Handbag Lust: Bag, Borrow or Steal!

Everyone always talks about shoes. I’ll admit that a nice red-soled Christian Louboutin peep-toe slingback can make me drool as much as the next girl, but that’s not my obsession.

But give me a pink patent-leather Kate Spade wallet….

Give me a Coach diaper bag with bright pastel Cs on white…

Give me a Chloe ‘Bay’ bag in quilted black lambskin…

Seriously. Give it to me.

Because barring some new friendship with a Hollywood starlet dripping handbags like Hansel-and-Gretel breadcrumbs, that’s the only way I’m ever going to get my hot little hands on a bag that retails for around $1600.

My husband loves me. When he wants to give me a nice gift that says Romance, he doesn’t go to the jewelry store, he heads to www.coach.com. But even he wouldn’t blow $1600 on a handbag.
And I wouldn’t either. I might be handbag obsessed, but even I know spending that much money would be stupid and wasteful—especially since, let’s face it, I wouldn’t use it forever.

The shelf life of a bag, even a great one, is just a year or two. And $1600 is a house payment. It’s a family vacation. It’s a massive funding for our kids’ college or a nice chunk for our retirement. Not a handbag.

The heart wants what it wants, but I knew this particular desire to be as unreachable as the stars.

Or so I thought.

Then my husband rode to my rescue like a knight on a white horse by presenting the solution in a nicely wrapped envelope. The online company Bag, Borrow or Steal offers gorgeous bags that you can borrow, and if you absolutely fall in love with a bag, they’ll let you buy it at a huge discount.

So instead of $1600, you pay $80 for a week. And when you’re tired of that particular bag and want something else, you’re not stuck—you simply send it back for something new. Go from sweetly ladylike (like a quilted Chanel bag) to punk mama (like a Tylie Malibu bag) without any commitment. Without having to explain that you’re the family trip to Disneyland is canceled because Mommy really, really wanted a Louis Vuitton satchel.

I just got my first bag delivered to my house, a gorgeous Chanel quilted black lambskin purse. I’m taking it with me—very carefully and reverently—to National. Check it out if you see me. I’ll be happy to show it to you. And Pete, thanks for the wonderful birthday gift. That you’d even think of a gift certificate to Bag, Borrow or Steal proves how well you know my dark obsession.

Bag, Borrow or Steal. If anyone says, “Great handbag!” I’ll happily reply, “Thanks, my husband got it for me!”

posted by Jennie Lucas @ 9:56 AM