Vintage fanatics have long fawned over the prices they used to pay for a Fendi Baguette or a Dior Saddle Bag on the resale market. Before reissues were made and secondhand prices skyrocketed, these classics were more than accessible.
We’ve also heard about the regret endured when bag-lovers didn’t pull the trigger. Prices took a hike, the sourcing of specific pieces got harder than ever, and the vintage bags that could have been haunt them endlessly.
Author and influencer Caroline Vazzana told Refinery 29 last year that she purchased her first Fendi Baguette six years prior from a NYC Beacon’s Closet for $200, adding that she wished she’d thought to purchase more before the floods came.
The same article reported that by 2022, demand for the vintage Baguettes had grown six times faster than for their reissues, the resale prices growing four times higher than they were just five years before.
Secondhand Supply and Demand
The secondhand market responds to consumers in the same way the retail market does, with supply, demand, and anticipation of trends, but retailers don’t typically yo-yo their prices erratically, formally announcing their price-hikes on an annual basis.
The secondhand market is different. Individual buyers and hosts for sourced vintage can price items however they’d like. Of course, no one has to buy them, but supply with certain vintage is incredibly low, especially when an item’s condition is factored in.
So if Beyoncé gets photographed carrying a Dior Saddle nearly a decade after its heyday, or if TikTok makes the Fendi Baguette go viral, resale prices can respond immediately.
The internet has the ability to create its own demand whenever a perfect storm approaches. One viral moment can change the game for entire brands and entire markets, especially within resale, which is almost entirely controlled by the consumer.
Insert Loewe
Unlike the history behind iconic It-bags like the Dior Saddle and the Fendi Baguette, Loewe doesn’t necessarily have a prior It-bag era to draw on. They’re having their renaissance right now.
Since their acquisition by LVMH and the appointment of Jonathan Anderson to the head of their ship, Loewe has undergone a steady rise to the top of the fashion food chain.
Loewe’s shows, bags, celebrity endorsements, wearability in conjecture with whimsy, and ongoing partnership with Anderson are all the rage.
Toss in their constant virality (Professor McGonagall being the latest), add in a dash of resounding quality revered for decades, and dump a truckload of their classic Amazona Bags throughout the resale market (with prices ranging from $3-500) and you’ve got a recipe for an impending vintage resale stampede.
With versions that can speak to any fashion girl, a quality that lasts a lifetime, and Y2K reminiscence that maintains practicality and relevance, one viral post, one celebrity paparazzi capture, or one prominent media feature could send credit cards swiping across the globe, fashion’s truest investors hunting for their signature vintage Loewe Amazona Bag before sellers get savvy, moving the goalpost on sale prices.
The Amazona might not have the same story as the Baguettes or the Saddle Bags of the world, but what they do share is the culmination of a perfect storm ripe for impact.
Before the Era of Jonathan Anderson the Amazon was since 1975 the top bag of Loewe, handmade with a suede lining and the versatility of being able to wear it at all hours of the day. With Stuart Vevers he turned it upside down with many colours and even capsule collections such as the Baroque or those of the Chinese New Year. But the Puzzle I put aside and I think he doesn’t deserve it, it’s a perfectly cut and very very durable super bag, my mother’s friends still keep it after almost 30 years. I hope it have a revival!!!
I think that Loewe Amazona is a piece for a handbag collection. It is an unique design and there are not many of them in the last decades. There are models that are iconic items from a brand without offering a new architecture within a handbag shape. The Amazona is an unique interpretation of a duffel shape. Loewe is the brand that has offers lately more unique designs. The rest has barely amended classic designs. I managed to buy at Loewe , an Amazona in classic golden suede and brown chocolate but in 28 cm just a few year ago and not without months of efforts. I checked second hand but it is difficult to get this sensitive material in good shape in the second market. I hope that Loewe would produce again more items in the classic materials. I think there is a market for collector.
It is one of my all-time favorite bag!
I’m not a fan of it so I really can’t see it’s virtues. It doesn’t look like a classic to my eyes (I’m a Kelly and Chanel flap bag fan) so I’d guess it would be a short trend, not really an investment/classic, long haul purchase. The price is accessible so that might make it more attractive as a purchase than what it’s style would suggest. I think the longer trend to watch for is the purses that go with a more lady-like aesthetic. We’ve had season after season of sloppy, loose fitting, athleisure wear, I think we’re headed somewhere else at the moment.
Well then according to you, the latest model that is triumphing in Miu Miu does not have much travelled, could the form is quite similar. On the other hand, this bag is more than 40 years old and in some places like Japan or Spain it has been a sign of distinction and luxury, it is more the Queen Sofia of Spain still uses vintage models for her official acts. And finally I have to put on the fashionistas’ radar the capsule collection that Loewe (from Stuart Vevers) brought out, with Junya Watanabe with a punk collection from the Amazona that sold out within a few hours of leaving.
Yes, I agree that Amazona is not a lady-like style. It is actually the opposite what this losses fittting handbag was trying to offer when the new design was released in the 70s. It was design for the modern wealthy women of that time, that was active and started working and controlling her lives.
A was a young kid in primary school when it was released. I remembered that all wealthy women in town had one. It could be the model that sparked my interest in beautiful handbags. At that time, I passed by Loewe show windows a couple of times per week walking home from music classes so I stopped there to admire it very often.
I think that Loewe could have not been in the target of US custumers decades ago in comparison to us, European. I heart from many people that has starting looking at the brand through the successof the Puzzle model. However, Loewe is the oldest luxury fashion house specialized in leather good, founded in 1846. If you think about Hermes, you have to wait until 1880 to see the first shop opened, because from 1837 until 1880, they have only a worshop, making harnesses.