Shopping Preloved & How To Score Your Dream Vintage Bag
Since the pandemic started, I found myself searching preloved websites more, keeping my eyes open for bags I was refusing to purchase full-price. One bag I was really searching for & knew I had some sort of chance of scoring on a preloved site was the Chanel small Diana. I first saw this from Alyssa Lenore on Instagram & immediately fell in love with the iconic style worn by Princess Diana. I was really looking for a new crossbody bag, specifically with a chain, because I already have the Céline nano luggage, which has a leather strap. The Diana was just the bag I wanted (needed!) in my collection. I searched The Real Real, Fashionphile, & Rebag for ~6 months & started to notice the price steadily increasing over time, so I eventually pulled the trigger when I found it in great condition on Rebag. The one I purchased is size small in black lambskin with 24k gold-plated hardware. It's made in France & is a series 4, which means it was manufactured between 1996-1997. It arrived in great condition with very little wear throughout the exterior of the bag.
The second Chanel bag I always knew I wanted, but never thought I'd ever own is the classic flap in the tan/caramel/camel/cognac shade. I don't know the official color of this bag, so I'm going to list all of the ones I've seen it described as, lol! This bag... I'm shocked that I even have it in my collection now because I've never seen it in a Chanel boutique, a vintage store, or even on any preloved site. While looking for a Diana, I found a vintage Chanel collector who specializes in Diana's on Instagram (@mygrandfathersthings). In addition to selling Diana's, she sells other highly coveted Chanel pieces, like the famous classic tan! These pieces are auctioned off through her Instagram stories for 24 hours so that everyone in every time zone has the opportunity to bid. I basically put in two bids (everyone is allotted only two) & found out that I won via my DMs! It was the best news because I didn't think I had a chance.
This classic bag is just perfection. It is a classic double flap in this beautifully unique tan shade. The interior lining is a deep brown shade & the hardware is 24k gold plated like my small Diana. It's made in France & is a series 1, which means this bag was manufactured between 1989-1991. When I received this in the mail, it was in such beautiful condition that I would've never guessed it was older than me! It had a little bit of wear throughout the bag as expected, but no major details that I can pinpoint tbh.
If you're looking to buy preloved right now, especially with the recent price increases, I would suggest looking into the websites I mentioned before, such as The Real Real, Fashionphile, & Rebag, & get a sense of what people are selling as well as price points for certain items. My favorite site to shop has been Fashionphile because of their return policy. They give you 30 days + a free UPS ground shipping label unlike Rebag who allows returns only within 7 days of delivery & you as the customer are responsible for any shipping fees. For The Real Real, I haven't personally shopped on their site, but I know that for their Chanel bags they are final sale. Other places you can shop preloved is through Instagram. There are many profiles out there that are a scam, so my best tips for you are to send messages back & forth between the seller asking for specific views of the bag, read customer reviews, view their tagged posts to see what others have to say about their service, & even check their Instagram stories to see their unboxings.
One key point in scoring your dream vintage bag is patience. It took me quite a while to find these two, but it was so worth the wait. Make sure to do your research to find credible sites & sellers because you don't want anything to happen to your hard earned money. In addition to purchasing these two beauties, I purchased a few other bags throughout this pandemic, but I'll leave that for another post if you'd like. If that's something you'd be interested in or if you have any specific questions for me regarding vintage bag shopping, drop them in the comment section below!
