"Dress shabbily and they remember the dress; dress impeccably and they remember the woman." - Coco Chanel



April 9, 2011

Designer Spotlight: Chanel

Chanel is perhaps one of the most recognizable fashion brand with its trademark double C logo adorning many women and celebrities alike. One of the main reasons Chanel remains so popular among fashionable women is the simple design that goes into each piece and exudes an underlying sophistication that attracts the female eye. With so many items from which to choose, it's hard to research on which perfect item you want to splurge your money. So, we decided to put together some of the items that we currently own and illustrate some of the features of each item. We hope that this post will help you in your decision if you were in the market for a Chanel bag and couldn't decide on the perfect one.



Linda's Chanel Collection:

Wallet on Chain (WOC)

Comment:

The functionality on the WOC is what drew me to this particular Chanel purse. The WOC gives so many options to either wear it as a messenger style, shoulder bag (double up the straps), a clutch, and even a wallet, hence "wallet on chain." The bag hides the chain well if wanting the latter look. I'm also a bit of a travel bug, so this is the perfect size to take around when traveling since it has tons of credit card slots and enough room to fit a passport, along with other small travel necessities. I'm a sucker for the color red b/c it's such a vibrant and sexy color that can spruce up any monochrome outfit and when I saw that there was one available I HAD to buy it. I also didn't have a black bag at the time (is it me or is it hard to find the perfect black bag?), so I ended up buying the same version in black:P

Chanel's Quilted Timeless Clutch

Comment:

My collection of clutches is very limited, so when I was browsing around during one of Neiman Marcus' gift card events, I thought this would be the perfect purchase. As the name reflects, this is such a timeless, classy clutch. It is the perfect accessory piece that goes fabulously from day to night. You can wear this around during the day that will make any outfit look chic (I've seen pics of Victoria Beckham and Rachel Bilson wear it and they look SO fab) or wear it out to a nice dinner with your S.O. or even to a wedding. There are so many clutches out there, but this is special because well, it's Chanel, and is sooo soft and luxurious;)

My advice when purchasing designer bags, since they never go on sale, is to do it during a promotional event. I love finding ways to save money on things and this purchase was the perfect example. Sometimes high end retailers such as Saks or NM will have promotional events such as "gift card" events where if you spend a certain amount, you will receive a gift card back depending on how much was spent. For the clutch, I believe I got $450 GC for NM. To me that is saving $450, because I know that there will always be something for me to buy at that store. Also it wouldn't hurt to make friends with the sales associates (SA) at your favorite department store, bc s/he will always alert you to upcoming promotions ahead of time. Good luck with finding your perfect Chanel and hopefully this post will help further your purchase;)

Melanie's Chanel Collection:

Chanel Classic Medium Flap in Caviar

Comment:

Hubby had bought this bag for me as a wedding gift and I was so giddy for it to be my first Chanel ever. This style can be worn with the long strap over casual as well as doubling up the chain or tucking the chain inside the bag for a more elegant evening look. I chose the black caviar over the lambskin bc of the durability of the purse. For the hefty price tag, I'd want the purse to last me where I can even pass it down to my future daughter - haha. We found a way to save on taxes when the SA mentioned that she could have a courier hand deliver the purchase from VA to my work in MD since my work was so close. Yay - score.

With this bag, I can fit a large european-size wallet plus cell phone and keys, but that's about it. Even though hubby warned me to choose wisely, because I could only get one Chanel bag, I had my eyes peeled for another to add to my collection, which segues nicely to my next bag below. ;P

Chanel's 2.55 Reissue bag in Large

Comments:

This purchase was definitely very impromptu, so let's apply the usual saying "When in Rome" to Paris, shall we? =P It was a hard sell to convince hubby in purchasing this purse, but finnalllyyyy he was able to see the savings we had gotten on the purse that he agreed. ^_^ Thus I was able to walk away from the flagship store with a beaming smile on my face. We were able to save with the purchase of the bag, because price tag listed in Europe was less than US, purchased it before the second price increase of the year and received at least $400 back after claiming our VAT taxes at the airport. Needless to say, we were done shopping for the rest of the trip after that purchase.

I selected the reissue in black again due to the limited color selection in the store, however, this black has more of an underlying grey tone, so it didn't seem like a solid black. I love the softness of the bag as well as the texture where if I were to have a tiny scratch on the bag, it would be nicely concealed. This bag can fit a little more than the medium-sized bag, but realistically, I can't carry as much stuff as I normally do with my current everyday BCBG bag. However, for a day bag that I would typically use on weekends only, I'd carry less stuff, which eases the weight of the bag on my shoulder.

At the time, I have honestly told myself that I had a good Chanel collection and in no market for more. That is until I saw L's WOC O_o - Uh oh - trouble - haha.

Anyways, we hope this post was somewhat enlightening to you readers. If you were able to invest in one Chanel bag, which one would it be?

Until next time, lovely fashionistas,

1 comments:

Anonymous said... [Reply]

can i ask when and where did you buy the red woc and for how much??

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"Fashion fades, only style remains the same."
— Coco Chanel

 
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