of article which discusses this topic in relation to the handbag market. And if I were writing it, I would be inclined to posit that the counterfeit handbag trade is perpetuated by that gap, and it is the luxury companies themselves, with their outrageously exponential price increases over the last 10 or so years, that bring the counterfeiters on themselves. As an example I will offer the story of an LV bag which I had to purchase twice. The first time, back in 2004, it cost about $800. When I had to buy another one back in 2013 the price had increased to $2400. There is no sane reason why there should be such a large increase in the cost of a bag that had actually gone down in quality, and I don’t think it is a coincidence that the last ten years or so has seen the rise of the super fakes that are so prevalent today. The only reason this cycle is continuing is because the inequality issues this country is suffering from, and the unconscionable nature of it all is the issue.
And where is the connection between the inequality in your country and my income and luxury purchases living in a different country? The article is a ‘confessional’ – confessional it is only
The disparity of wealth distribution is a world issue, although some countries have a more equal distribution of wealth than others. As this article is USA based and as I am also an American who has the most experience and understanding of their own country, I spoke most specifically to the issues in the United States. But to be sure this issue is not one that is isolated to the USA, and while the States is far from the top of the list when it comes to world wealth equality – we ranked 23 out of the top 30 developed countries in 2017 in equality measures – we are also not the worst, and that is speaking only of the developed world. There are 195 countries on earth today, with many of those countries having levels of poverty that the developed world cannot truly comprehend, which is why I said in my first comment above that to so many 100k dollars would be an unimaginable sum of wealth. The connection to your country can be extended on the likelihood that out of the 195 world countries, it is more probable that you live in one in which the levels of inequality are high. Since I don’t know which one I can’t be sure, but if I had to bet money I would imagine my estimation is most likely accurate.
I still do not see connection maybe you are discussing the global economy issue which is great but in the wrong forum
I still do not see connection maybe you are discussing the global economy issue which is great but in the wrong forum
Dear Flamingjune, shut up please. These Confessionals are about our love of handbags and how and why we purchase them. If you want to talk about the inequality of wealth distribution within the US, please go find a thread on Reddit or Twitter. Thank you.
exactly, butterbox. disparity of wealth distribution? seriously? even if this were the place to discuss, closing the supposed “gap” as people call it is impossible for reasons i consider to be pretty obvious.
This is a comment section for discussion, that is the nature of comment sections. If you don’t like what I’m saying don’t read it. And just because you don’t like or are uncomfortable with it doesn’t mean that it shouldn’t be said, and it doesn’t mean that nobody else would want to read it. I must also respectfully disagree that this is a pertinent observation about the nature of this article, which others have also noted. I would have been fine with leaving the matter closed at my first comment that was in response to a similar one, but if people respond to my original comment then it is completely within bounds to expect some kind of response from me, which by the way was never disrespectfully done, something I’m not sure can be said of yours.
I would like to add that I am not against this series, I never stated that I took issue with it in and of itself other than the choice of framing. And that I, as a reader of this blog, obviously have a keen interest in and love bags myself. We are very fortune to be able to enjoy them as we do, and it is important, especially within the context of such an article, to keep that in mind.
TL;DR. It’s gonna be alright, calm down Lol.
I was quite rational and quite calm. If you had read the post perhaps that would have been clearer. The length of a post is not necessarily related to emotionalism or irrationality. Some ideas and issues are of greater complexity and necessitate a more lengthy discussion.
I read all of your comments! The wording for the title is not always easy as we want to sum up that confessional in as few words as possible. It won’t always include the salary of the person, or it may. The household income helps share the entire picture.
Of course there is a bigger picture about money and wealth, but that is not the intention of this series. We will continue to share these and work on giving a great look at different people across the world sharing their love for bags.
Then please do consider more carefully your headlines. Words and their nuance matter. “Just” could easily have been deleted from the email teaser. It gives an entirely wrong and elitist impression, which I doubt you intend to convey.
Please take your own advice. Clearly, you only care about fielding your own opinions rather than considering anyone else’s. Otherwise, you wouldn’t tell anyone else to shut up. So please, do practice what you preach.
Oh, okay Chris.
Exactly!!
Interesting article! Enjoyable reading! Also, $100K is a lot, but it’s his $ and he earned it. Have fun spending it!
I often buy my bags secondhand on eBay as well. It can take some work to score a really good deal but it pays off in the end!
He seems like myself and a lot of others I have seen on here. Splurge on a couple of bags and then the revolving door starts with selling one to buy another. For those who criticize the income level, this guys is obviously very ambitious. He was able to essentially create his own job by selling his skills to land jobs at these companies when a role was not even open. Now he has his own business that he created when he saw a market for painted Hermes bags. Whoever said he will be broke at retirement, I don’t agree. He seems to know what he is doing
Not to downplay the fact he makes 100k$ a year but that isn’t much in NYC, if your living a certain financial lifestyle. He has found ways to make his $ & credit line work for him & I just want to see some pics of these coveted pieces because what is a Purseblog with no pictures of said purses?
I responded in the first confessional – some people send some pictures but not everyone does. I also am very careful about not revealing too many details to make someone become easy to be recognized. We’ll add when and if we can if the confessional is comfortable with us doing so!
I totally love this series. It combines money talk, an often taboo topic, with handbag talk. financially wise or not, there is something positive about this person’s ability to find ways to afford his love of handbags.
Very interesting guy with a remarkable talent and profession. I love these stories and I look forward to each Confessional. I see myself in the (2) that I’ve read so far. Have there only been (2) Confessionals so far? I’d hate to miss any.
Only two so far!! You haven’t missed any 🙂
Why must people always come to luxury discussions to talk about disparity? I live in Washington DC and 100k is not a lot of money here and so definitely not a lot of money in NY. It is what it is ..people spend on what they want …especially when you don’t have children, your outlook is different .. read the stories and enjoy .. its not your life to worry about lol .. This one was fun btw
Um… sounds well and good but his financial habits are a disaster. It’s groovy when your 25 but pretty soon he should be more aware of his saving and spending habits. Single on 100k in NYC isn’t much. Hell even outside of NYC 100k and a family is barely cutting it. I used to do like he did but wised up. Unless I have 100% cash on hand and zero financial commitments coming up and gave additional savings then I’d use said cash for a very nice bag which I will then actually keep. Even with Hermes unless it’s spectacularly rare you do generally loose $ constantly buying and reselling. They are liquid but if you rush to resell you get maybe 50-75% of their value. I only buy bags I know I will keep for their lifetime. I know have a small but wonderful collection that I intend to pass on to my children. I will never sell them. I buy 1 new bag a year. A classic and in cold, hard, cash. Any other way is bullsh*t. Relying on credit cards is a quick way to poverty…
Why New York is so special? Except astronomical real estate prices, for real. How people spend their $100 000, that it makes not so significant sum in New York? Poor guy here is waiting for yours explanations.