Lightning Strikes Twice: Valextra on Sale

I'm haven't quite made up my mind about orange bags. Though if you are in the market for a Valextra at a less than prohibitive 60% discount, Barneys NYC has a Medium Boston on sale (again) at USD 949. Far be it for me to look the discount in the mouth, but if their Aragusta Orange was just a tad more burnished (or the Navy was still available - SIGH), I'd be far more tormented. I feel like my inability to bring myself to slap down the cash required for the LV SC bag is making me work that much harder to find a more moderate, but no less lush, alternative.

Important Update: My googling skills have turned up a divine dove grey Medium Boston over at Yoox for Euro705! That's an astonishingly good price for a timeless shape in a versatile colour, and which shape is completely on-trend (lady-like). Somewhere on the island, I can almost hear galpal M's restraint weaken...

An Exercise In Restraint

I literally lost sleep over this bag last night (Galpal M, you are entirely to blame). Moments after she'd sent me those evil EVIL links at the office, I was squealing in equal parts of disbelief and glee. Valextra, the Italy's answer to Hermes, at 55% OFF?! The proof-reader in me immediately suspected a typographical error. I twittered with anticipation...

One stumbling block (ok, two...)? Barneys ' online store neither accepts non-USA credit cards, nor do they ship internationally. 'Bah humbug', I thought, as I shot off a quick email to Customer Service to ask them if there were solutions to my bag lust.

Turns out, they more than accommodated and explained almost apologetically that international customers could place an order through any one of their brick & mortar stores by phone as long as we had the style number and item description:

Barneys Madison Avenue

212-826-8900

Barneys Beverly Hills

310-276-4400

Barneys San Francisco

415-268-3500

Barneys Las Vegas

702-629-4200

I can't lie that one of the appeals of the Large Boston Bag in Havana is that I've yet to spot Valextra on the arms of Singaporean women at large. My Balenciaga gripes aside, even the Mulberry Bayswater in their Oak brown can't match the exclusivity of this label, or the boardroom appriopriateness of the bag's shape (my one concern with the Mulberry)... AND it has a shoulder strap (which really is the bag-equivalent of discovering a dress has pockets - I am further sold!).

Which leaves me with the most important question... to cave or not to cave?

Valextra : The "New" Hermes

My gal pal M has long been a BIG fan of Valextra, the understated Milanese luxury leather house. One of the discussions we've had was about how their bags are better designed and actually made from full leather - think an LV Speedy but with small slit pockets at the side, and not icky coated canvas.

The problem, perennially, was whether it was worth spending that much money on a brand which most people hadn't heard of, despite being extremely well-constructed and revered as it is in Italy.


I like to think of Valextra as the Rupert Sanderson of leather bags. I've also always tended to champion under-the-radar brands so, naturally, Valextra gets a tick in my book. But it appears that this brand won't be unknown for long... TWO of their styles have turned up on the arms of tabloid faves Jennifer Aniston and Posh Spice!

The Babila (on Jen) and the Borsa Series S (on Posh) are just two of their classic styles. I'm personally looking forward to their new half-moon-shaped Namasté - a shoulder sling style that apparently weighs a mere 600g but can carry up to 15kg of stuff without the accompanying backache! This appeals to my "everything but the kitchen sink" tendencies. Also, it'll apparently retail for under €1,000, which appeals far more to my budget :)