:: BagLady :: Bringing Home Birkin

For some unfathomable reason, I let shopping, rather the pursuit of a specific item, dictate my vacation for the first time. The lack of success meant I spend a number of days sulking; a travesty especially if one was in the south of France and travelling through Cote d’Azure!

Never in any of my trips had I set myself up with a retail goal because I knew it in my type A personality that I’d deem the holiday a failure, a waste of time if I hadn’t acquire the specific item I was looking for. Somehow I allowed myself to be swallowed by the hoi polloi; I vow here and now, never again.

The chase took us to 7 boutiques (Aix en Pce, Nice, St. Tropez, Cannes, Monte Carlo, Geneva and Montpellier) in 6 days and all I saw were Jypsieres (28 & 34cm), Lindys, Evelyns, GPs, Bolides, Victoria, Double Sens and one Rouge Casqcade (sp?) Kelly. We lost out on the K35 by mere minutes – we arrived at the shop 10 minutes after opening and some mainlanders were already there. How bloody unfortunate.

I suppose September is a crap month to be shopping in France given that all the workshops are closed for the Summer in the 2 months prior. Even a belt kit in my size was hard to come by (I sized up and added 3 holes)!

All things considered it wasn’t a bad shopping trip; I did bring home a bi-colour Jypsiere 34cm in Graphite / Etoupe Clemence, a farandole bracelet, a 32mm belt kit, a 70cm scarf, a twilly and 3 ties for Mr. P. Not to mention he also (finally) bought the Cartier Ballon Bleu. Oh and not forgetting an expected pair of Nude Louboutin Simple 85mm (with baby and all, I think 85mm is way more sensible than my 100s & 120s).

But my disappointment did not dissipate. Being in the land of Orange and not getting IT weighed heavily. In the end I turn to online sources; majority overpriced. A reseller quoted SGD 21,500 for a B35 Black Togo with Palladium hardware and 19,600 for a B35 Mangue Togo PHW. Nuts if you ask me. I may want one but not that desperately. I may as well transit in Tokyo and go buy myself one there!

Luck would have it that there was one for sale elsewhere at a less unreasonable price. The owner had bought it at 2011 EUR price and sold it to me at slightly under HKD / USD (incl tax) retail. I suppose in the grand scheme of things, it wasn’t an OTT premium AND she included shipping via FedEx in the price I paid. It couldn’t have been a smoother transaction; 3.5 days from when the money was transferred to receiving the package.

I was hesitant about getting another blue bag since my K32 was in the classic Blue Jean. Plus I have not seen Mykonos IRL and no 2 photos showed the same shade; I didn’t know what kind of blue I’d be getting.

Thankfully, it was MUCH BETTER THAN EXPECTED. I was over the moon 🙂

Big fat thank you to Mr. P who did a direct GBP transfer such that the wonderful seller would knock off USD300 off the price!

Mykonos B35 in Swift

P.S. After spending 3.5 weeks with the K32, I have to say I absolutely adore it. I think I am more a Kelly girl. Pre-baby I never thought I would use the shoulder strap and very much prefered the B. With C around, I am even thinking about ordering a canvas strap (so that I can wear K32 cross body) to go with Miss BJ K32.