{"id":129592,"date":"2025-03-12T06:27:20","date_gmt":"2025-03-12T11:27:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.enchantedhome.com\/blog\/?p=129592"},"modified":"2025-03-12T06:27:20","modified_gmt":"2025-03-12T11:27:20","slug":"lets-talk-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.enchantedhome.com\/blog\/2025\/03\/12\/lets-talk-5\/","title":{"rendered":"Let’s talk…"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hey everyone, hope you are well. As I always do I am attaching random (but pretty) pictures between the text just to keep it interesting and have something pretty to rest your eyes on:)<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s topic is one I\u2019m really curious to hear your thoughts on. I tend to do most of my shopping online because I work a lot and don\u2019t find myself in stores nearly as often as I used to. Honestly, when I do, I\u2019m usually underwhelmed. Inventory feels low, stores are really understaffed and let\u2019s face it\u2014shopping online is just so much easier.<\/p>\n

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But sometimes seeing things in person is hard to beat. I\u2019ll admit, I\u2019m a self-proclaimed handbag addict. The caveat? I actually use<\/em> and love<\/em> my bags, some of which I\u2019ve had for 10\u201312 years. When I moved, I realized I had even more than I realized so I put myself on a bit of a handbag-buying embargo.<\/p>\n

I gave a few away and my sister in law who has an account with one of the online resellers for high quality bags is going to list some of the ones I haven’t used in a while. The rest, I am keeping and cherish deeply. The funny thing is, with a new closet to organize them in, I\u2019ve been rotating them more than ever and appreciating them all over again.<\/p>\n

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The other day, I stopped into Saks Fifth Avenue (which, from what I understand, is struggling financially and it showed) to pick up a gift for someone. I wanted to see the gift in person so made the trip.\u00a0 While I was there, I wandered past the handbag department\u2014and my jaw nearly dropped. Aside from the oversized designer logos plastered above each “boutique” (they have separate spaces for each brand), the bags themselves were shockingly ugly and uninspiring.<\/p>\n

I do not use those words lightly. It almost felt like some kind of social experiment!\u00a0 Honestly, even if they were giving them away, I don\u2019t think I would have taken a single one. Maybe there was a hidden gem I missed, but overall, the selection was shockingly cheap-looking.<\/p>\n

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Then you add in all the buzz around Chanel\u2019s declining quality while raising prices by 30%, or the absurd Hermes \u201cgame\u201d that people still willingly play, and it just makes me wonder\u2014what has happened<\/em>? I actually went home that day and felt like hugging every one of the bags in my closet because they represent a time when craftsmanship still mattered and it shows. They look like quality.\u00a0 Even though some of them were quite expensive, I never questioned whether they were worth it and i surely have worn them enough to justify the cost.<\/p>\n

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On a side note, the small travel bag I went in to buy for her was a letdown, cheap looking with a zipper that looks like it was the Dollar Store. I went in. with the intention to purchase it but I couldn’t justify it and I. know my friend would have felt the same (who in a picture thought she liked it) So, I left with a boring gift card because I needed something for that day. I will not be back there anytime soon, at least won’t go near that handbag dept!<\/p>\n

The funny thing is that as I was on my way to my car, I passed the “men’s department”. OH MY WORD. I wish my phone had not been dead,\u00a0 the clothes were horrid. I kept thinking about my dad and what his reaction would have been. He is no self proclaimed fashion plate by any stretch but always looks proper and put together. I know we would have had a good laugh. I just said to myself “who is wearing these things<\/em>“!<\/p>\n

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Honestly, I feel like this handbag experience is just a small example of a larger shift happening in so many industries, it transcends into fashion, furniture, clothing. I see some of the \u201cfashion\u201d trends out there now, and I\u2019m just baffled. Maybe I\u2019m not the biggest trendsetter, but I do love classic, timeless well made pieces. That said, if a fun trend comes along\u2014a certain silhouette, or an \u201cit\u201d color\u2014I might embrace it in a small<\/em> way. I\u2019ll never splurge on a trendy piece, but I don\u2019t mind playing around with it at a more reasonable price point.<\/p>\n

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I\u2019d love to hear your thoughts\u2014have you noticed the same shift in quality or is it me? Do you still shop in stores, or are you mostly online? And what do you think about the state of handbags and fashion in general? I wonder if the phenomenon of “fast fashion” has been a game changer in how the high end bag lines (and clothing) are approaching both the designs, price points and marketing of their lines. All I know is I have seen a huge shift…and in the wrong direction.<\/p>\n

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On a side note, since we are on the subject.\u00a0 Two reasonable bag lines, that I think are very much worth the money and are very nice quality are below. I own two bags from both so can attest to this. Old Trend is offering 30% to Enchanted Home customers! I believe if you sign up for mailers from Pamela Munson, you can receive a 10% discount. Both of these lines blew away anything I saw at Saks at a mere fraction of the price…go figure. A brand name is not necessarily always synonymous with quality (unfortunately). That said, there are certainly brands that still produce beautiful quality bags with high price points, I just find that to be less so than how it used to be.<\/p>\n

As I always do, I look forward to seeing how you weigh in on this,\u00a0 and most curious as to what you think. Wishing everyone a great day. Until next time…<\/p>\n

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Click here to visit Old Line<\/span><\/a><\/h2>\n

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Click here to visit Pamela Munson<\/span><\/a><\/h2>\n

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Hey everyone, hope you are well. As I always do I am attaching random (but pretty) pictures between the text just to keep it interesting and have something pretty to rest your eyes on:) Today\u2019s topic is one I\u2019m really curious to hear your thoughts on. I tend to do most of my shopping online […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":129598,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.enchantedhome.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129592"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.enchantedhome.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.enchantedhome.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.enchantedhome.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.enchantedhome.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=129592"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/wp.enchantedhome.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129592\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":129608,"href":"https:\/\/wp.enchantedhome.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129592\/revisions\/129608"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.enchantedhome.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/129598"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.enchantedhome.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=129592"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.enchantedhome.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=129592"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.enchantedhome.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=129592"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}