I am a 19-year-old student and have been saving up for nearly a year to buy a Chanel handbag, but is it really worth my forking out over £500 of my savings on one?
As you’ve asked for my opinion, I’ll give it — I think you’d be off your rocker. Unless you won’t rest until you own one of the fashion world’s iconic bags, I think that at your age and with your limited funds, it would be daft. Apart from anything else, a Chanel handbag, a thing of beauty, is frankly more suited to those of mature years.
There are fantastically desirable handbags at much lower prices. Take a look at Debenhams’ designer range at www.debenhams.co.uk, then think of all the fun you could have with the rest of the money. J by Jasper Conran in black twill is now down to £45, Julien Macdonald has a gorgeous studded black bag for £55 and John Rochas has a caramel-coloured leather shopper for £65. Matthew Williamson has a cream studded holdall that looks much more expensive than its £120 price tag. Kookai has a great number at £70 which looks not unlike Mulberry’s cult Roxy bag, and at Principles and Oasis are bags that are dead ringers for current hot bags. Look, too, at www.bagladies.co.uk, which has beautiful leather bags. All are made in Italy and cost about half the price of the Chanel number.
And never forget Accessorize — it’s rather better on fabric and embroidery than leather, which means that its evening or decorative bags are fabulous. At the moment there’s a beaded half-moon type for a mere £25 which, through half-lidded eyes, looks very like a certain hot designer number.
In case you’re interested, the bag I really covet is one owned by a great friend of mine and cost less than half the price of a Chanel — the larger size is about £160, the smaller £70. It’s a range designed and made by Luisa Cevese in her Riedizioni collection. The bags are made entirely of plastic embellished with lots of wonderful strips of Hermès silks. They’re brilliantly funky. They’re practical and everybody who sees them wants one.
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And they’re much more suitable for somebody as young as you. The problem is that they can be bought only at the gift shop at La Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris. Vaut le voyage, indeed.