Rebecca Minkoff bags that are gone, but not forgotten...

I thought I would talk about the bags that I have had in my own personal collection in the past, and why I had decided not to keep them. Some of them just weren’t functional for me, or ended up just not being my style. And a few of them, I actually now regret selling.
I will start with Rebecca Minkoff.

Over the past two years, quite a few Rebecca Minkoff bags have joined my family, but then gone to new homes. Because they are rare and harder to find in Canada, and a little more expensive here, I usually bought my RM’s online, new and used. In fact, Holt Renfrew only recently started carrying RM’s. Because of this, I was usually buying these bags without trying them on IRL, so there was a certain amount of trial and error with styles that didn’t end up suiting me or sizes that I didn’t like.

My very first RM was the full-sized Nikki in Dark Brown, which I talked about back in May 2009. This was an excellent choice for me because I tend to be a hobo-style kind of girl. And the leather on this one was the thickest, chewiest leather ever! I still have this bag and have no plans to sell it!

The second RM I ever purchased was a bit of a bittersweet sort of parting. I found one on the Basic Boutique website and on sale with free shipping! The RM full-sized Beloved in Black Haze was a perfect crossbody bag for me.

I loved the size of the bag at 13”L x 9.5” H x 5”D. And the adjustable shoulder strap was a real bonus as it could be worn short as a shoulder bag, or long as a crossbody (messenger) bag. With 4 exterior zippered pockets and 3 interior pockets (1 large zippered and 2 open patch pockets, this bag was the most functional bag I would own! The tassels hanging from each zipper pull was a huge feature for me too. I love tassels.

But I absolutely could not stand the Black Haze leather and the gold hardware. I found Black Haze to be too stiff for my liking. After the soft, slouchy leather on my Nikki, the Black Haze seemed to pale in comparison. When I attempted to clean a small patch that had gotten dirty, the Black Haze actually bled! The gold hardware made it very old fashioned for me. I have always preferred silver or gunmetal hardware on my bags. I was not impressed, but I loved the bag. What to do? I sold it, and decided to get another Beloved, but in a different leather, other than Haze leather. By this time though, RM had stopped making the full-sized Beloved or they were very rare and hard to find. The Mini Beloved, however, was in abundance.

I found a gorgeous Mini Beloved in Black Cat leather and Gunmetal hardware on AsterAlice, on sale and with free shipping! This combination was definitely exactly what I was looking for! The Black Cat leather was so soft and supple and the gunmetal hardware was not garish. I loved it! It had the same adjustable shoulder/crossbody strap as the full-sized Beloved, and the same amount of interior and exterior pockets. And came with matching leather tassels as well. This bag looked so cute and chic on!

But it was too small for my needs. At 10”L x 8”H x 4.5”D, the Mini Beloved was just too tight once I got all my things into it. As a mother of two young children, I tended to carry a lot, so the Mini Beloved just didn’t make the cut.

So, again, I sold it. And now I regret it. My children are older now and I find I don’t carry quite as much…and I am finding myself wishing I had a bag like the Mini Beloved. Perhaps sometime in the near future, I’ll have the pleasure of owning another, possible in a different colour this time? I think a perfect one would be on in a dark grey with silver or gunmetal hardware. If RM puts one out like that, I will be all over it.

Yet another RM that I full regret selling is the full-sized Stud Nikki in Flat Iron Gray (FIG) with Gunmetal hardware. I found this one on AsterAlice on sale with free shipping as well. And I really NEVER should have even considered selling this beauty!

This Stud FIG Nikki was not only the perfect size and style for me, but the FIG leather was gorgeous! It was a pebbled medium gray that was set off perfectly by the gunmetal studs. I had always admired the Studded RM line, but most of them were the gold studs, which I found much too garish. So when I discovered she had the studs in gunmetal as well, I jumped on it. I had initially wanted the black Stud Nikki with gunmetal hardware, but AsterAlice sold out as soon as they went on sale. So I decided to give the FIG a try…and I wasn’t disappointed!

Like my full-sized Dark Brown Nikki, the Stud FIG Nikki had 3 multi-function patch pockets and 1 large zippered pocket in the interior, with an added metro card pocket. The lining was the new white and gray strip lining that matched the FIG perfectly! I was so in love! Unlike the Dark Brown Nikki though, the Stud FIG Nikki had the newer clip hardware, and not the Signature RM hardware that I have a preference for, but that wasn’t a big deal to me. The Stud FIG Nikki was heavier than my Dark Brown Nikki, however, because of the added weight of the studs.
Why did I sell it, you ask? Temporary insanity?? Um…I needed the money to fund another bag – a Chanel. It was worth my Chanel in the end…but I still miss my Stud Nikki.

The next two RM’s were ones that I really didn’t mind selling, in fact, I couldn’t wait to get rid of! First was the RM Morning After Mini in Crocodile embossed leather. This one was actually acquired in a partial trade. I had never owned a Morning After Mini (MAM) or Morning After Bag (MAB), and had not really planned on it either as I am usually not a fan of hand-held satchels.

I really should have gone with my gut instinct on this one, because, sure enough, when Croc MAM arrived, I was not overly impressed. Sure, she was lovely to look at with all that lovely patent embossed leather and shiny light gold hardware, but I quickly found that I was not a fan of crocodile (embossed or not) and the MAM was just too much like my old Louis Vuitton Speedy, which I had traded away because the hand-held satchel didn’t suit me or my lifestyle.

At 12.5”L x 8”H x 6”D with a dual handle drop of 6”, the MAM was really too much like the LV Speedy 30. The advantage that the MAM had over the Speedy 30 would be that it had the large zippered pocket on the exterior. The interior also boasted more pockets than the Speedy 30’s one patch pocket. The MAM had two open patch pockets, as well as a large zippered pocket. However, it still resembled the bottomless pit that I was constantly searching through for my belongings in the Speedy 30. The hardware wasn’t overly garish, as it was light gold and not brass. It also had the Signature RM hardware that I prefer, but even that didn’t save it’s lack of functionality for me. So off this one went as well. I had trouble selling this one, actually, and ended up trading it for another RM, which I was much happier with…the 5-Zip Morning After Clutch in Eggplant, which I will talk about in another post in the near future.

The most recently RM acquisition was actually another full-sized Nikki in Charcoal patent leather with silver hardware that I wasn’t too thrilled about. It was a previously owned Nikki that another Purse Forum member was selling at a steal. So I snapped it up, thinking I couldn’t possibly go wrong with a full-sized Nikki in dark gray with silver Signature RM hardware, and patent to boot! It would be the perfect go-to bag for our Vancouver weather!

When she arrived though, I was disappointed to find that Charcoal was really not dark gray, but a dark brown with metallic undertones. And unlike the soft, slouchy leather that my Dark Brown Nikki boasted, this Charcoal patent leather was rather stiff and unforgiving for a hobo style that tends to be slouchy. So my perfect go-to bag ended up looking too much like my existing Dark Brown Nikki, without the luscious leather. Not even the silver Signature hardware could save her. And off she went too.

Note to self, avoid all MAM’s, MAB’s and Patent Leather with RM’s in the future.

Wow...it's been over a year?!?!

I must be the laziest blogger on the planet! I can't believe it's been over a year since my last post! It's been a crazy busy year for me and my family. We've had the 2010 Winter Olympic games in our fair city, then we moved into our brand new home! We've been busy with adapting in our new place, as well as the commute to school and work. We're working on fine tuning our day to day lives now...it's been a learning curve. Then we had our big family vacation in Los Angeles and our Mexican Riviera Cruise.

My collection has changed drastically this past year, with tons of comings and goings of different bags. The Gucci Pelham has now gone to a new home, as well as several Balenciagas and Rebecca Minkoff bags. I will have to do a quick critique of those that left, as well as the ones that have joined my collection.

Among those that have joined are a couple of coveted Chanels, a couple of LVs, including a Holy Grail LV of mine, a personalized, custom made Gucci, a Balenciaga and a Rebecca Minkoff.

I hope to get to each and every one over the holidays and into the New Year.

Here is my collection as of September 2010, but it's changed quite a bit since then...

The Rebecca Minkoff Phenomenon

Ever since I joined the Purse Forum and was introduced to the handbags of the young American designer, Rebecca Minkoff, I wondered what all the fuss was about. I'd never heard of the RM brand before tPF, but saw that many of my fellow handbag enthusiasts were collecting RM bags in their collection showcases. I guess it was around the time that I was falling in love with Balenciagas that I noticed the RM phenomenon. Much like the Balenciaga label, the RM brand doesn't boast a large selection of styles like those of Gucci or Louis Vuitton. In fact, RM only has less than ten different styles of bags with varying sizes or degrees of studdedness. The draw here is the array of colours and the different types of skins Rebecca Minkoff uses in her designs.

Since Rebecca Minkoff has yet to make a full scale debut in Canada, her bags are largely unrecognized here. Holt Renfrew doesn't sell them, and the Rebecca Minkoff website only lists two stores in East Canada who sell RMs (in Toronto and Quebec). Recenly, a friend of mine told me that she had seen some RM patent cosmetic cases in a boutique in downtown Vancouver called Blubird at Alberni Street & Burrard Street. I paid the boutique a visit and was pleasantly surprised to find that they carried the newest RM Supernova Stud Nikki and Supernova Stud Devote!

I was more than thrilled as the RM Nikki is the bag that I had been admiring on tPF for the last few months now...and hoping to have a better look at before deciding if I really wanted one. I'd read on tPF that the RM leather is "very smooshy", "chewy", "buttery soft", "thick". Trying on the Stud Nikki in black leather with gold tone studs, I would have to agree with every adjective used on tPF...hands down! I loved the size of the Nikki as well. It measures at 19" x 4" x 15" with a 9" drop at the handle. There are three multi-function, open pockets on one wall and a large zippered pocket on the opposite wall. The open pockets are trimmed with the same leather as the exterior...a nice touch. The Stud Nikki is lined with the blue and white striped lining. I have seen on tPF that many RM bags have the coveted black and white floral lining, but I have yet to see that in person. I found the Stud Nikki to be a little heavy, but the bag is studded, and the hardware is not the RM signature hardware, but the original hardware with the large lobster clips on either side of the bag. Gorgeous, gorgeous bag! I fell completely in love with it...until I took a peek at the price tag! Now the Supernova Stud Nikki retails in the USA for $650USD. Blubird's price tag for it read $847CAD!!! Ouch! I looked hopefull at DH, who'd gone to see the bag with me. And at the look he gave me after he took a look at the price tag...I put Nikki back on the shelf.

I didn't give up though...I went back to see the bag several times and resolved that the Supernova Stud Nikki, or just a Nikki, for that matter, would be my next designer bag conquest.

So as I had mentioned in a previous post, I did find a brand new, never used dark brown Nikki on eBay that was being sold by a fellow tPFer. That transaction went smoothly and Nikki arrived to me the day before yesterday.

She came, brand new, still with tags at $407USD shipped, which came to $490CAD with the exchange. I was charged another $60CAD in duties at the post office. The dark brown lambskin is thick, chewy, very smooshy and soft as butter! The colour is rich and the leather smells just amazing! My new Nikki is quite a bit lighter than the Supernova Stud Nikki, but shares the same interior features. The leather, however, is even softer and smooshier on the dark brown than on the black Stud Nikki. According to my fellow "Minkettes" (an endearing term used by the designer for all her followers), the kind of leather used to make an RM bag depends on the colour of the bag. I'm assuming this is because certain skins take better to certain coloured dyes?

Because of the size of the Nikki, things in your bag may tend to get a little lost, but I have one of those Purseket-like purse organizers that my friend MJ once made for me, so I don't have that problem. I highly recommend a Purseket purse organizer though...you can find them on eBay. However, because the Nikki has so many pockets, I have a pocket each for my iPhone, keys and work ID, as well as the zippered pocket to put cosmetics and such in. So really, an organizer isn't even needed for the Nikki. And I love that my Nikki has the signature RM hardware rather than just the original lobster clip!

Now I've also been warned by my fellow "Minkettes" that once you buy one RM bag, you'll want more and more. Well, I know what other RM styles there are and I'm not particularly interested in any of the others. Some of the either styles just suit me, I feel. The Nikki suits my lifestyle and my personality, but I'm not about to run out and buy a few more Nikkis in different colours. I've never been one to buy the same bag, but just in a different colour, fabric or skin. But apparently, as with Balenciaga, having several Nikkis is all the rage!

Anyway, I am just thrilled with my dark brown RM Nikki bag! Folks, I now know what the fuss is all about over Rebecca Minkoff! Now all I need to get is the official "Minkette" bag charm to add to my Nikki - and I'm officially a "Minkette"!