Another STYLISH interview with Los Angeles Producer Amber Bickham…

Several months ago I interviewed Amber Bickham who is a casting director & producer out in Los Angeles. She is always hunting for vintage luxury and believe me this lady has a real sharp eye for design. I recently got an email from her about another recent acquisition and wait till you read what it is…. Here goes our interview…

Q: So Amber you struck gold again… please tell us what you found and how much you paid for it….

A: I walked into a thrift store in Los Angeles and as soon as I walked in, there it was, in a glass case, a beautiful vintage Karl Lagerfeld bag. All I saw was shiny bag leather and a metal gold band engraved ‘LAGERFELD’ and said “I’ll take it!” (before I even made my way to the counter to get a good look, touch it, anything). I decided the moment I saw it, despite the price, that we had to be together. Imagine my surprise when the cashier said it was only $83!!

Q: When you looked inside the bag and saw a piece of paper please tell us what it was ….

A: As the cashier rang me up I began inspecting the bag for the time. I opened it and inside there was a print out with a photo of the bag listed on a auction website with a handwritten “$300″ written on it. Had someone just bought this bag for $300 dollars 3 days prior and donated it?! The insanity!!

Q: What was your very first gut reaction to the Live Auctioneers print out inside ? I think I would have done an cartwheel but what did you do?

A: The first thing I did when I saw the paper inside was slam the bag shut. Lol clearly the employees that worked at the store had never opened the bag. I didn’t want anyone in that building to know that that bag was at least worth $300.

Q: To think that someone had actually purchased this item for $300 and then donated it tells you what??? Why do you suppose someone paid that much money and then ended up donating the item????

A: After I made it safely to my car with my new bag in tow, I finally had an opportunity to inspect it. At the base of my bags’s straps, they were deeply cracked. Close to an inch of cracked leather. In the photo of the bag that was inside the bag, you can’t see that it’s damaged. So I assume someone bought that bag and was disappointed that it had damage that wasn’t visible in it’s online post and therefore donated the bag in frustration immediately. Their knee jerk reaction to a minor misfortune was the best thing that happened to me (that day). I immediately headed over to my favorite shoe guy “Miracle Shoe Repair” in Beverly Hills and asked him to shortened the straps one inch. One week later I had the exact bag the previous owner wanted for a total of $137 (shortening the straps was $54)

Q: So many things go through my head when I hear stories like this like how privileged & shortsighted some people are…. This type of behavior is very common, I see it weekly at my consignment store (DOUBLETAKE) and I never can wrap my head around it… can you?

A: It never ceases to amaze me and I always celebrate it! Different people just value different things. One man’s trash is another man’s treasure. I’m sure there are things I discard that someone else treasures as well. The person that discarded this bag may have never visited a ‘shoe repair’ a day in their life and that’s fine, everyone should do whatever makes them happy. If it makes someone happier to donate a bag they can’t stand the sight and be done with it, great, because it makes me happy to come behind them and snatch it up!

Q: So far out of pocket what do you have in this bag?

A: Just $137. $83 for the bag, $53 for the repair.

When I got another email from Amber I was so thrilled because that meant she thought of The Thrifters and wanted to share her new treasure with me and my readers… I’m always happy to hear that another thrifter struck GOLD….. I’m always glad to hear people are buying vintage, loving and treasuring it… Amber we need our own REALITY SHOW…