Louis Vuitton make, amongst other things, handbags.



Now in downtown Zurich, certainly, there's as common as a Porsche, Audi or Mercedes.

Yes, are they Cool or are they Kitsch? Has the fact that almost everyone (we're talking well-to-do female locals) has one devalued the brand?

I think so. They're so not cool.

PS: If you do have one, please admit to it.

Looks like a typical granny handbag to me
Definitely seriously uncool

Seen the Film 'Three Kings'? The soldiers are raiding a room full with a horde of Gold, but the nylon bags they brought can't carry the weight of the bars. Then they find some LV bags and "Hey, 1000 denier, these are what you need" ...so perhaps they're good for lifting heavy stuff, but the icon is lost on me...FUGLY!

3 men talking about handbags...
We must be seriously metrosexual

Kitsch. The originals are beautiful, but who would buy one to complete with some shell-suited chav bint ? I would buy Bally for understated style, Mulberry for practical lug-ability or Freitag (or even Bree) for jeans round town. (I don't normally talk like this, but I am subjected to constant reports of whats on-trend)

dave

I find any item of clothing or accessory, such as handbags, with an obvious label pretty tacky! If a handbag is a real quality item then you don't need to advertise the fact you can tell just by looking at it.

Metrosexual is just sooooo last season dahling ...
dave

Stealth wealth. The swiss are particularly good at this. Those that care, know.

dave

I think Lob summed it up well. Something which everybody has to have and is so well known isn't cool anymore. Then you have the serious amount of fake products that are made, catapulting it into the realms of chavdom. There hermes bags are very understated, and I bet most people don't recognise them (except for a lot of women I guess?). I was unaware of them until a friend introduced me to a friend of hers that had blown something liek US$10k on one of them. I did find it hard to understand...

It's a bit like a Rolex, yes, you have an expensive watch, but you obviously haven't researched watches, and you own something that is essentialy common as muck (yes, I exaggerate, but hopefully you see my point). Better to do the reseach and get a nice watch that watch people know, but most others have never heard of.

...better a Patek Phillipe than a Tag.
dave

On the parallel subject of fakes, I believe that certain customs agencies are stopping and checking this kind of thing and issuing fines to those with fakes....I'll try to find a link.

Edit: sample here on the Rotterdam airport site: http://www.rotterdam-airport.nl/home...setlanguage=en

Lob, we probably could have done with a poll on this thread. People love polls, it makes them feel like they can vote...

I thought of doing a poll but had the gut feeling that this might mean that people simply voted and offered no opinion. Feel free to add one, though. I don't think I can?

edit: can. and have.

I think they're dreadful and tacky but I find most branded goods to be a bit tacky. 'Look at me, I'm considerably richer than you and have good taste' but it really means 'look at me, I've got no confidence and have to plaster myself in tags to go outside'.

I think this makes me officially old and unhip - it started on reading the Karen Milen thread when I realised I had no idea who or what KM was. When I was young (cue Dvorak) the height of cool was to shop in Oxfam - I got many a fine crinoline there, I'll have you know.

If you can't recognise something that is good quality, then it is pointless to spend large amounts of money on it. The quality of bags and leather goods can generally be quite easily assessed, quality of workmanship, softness and feel of the leather, quality of the fittings etc. More difficult is where the quality is nebulous or subjective such as wine or art.

Jewellery is another difficult one: if you know nothing about diamonds, jewellery design or craftsmanship, how can one invest large amounts of money in it. I tend to avoid buying such things (not just because I'm tight )

dave

PS: Oxfam and the like are still the haunts of many really fashionable people, although they are very selective. I can't imagine a swiss ladeee shopping in a charity shop. Even the vintage shops here are nothing except last season designers.

The habit here seems to be to buy the whole head-to-toe designer outfit rather than having the confidence to boldly mix and match.

Dave this really hit the spot with me. I remember that was my first impression of the Swiss as I wondered around Zurich city centre. No imagination to develop an individual style, rather let someone do the thinking for you and charge you a fortune.

As I have never suffered from the need to wear labels, I do find I get stared at as if I had grown a second head when mooching around Bahnhoffstrasse. Obviously my taste isnt that of Versace's or Prada designers. Give me mix and match from Oxfam any day!

As for LV bags and the like... well if someone handed me a babypoo coloured bag that would revolt even my granny I would have laughed at them... I would have split my sides if they then told me they paid £400 for one... but thats the price of fashion I suppose.

unfortunately true - couldn't find a single vintage shop in town.

on topic: the image of those boldly logo'ed LV bags has majorly suffered from all the fakes around - I personally would never buy one and feel deeply sorry for those flashing around their fake LVs telling "look, I got neither money nor taste", but furtunately there are other Louis Vuittons that still make a point in style (I hear in Italy they have a rent-a-bag service for ones like below - you can borrow a bag for a wekk for say 10% of it's price )

Ayumi the bag in that pic is the ugliest bag Ive ever seen!! I know halloween will soon be upon us but for goodness sake!

Walking around with that is like wearing flat shoes because they are sensible and study and are quality leather... Hmmm dodgy ground surely??

Galathea, not a fun bag for sure, but wouldn't call it ugly. at least less screaming that the one in the beginning of the thread - that was the point.

Heya

I think depends on the design as to whether they are cool or kitsch. My motto is simple and elegant ( at least i hope it turns out elegant ) so as for the colourful LV bags soo kitsch but I like the classic LV bags.

But as for spending that sort of money on a bag that will be "out" in another 6 months forget it !!

Same for sunglasses - I refuse to spend more than 40 sfr/aud on them as usually I sit on them or scratch them in my bag so no point really.

And as for charity shops - I have found some great bargains in them back home but havent seen any here!! and nothing is more comfortable than the 40 sfr/aud jeans. However shoes are a great weakness of mine

So a vote for both options me thinks.

kt