That Second Hand Bag - Kavita Cola

Since being more able to justify spending a few extra pennies on a hand bag, my choices still tend to stay in the calculated realms of making each one really worth it. Put it this way, I’m not buying designer handbags at the rate that I’m buying high street tops from Topshop. All my purchases so far have all been kind of a big deal (for me) and when I finally do get my paws on one I like to wear it to death with multiple outfit combinations. There are always a handful per season that I am ogling over and this season this JW Anderson perfect envelope handbag is one of them.

Lucky for me I managed to get my paws on this one recently from the wonderful Vestiaire Collective, the highly credible online destination for certified second hand designer goodies. It’s almost an incentive for shoppers to feel comforted with their first hand purchase of knowing that quite soon after buying it they can sell it on without losing much money (like you perhaps would on ebay). In some cases and with certain highly sought after bags, they could even appreciate in value just like cars and art work. After a recent panel discussion with Fanny Moizant (the founder of Vestiaire Collective) exploring what really defines investment in fashion today, we discussed with key experts in the fashion industry in the different ways we invest in designer fashion. Interesting statistics showed that certain Hermes bags and Gucci bags from the Dionysus range can appreciate in value. We already know this with Hermes bags, but with regards to a lot of other bags, it’s all about timing.

You might be wondering why I purchased this JW Anderson bag from Vestiaire Collective after the above spiel about appreciating hand bags, as, I of course paid less than the current first hand market value for it. My first reason comes from a point of taste. I’ll be honest in saying that my bag purchases aren’t driven on who else who else loves and would by the bag too. I try to steer away from overly bought bags which feel a bit ‘done’, (without sounding like a massive bag a-hole) I won’t name any names. I have to just really love the bag I’m buying and know that I will be able to style it up with lots of my current wardrobe. For me as well as other fashion lovers, JW Anderson as a brand still remains in the realms of ‘super cool’ for a slightly younger and free-er soul who is design led in their fashion choices as opposed to just being historically acclaimed. Of course the Dionysus Gucci bag is amazing and a safer buy for an investment purpose, but on the other end of the spectrum I like to leave a bit of room for a wild card that I don’t plan on getting rid of any time soon! Perhaps I might sell my Gucci Dionysus at some point if I could get my head around that.

For now, getting hold of this bag this month seems just about right. I definitely bought it for less, and it still remains super hot on the fashion scene, not the ‘done’ scene. I don’t know whether it’s the ‘Sliding Doors’ film from the 90s element to it, but I love the classic envelope easy-to-carry-nature of it, as well as the in your face JW in gold, again more from the 90s – I can see it being very loved for a while down the line.