I don’t mean to be glib, but it’s been a while since I can remember seeing an interesting Dolce & Gabbana bag that wasn’t a Miss Sicily Satchel. That particular model has seen a lot of success for the brand, but it seems as though the various Miss Sicily satchels have cannibalized most of Dolce’s bag line for the past couple of seasons. They Italian label has released other bags, of course, but I’d be hard-pressed to name any of them off the top of my head.
Finally, it looks like they’ve come up with another design worthy of our focused attention: the Dolce & Gabbana Miss Charlotte Satchel. I don’t remember seeing this one in the past, so if it is indeed new, then I’d like to offer it a hardy welcome and express my sincere hope that it sticks around for a while.
The beautiful elephant grey that the designers chose is a perfect way to launch this shape: it’s a well-liked neutral that a lot of women could incorporate into their wardrobes, but it’s not so boring that no one notices the color. The details of the bag are also great: gold hardware and tassels make the bag a little bit special without diminishing the design’s functionality, which should be paramount for any bag of this size. Given the opportunity, I’d love to make the Miss Charlotte my new everyday bag. Buy through Nordstrom for $2225.
Much as I love buying designer bags-I just cannot fathom why they cost so much! These high-end design houses have really pushed most of these bags out of the reach of the average woman. Maybe that’s their point-they only want the wealthy to be able to afford to buy them.
I do think that this one is a little overpriced even by luxury bag standards, but generally, high-end brand don’t want ‘average’ women to buy their stuff, as terrible as that sounds. They want a particular sort of customer that helps them portray a particular sort of image and lifestyle. Every brand, expensive and inexpensive alike, has a target customer.
It places them directly in the middle of a very effective marketing plan.
Most brands will take anyone’s money (except for Hermes et. al.), but they all have a very clear image of who their ideal customer is. High prices are partially motivated to maintain exclusivity – if the brand doesn’t maintain its image, its product suddenly doesn’t have as much of an appeal. Oddly, that image tends to appeal to “average” women (of which I am one, economically) and their lifestyle ideals. It certainly helps brands sell a lot of perfume and cosmetics (any brand’s biggest profit leaders), which is conveniently not something that’s externally identifiable to almost anyone. We get a piece of the exclusivity, the brand gets our money while the high prices reserve a brand’s publicly identifiable products – clothes, bags, shoes* – mostly for its “ideal” costumers that go on to perpetuate the lifestyle ideal that the brand wants. Sure, a few of us “average” women sneak through, but mostly things work very well for big brands.
It’s a profitable little racket they’ve got going there, eh?
*Bags and shoes actually exist in an exclusivity purgatory somewhere between cosmetics and clothes, but for the purposes of this comment, the three go together.
where does that place average women who saves and buys a high end bag?
if you own at least one expensive designer bag, where does that place you?
big designer brands are owned by corporations, and their goal is to make money. I think they don’t really care who buys their product, as long as it sells. if they did care, bags wouldn’t be that available. they would be exclusively available to a certain group of people. but that wouldn’t be profitable. so anyone can buy an expensive bag, as long as they have the money to do it. the only thing they’re creating by putting a hefty price tag on the bag is a marketing added value, which again is only in the mind of the consumer, so that consumer thinks they own a piece of luxury and belong to that world which is artificially created. it’s self perpetuating.
exactly!
and yet here we are, smart, economically average women, who know the machinery behind it and still can’t help but play along. I blame Cinderella… “shiny and pretty” has been engraved into our system. despite the availability, I still perceive purses and shoes as art. new ideas and craftsmanship excite me. I know what I’m paying for (not the real objective value) but I just turn a blind eye, pay and enjoy the show.
As long as there are resale shops and eBay, average women will be able to afford these handbags (the real deal). That’s how I have bought my Marc Jacobs handbags as well as the Luella Bartley Giselle that I have been coveting for YEARS! If you stick to the classic styles and not the trendy “it” bags, you will always look good and not dated. Don’t even get me started on the shoes.
I am a wife, mother of two, and a teacher without a credit card (14 years and counting). I love having “luxury” items. However, on my small salary, I can’t afford it. That bag is 2/3rds of my monthly salary. So, I am patient, and I wait. eventually what I want will be online or in a resale shop. I find it funny that my friends, family, and co-workers think that my husband makes alot of money. NOOOOOT!
By the way, I don’t like the bag. Not a fan of the drawstring. If it zippered closed instead of the drawstring, then maybe.
I am so loving everything about this bag! From the perfect color, shape, texture, subtle gold detailing. Love it!!! The price is a bit steep but….
It is definitely absolutely beautiful bag with the perfect detailed work but the price is wooow. I think it’s a little bit too much
replica! Not original.
Love it!