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!!
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)
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!