And then I bought a Chanel Bag

If you have been following me for a while or even know me IRL, as they say, it won't have escaped your attention that I have a handbag...problem. Actually, the title of this very blog might be a little pointer. Just saying.
In any case, over the years, I have accumulated literally dozens of handbags ranging in price from a cheap lunch to a return flight ticket VIE-SYD. There are some brands I have grown out of or tired with, others that I might never fancy regardless or their prestige and value (I don't see myself wearing an Hermès bag, really) and others I kind of had bookmarked for "later". Well, actually only one of them, Chanel. It was the "grown-up" bag I thought I would buy some day. And then the Empress got a brand new one from her very generous hubby for her birthday last summer, making her the first friend I knew who owned one.  I admired and stroked hers (beige, in caviar leather) and thought I might start looking into it before my 45th (OMG, how ancient does this number sound?!) birthday. Then a blogpost linking to various YouTube videos on the subject seriously sucked me in and I realised one thing: regardless of the fact that I can afford a new bag, I am not willing to purchase a bag at the store what with Chanel's biannual (!) price increases of several hundreds (!!) of € each time. Apparently, quality has declined in recent years, rather than the reverse and I am not willing to support this. I'd rather donate the price difference to a charity before playing this game. Thus I began checking out the usual suspect of trusted vintage sites. "Just looking", you know. Well. That just looking phase lasted less than two weeks until I fell for this beauty:

I made a price offer that got accepted, briefly deliberated since the chain is too short for cross-body wear, and then pounced. Thus I came to own a Chanel bag much sooner than I had planned. I simply love the colour combination and the out-of-this-world softness of the lambskin leather. It's as if silk and butter had produced a lovechild. I also adore the silver hardware which makes it much more contemporary and edgy in my opinion. It took me a while to find out the year this bag was released (Cruise Collection 07/08) and it is not officially a "vintage" bag. I got it for a very decent price and it is in very good condition, with some minor wear and tear signs at the back, which I don't mind at all.

Needless to say, I had to wear it already the day after it arrived, making sure my fingernails were painted the exact same red. My friends were eager to see and stroke it. They agreed it was #baggasm material and I was impressed that all my necessities fit into it. Admittedly, you should be able to expect some level of quality at that price, but it really sit exceptionally well on the shoulder and did not slide off once. 

Even though I can now strike off "buy Chanel bag" from my imaginary handbag-hoarder to-do list, I still would like to own a (preferably navy) jumbo version of this bag in caviar leather. For now, I am not even looking and giving my bank account a little break...