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Pamela Lappin
Writer on Vintage Fashion & Style. Owner of online vintage shop MadgesHatbox.net

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Five Tips To Find Your Perfect Vintage Handbag

on Feb 4, 2016

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Five Tips To Find Your Perfect Vintage Handbag

Whether you call it a handbag, purse or pocketbook, most stylish women wouldn’t be caught without one. Designers, well aware of this fact, have built the most profitable part of their businesses around this accessory. Where would Chanel or Michael Kors be without their handbags?

Each year the top price for each season’s must have “It” bag increases exponentially. Where once $500 was considered top of line, it increasingly looks like there are no upper limits. Ironically, once you buy that uber expensive handbag you saved up to buy, there will be thousands of other women carrying the same one. Plus after you have paid that fancy price you find out that many fashion designers no longer produce handbags in their home countries but send the materials to manufacturers in China to save money.

As an alternative you can find designer knock offs in discount stores or on the street but instead of thousands you will one of hundreds of thousands of women carrying same handbag. So much for personal style.

So is there an antidote to having to choose between high designer prices and mass market sameness? There is and it’s a vintage handbag.

Now Madge loves a good designer bag as much as the next gal and has the collection to prove it, but long ago she also discovered the virtues of vintage handbags.

Of course you can go nuts on price on a vintage bag just like a new one; those vintage Birkin bags are also $20,000. But its easy to find quality vintage bags starting in the $20 — $30 price range. Vintage handbags come in all shapes, sizes and price points so how to do you find one that stands out and fits your personal style? Here’s some tips to get you started.

Madge’s

Five Tips To Find Your Perfect Vintage Handbag

Find a great color. This fabulous red velvet Markay handbag is a stunning example of mid-century design with it’s sleek shape and round gold metal accents. The bright red color is a showstopper and perfect for Valentine’s Day.

Vivid Red From Markay

Find a great shape. This oval box bag from Beinen-Davis is the epitome of sophistication. It’s a hard box evening bag and comes with an extra bonus, an intact mirror in the lid. Beinen-Davis was known for their monogrammed bags and while this one does have a monogram, the design is so stylized it doesn’t scream someone else’s name.

Oval me this

Find a great texture. Here’s another box handbag from the late 50s or early 60s, this time in a fun brown crochet. Madge guarantees you will be the only one at the office with this one.

Crochet anyone?

The gold coins on this pink leather Koret Tresor cocktail bag add extra zing.

Evening bag beauty from Koret Tresor

Find a brand name from the past.
There are many quality manufacturers from the past that stand the test of time and it’s easy to do a little research to unearth these gems. Find brand names by looking at vintage magazine ads which are readily available onPinterest.

Markey ad from 1953

Some of Madge’s favorite vintage labels that make great buys are Dover, Coblentz, and Jolles Original.

Oh so cute Jolles Original from the 1950s

Another reference source is Bag Lady University, a great place to research brands, materials and styles. They also have an amazing collection of vintage handbags for sale at their emporium.

Find a gently used designer bag. Of course if your heart is set on carrying a current designer name, you can still save hundreds by selecting a vintage or gently used piece by your favorite design house. You still may have to pay hundreds of dollars but it will be much less than current season prices. This beautiful pebble leather Gucci is a perfect example.

Five Tips To Find Your Perfect Vintage Handbag

So there you have it. Five tips to find that fabulous vintage handbag tailored to your own personal style.

Ready to start shopping? Enter MadgesHatbox Handbag Heaven

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  1. Great post Madge! Sharing all around:)
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Home » Featured » Five Tips To Find Your Perfect Vintage Handbag »

Five Tips To Find Your Perfect Vintage Handbag

Whether you call it a handbag, purse or pocketbook, most stylish women wouldn’t be caught without one. Designers, well aware of this fact, have built the most profitable part of their businesses around this accessory. Where would Chanel or Michael Kors be without their handbags?

Each year the top price for each season’s must have “It” bag increases exponentially. Where once $500 was considered top of line, it increasingly looks like there are no upper limits. Ironically, once you buy that uber expensive handbag you saved up to buy, there will be thousands of other women carrying the same one. Plus after you have paid that fancy price you find out that many fashion designers no longer produce handbags in their home countries but send the materials to manufacturers in China to save money.

As an alternative you can find designer knock offs in discount stores or on the street but instead of thousands you will one of hundreds of thousands of women carrying same handbag. So much for personal style.

So is there an antidote to having to choose between high designer prices and mass market sameness? There is and it’s a vintage handbag.

Now Madge loves a good designer bag as much as the next gal and has the collection to prove it, but long ago she also discovered the virtues of vintage handbags.

Of course you can go nuts on price on a vintage bag just like a new one; those vintage Birkin bags are also $20,000. But its easy to find quality vintage bags starting in the $20 — $30 price range. Vintage handbags come in all shapes, sizes and price points so how to do you find one that stands out and fits your personal style? Here’s some tips to get you started.

Madge’s

Five Tips To Find Your Perfect Vintage Handbag

Find a great color. This fabulous red velvet Markay handbag is a stunning example of mid-century design with it’s sleek shape and round gold metal accents. The bright red color is a showstopper and perfect for Valentine’s Day.

Find a great shape. This oval box bag from Beinen-Davis is the epitome of sophistication. It’s a hard box evening bag and comes with an extra bonus, an intact mirror in the lid. Beinen-Davis was known for their monogrammed bags and while this one does have a monogram, the design is so stylized it doesn’t scream someone else’s name.

Find a great texture. Here’s another box handbag from the late 50s or early 60s, this time in a fun brown crochet. Madge guarantees you will be the only one at the office with this one.

The gold coins on this pink leather Koret Tresor cocktail bag add extra zing.

Find a brand name from the past.
There are many quality manufacturers from the past that stand the test of time and it’s easy to do a little research to unearth these gems. Find brand names by looking at vintage magazine ads which are readily available on Pinterest.

Markey ad from 1953

Some of Madge’s favorite vintage labels that make great buys are Dover, Coblentz, and Jolles Original.

Oh so cute Jolles Original from the 1950s

Another reference source is Bag Lady University, a great place to research brands, materials and styles. They also have an amazing collection of vintage handbags for sale at their emporium.

Find a gently used designer bag. Of course if your heart is set on carrying a current designer name, you can still save hundreds by selecting a vintage or gently used piece by your favorite design house. You still may have to pay hundreds of dollars but it will be much less than current season prices. This beautiful pebble leather Gucci is a perfect example.

So there you have it. Five tips to find that fabulous vintage handbag tailored to your own personal style.

Ready to start shopping? Enter MadgesHatbox Handbag Heaven