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On the cost of handbag rehab



Remember my vintage Celine ‘bourgeois bag’ I bought from Rellik in June? Well after barely a few outings, I realised one of the tiny screws from the clasp had come loose. Before I had a chance to get it mended, the wretched screw had fallen out altogether. I decided to take it to the Celine shop in Bond Street for a bit of handbag rehab. After admiring the bag, the sales lady agreed to send it to Paris for repair. Two weeks later she called to tell me the cost would be £60. “Sixty pounds? But all they have to do is replace a screw!” I wailed incredulously. “Why does that cost £60?” I told her not to bother with the repair and to just return the bag. She decided to find out the reason for the excessive charge and let me know. A few days later I had heard nowt. Eventually, after a bit of toing and froing I got a call. Celine had decided to fix the bag for free and it would be winging its way back into my arms shortly.

I have to say, at every turn, the staff at Celine were unfailingly polite and helpful (if a bit slow) and I’m thrilled that my experience resulted in a happy ending. But I have to question this business of high-end brands charging high-end repair fees for their goods. If you’re spending hundreds or thousands (in the case of Cartier watches and suchlike) of pounds on their goods, would it hurt their profits too much to throw in a free repair every once in a while?

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The loafer returns




The penny loafer has been off-radar for years but I’m sensing a return to the collegiate flat. In my student years it was all about the preppie Bass Weejun worn with ankle-grazing stovepipes and a Harrington jacket, topped off with tortoiseshell Ray-Ban Wayfarers (yes, it was the eighties!). This time round it looks more exciting – check out these Christian Louboutin for Chris Benz neon leather and mesh loafers, spotted at New York Fashion Week…

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How did you know ‘cause I never told, you found out I’ve got a crush on you





Having had to spend morning, noon and night at ‘the shows’ last week I am still not quite up tp speed on my blogging, so please forgive me if you find an influx of comments from me in the space of a few minutes on your blog – I’m not stalking, honest.

Checking out Allure’s blog (http://allure-allure.blogspot.com/) I read a great post on Lou Doillon’s collection for Lee Cooper.
This denim range has been off the radar for yonks. It was big in the seventies and then, well I’m not quite sure what happened to it but it all but fell off the face of the earth. Well now it’s back and some clever clogs has enlisted Ms Doillon as a designer (not the most original idea but we’ll forgive them this time).

This video from Vogue Paris – http://www.vogue.fr/mode/Lou_Doillon,_designer_pour_Lee_Cooper-12210-info.htm – shows her talking about the collection and while the clothes aren’t at all bad, it’s Doillon herself that keeps you watching. Well, it did me. My crush just got a whole lot bigger.

PS – does anyone else think she bears an uncanny resemblance to Keith Richards?

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When exclusivity and luxury collide




As John Lewis predicts a downturn in high street spending, interesting developments are afoot in the luxury market. Only a few months ago, the clever fashion-follower was all about an on-trend bargain from Primark or New Look. It was still a novelty to find a catwalk-worthy coat from Peacocks for only £40. But brace yourself, things are shifting and they’re moving up more than a gear or two.

In the post-bling noughties, everyone has access to the cachet of designer labels whether it’s the £80 Comme Des Garcons purse or the £50 Louis Vuitton hair bobbles. Hell, it’s even considered normal to drop £800 on a Chloe bag when only a few years ago £500 was the average. So what’s a fashionista to do to distance herself from the hoi polloi? Trade up of course.

Hebden from Style…A Work In Progress revealed last year that Hermes is taking its watch-making operation in-house (www.styleawip.blogspot.com/2006/10/girl-youll-be-woman-
soon.html). With strict quality controls and its own staff and premises, prices are set to be pushed up six-fold. My prized Hermes Medor watch (which took many months of saving, not to mention a wait of several weeks) cost £700 five years ago but will most likely cost well into four figures in the not-too-distant future. Similarly, Hebden also reports a rumour that Chanel bag price hikes are likely to take effect sometime before November by as much as 22% (www.styleawip.blogspot.com/2007/08/inflatation-frustration-
vs-conjunction.html). Better get those 2.55 orders in fast girls!

What has caused this sudden upswing in the luxury sector? Evidence points at a ploy to get the luxury brands out of the clutches of the middle classes and create an uber luxury status for the ultra rich. It makes sense; now that the accessible luxury market has been exhausted (who doesn’t own a Mulberry keyring or a mini Smythson notebook?) the logical conclusion is for luxury goods brands to go the other way to unaffordable luxury. Despite what you may think, there are still plenty of rich people out there with money to spend on pointless purchases.

Globally, luxury markets are expanding at a phenomenal rate. India, China and Russia are all opening up to a super-luxe market they’ve never experienced before – they want status symbols too! Which also goes to explain the opening of departments like the £10 million Wonder Room at Selfridges with its unfathomably expensive laptops and Simon Finch rare books, and stores like Tom Ford’s Madison Avenue menswear flagship (complete with butler to greet ‘guests’, I mean…please!). Not to be left out, Harrods’ Timeless Luxury promotion features 140 brands that have produced limited edition pieces such as a Fissler gold and diamond cooking pan – hmmm, I really need one of those.

Note the limited edition aspect. Instead of luxury for the masses, this is exclusive luxury for the chosen few, hence the new Etailer www.20ltd.com which sources small runs of desirable items that will never be made again. At London Fashion Week, the trend continued with Linda Farrow’s new fine-jewellery encrusted sunglasses range launching in spring. Think gold-plated bespoke sunnies retailing at around £10,000 – imagine losing those in a club.

You may be wondering what the bobbins this has to do with you but don’t scoff too soon. There is always a trickle-down effect and where Hermes and Chanel lead, others will follow. Whether it’s fragrance or make-up, or even those pesky LV bobbles, chances are the prices will leap up, limited edition ranges will breed and we’ll all think it’s entirely acceptable to spend silly money on an alligator-skin TopShop handbag or a gold-plated Mac lipstick. Don’t say I didn’t warn you!

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