Another ig-famous brand (but made especially popular due to having been seen on Meghan Markle and a lot of influencers), Strathberry is one of those bags that I was very eager to get my hands on to inspect. Their signature feature is this mini barbell-ish bar which, depending on the user, can either be convenient or impractical. Strathberry is not super expensive. I think the pricing is somewhat similar to another internet-famous bag brand, Polène (which I’m iffy about, but more on that in my dedicated Polène posts haha) Because it’s not very expensive, I do make certain al ..read more

By sheer chance, I had taken photos and inspected The Row’s Margaux bag (I think this is like a small one though) back in 2022 in Paris, before there was that whole kerfuffle about them trying to market it as the next Hermès Birkin. Right off the bat, they are miles away. I was thoroughly unimpressed. The only thing they share is maybe the absence of a logo :)) I do think this is a decent bag. The stitches are clean and consistent, but very clearly machine-sewn. The leather feels very ordinary–better than the leather you’d get with a Michael Kors or Kate Spade or Polene Bag, maybe, but n ..read more

Visited the Valextra Flagship store in Milan late last year, and I’m really happy that I was able to see their products in a more complete context. In a way, seeing a tiny display in a department store is a bit of a disservice to the brand, especially because the department store displays usually have a somewhat anemic selection that isn’t very representative of what the brand has to offer. Seeing their products all together, with ample space to inspect, and seeing all the variations and special editions–made me appreciate the craftsmanship of the brand a whole lot more. I had heard that ..read more

I’ve always found this to be an adorable shape, especially in this small handheld size. While I’ve generally had a positive experience with Bottega bags (I’ll include the links to my other Bottega posts below), there are certain bags or styles or elements that have not held up well. For this size of bag in particular, I feel like the size of weave they used is too large, with a leather that’s too thin and flimsy. Because of the bag’s rounded shape, there are several areas where the looser, larger woven sections are lifting, showing just how loose the weave is. I actually saw some of the newe ..read more

This was one of the buzzier bags of the last couple of years, so I was really curious to see it in action in person. Unfortunately, they only had the small ones available on display at Rinascente in Milan last November, but I think it gives us a good enough basis as to the overall quality and functionality. The parts where there are seams are slightly thicker & stiffer, which is why it helps the bag follow the fold because the parts with softer leather will collapse first along the lines Stitches look machine-made, good consistency. Some of the flesh side of the leather or glue bits are ..read more

OK so this tiny thing is 2700€ and might even fit less than the inane Jacquemus Le Chiquito -_- I’m struggling to understand how they arrived at this pricing. And look at my photo above compared to the website pic. I mean– Online, it looks so sleek and solid, but in person, the weave isn’t super tight and the metallic leather is crinkly and cheap looking. The Sardine bag is one of the recent Bottega bags that I’ve actually really liked from afar. I mean, a golden sardine handle! But even after looking through a few different size variations (forgot to take photos of the larger one), I didn’t ..read more

Happened to spot this goldenrod-ish yellow Acne Musubi bag on a sale shelf in Rinascente Milano (kind of sad how all those bags were just haphazardly stacked and on the floor) so I had to stop to inspect it whilst in the throng of a crazy holiday sale crowd (this was in late November, so like Thanksgiving ish? I don’t think Italy celebrates Thanksgiving but any reason for a sale, I guess haha) The Musubi is one of the bags I’ve also really liked from afar, but in person, the quality is really not great. If this were in black, I’d probably give it a chance if the sale price were steeply disco ..read more

Happened to see this at the airport duty free. Always loved the serpenti line and was curious about how it would translate to a bag, since it would make a nice set with the jewelry for events and the like First up, the Serpentine Tote…it felt very flimsy The metal part looks and feels cool, but the leather tote part feels kinda cheap and flimsy, not luxe at all, and very very basic. There are variations of this with what looks like exotic leather on the site. I wonder if that would make it feel more luxe. This bag is €2850 Group shot: 3 colors of what we thought was a variation of the Serpen ..read more

I have always loved the minimalism and clean lines of Valextra bags. I had been seeing them around in Le Bon Marché and Lafayette and online but only recently remembered to actually take photos! The top photo is from Galeries Lafayette Haussmann from my visit a few years ago (a lifetime ago, especially now that I’m thinking back to it whilst in quarantine), and the following photos of the black one is from Moressi, a local stockist in Manila. Interestingly, this was originally the “Isis” bag, but for obvious reasons they needed to rebrand it, and thus it became the “Iside” bag. I remember whe ..read more

My inspections have been over several visits from 2015-2019 or so (in Paris, Manila, etc), but this one from 1-2 years ago (pre-pandemic) was the one where I was actually able to take photos haha (scroll down to see the updated photos and inspection from 2022). Unfortunately they only had this mini flap available, so for the other comments that I have with regard to the jumbo flap, I’ll try to look for photos so you can see what I’m talking about. For the purpose of this review, I am referring solely to the quilted bags that use their signature caviar leather (pebbled calfskin), which was the ..read more