Revisiting the Classic and Chic Louis Vuitton Alma

Last month I started thinking about my next bag buy. Two options came to mind, two options that I’ve been thinking about for a few months, which to me means they’re good options. Through all the noise the Chanel Camera Bag and the Celine Nano Luggage Tote have stayed at the forefront of my bag-loving mind. I’m not yet ready to pull the trigger on either one of those bags, or any bag for that matter, but now I’ve added another option to the mix: the Louis Vuitton Alma BB in Epi Leather.

This isn’t the first time that I’ve lusted after the Alma bag. In fact, my eye was drawn to the Alma way back in 2008 when I got my very first Louis Vuitton Bag for my high school graduation. My Speedy 25 was the obvious choice—it was my holy grail bag after all, but at the last minute, right before the purchase was about to be finalized, my eye was drawn to the Alma in Monogram Canvas. The sales associate asked if I wanted to try it on and I immediately said no. In all these years I never regretted not giving the Alma a second look, but it was a bag that was kind of always on my radar. And when I outgrew a lust for adding more Monogram Canvas Bags to my collection, the Epi Leather version stayed on my mind.

Last fall I was in the market for a red bag, and though I ended up getting the Sac de Jour Nano in red embossed croc, an Alma BB was an option that I seriously considered. Right around the time I began my fiery quest, my parents were vacationing in Scotland and I knew that if the Alma BB was the bag I was ultimately going to purchase, the obvious thing to do was have them purchase it for me there. The difference in the dollar coupled with the VAT tax refund would have made it cost significantly less than if I were to purchase it in New York. I FaceTimed with my parents a couple of times, did the math to figure out how much it would cost, and even had them visit the boutique to check out the bag.

Ultimately I couldn’t pull the trigger on it because I had the Saint Laurent in the back of my head, and I’m totally content with the red bag that I eventually did buy. Yet even still, the Alma keeps popping up on my radar. A couple of weeks ago I saw a very chic girl wearing an Alma BB in Black and my first thought was ‘I need that bag!’ I’ve always been attracted to it, but more and more it seems like an incredibly enticing buy. It’s sleek and stylish, yet classic and not overly branded. I also adore that the hardware is silver, which would sit well amongst my current bag lineup, as most of my bags have gold hardware (including my go-to black bag). Lastly, in today’s climate, with bag prices reaching upwards of $2K, the price point is enticing as well.

As if by fate, the Alma once again popped up on my radar this week when I was clicking around on the Louis Vuitton website. There was a feature on the Alma listed on the LV NOW section of the website, a sort of ode to this iconic shape. It was created by Gaston Vuitton and initially named the “Squire bag”. It was relaunched as the Alma in 1992, and now over 25 years later it is a true symbol of Parisian elegance. The Louis Vuitton Alma BB Epi Leather is available via Louis Vuitton for $1,620.