I am a sentimental person. I associate material items with feelings and memories, which makes the items I buy very special to me for a long time (and also means anyone peeking into my closet will assume I am a quasi-hoarder—whether they are right or not, I do not care to know). I have always dreamed of owning a Prada Fairy Bag because in addition to being an incredibly beautiful, unique piece and a total it-bag when it was released in 2008, it reminded me of my childhood and my love of fairy tales. The Prada Fairy bag remains one of the most talked about bags of the past, mainly because it was released as a very limited edition and remains the “one that got away” for so many of us.
For me personally, this bag was a total show stopper because of its artistic design. It can be difficult to create something completely new and unexpected, but the Fairy bag did just that. Artist James Jean, the creator behind the beautiful deerskin Prada Fairy Bag, blended art with fashion so intrinsically that it is a no brainer why it ended up having a 3 month+ wait list after its release.
This whimsical bag came in two sizes, a small and a large version. Upon its release a decade ago, the small version retailed for $2,290 and the large version retailed for $2,490. While that price point is fairly common with premier designer bags in 2018, in 2008 that was a pretty expensive purchase. For reference, the Louis Vuitton Speedy cost less than $600 in 2008 and is now a whopping $1,020 in 2018. This bag had an incredibly long wait list and was the it-bag of the season, with many wanting to get their hands on one but failing due to limited availability.
Despite having some drama surrounding the bag’s well known bleeding problem—likely due to the delicate deerskin leather—this bag still has a hold on me. My holy grail bags are ever changing, but the Fairy bag will remain a constant on my list. I searched furiously on all of my go-to luxury consignment shops and was disappointed that I didn’t yield very many results. It seems that even a decade later, this bag is still extremely rare. For now I will have to admire from afar and continue my search!
Did you have a Prada Fairy bag? If not, did you want one as much as I did? Shop Prada bags here.
