Luella.me.uk - Bartley, Bags and Hearts
My Luella
Here are the two Luella bags that I am lucky enough to own. Please don't ask me to choose between them, as I would find that to be too difficult.
Update - I am now the proud owner of two additional bags - a gold Luella Agnes and a pewter Luella Margot, plus a Luella heart shaped snakeskin purse. Photos of these little beauties will be posted here shortly...
Bag 1 - My Luella Joni
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So let me take you through the above pictures. The first one is of the complete bag. Isn't it a lovely vibrant red colour? And made from top quality leather. The second picture is of the iconic Luella hearts which are attached to the outer zip pull. Have you noticed the little indentation towards the bottom of the heart on the left? Is this usual on Luella hearts, or do I have one with a manufacturing anomaly? I don't mind either way - I still love the bag. The third picture shows one end of the bag, where there is a handy little pocket that fastens via a magnetic fastener. There is a zipped pocket inside the bag (see the lovely zip pull on the fourth photo) and also more open pockets on the inside of the bag (not shown). The lining of the bag is also made from leather and is of the highest quality. The final picture shows the cute little padlock that locks the front pocket. You will need to keep the key in a convenient place if you actually want to use this pocket - alternatively, just keep the pocket locked, then there is no risk of you losing the padlock.
My Joni bag was supplied with two keys, one of which I keep in the bag, and the other I keep safe at home. I bought this bag second hand on eBay, although it looked brand new to me. I do like a bargain!
Bag 2 - My Luella Fury Boxy (I think)
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It embarasses me to say this, but I didn't actually know the name of the style of this bag when I bought it. How bad is that for somebody who runs a Luella bag fan site? However, I believe the style to be a Luella Fury Boxy due to the way it fastens. However, most of the Luella Fury Boxy's I have seen online have chain handles and are more quilted. So this bag may, in fact, be a completely different style. What do I know!
Anyway, I bought this bag brand new at a designer outlet, and I have to say, it is absolutely beautiful. I just love the cute fastening with the key at the front. On this bag, there are no trademark dangling leather hearts, but the outer zip pull is a shiny brass heart. Again, the interior of the bag is lined in leather. I think I need to make a point about this, in comparison with one of my other favourite bag designers, Louis Vuitton.
Whilst I love Louis Vuitton designs, and the bags themselves do look lovely, I think the quality of them is not really what you should expect from an expensive designer bag. I mean, many of the bags are not even made from leather, but "monogram canvas" and lined not in leather, but in "alcantara". What is alcantara anyway? (That's a rhetorical question, by the way. Wikipedia is very informative on the subject). The latest Miroir range which sell for over a thousand pounds and are bought and flaunted by celebrities such as Paris Hilton, are made from PVC. Now, I may be wrong, but I thought that cheap bags were made from PVC and expensive bags were made from leather. Would you really want to spend over £1000 on a PVC bag? Well bad luck, you can't anyway. They're all sold out. Don't get me wrong. For reasons unknown I do adore Louis Vuitton bags too, I just don't feel that I should. I feel loving a Luella bag is more justified.
You may be interested to know, all the cheap, throw away plastic bags are made from PVC. It is the cheapest material for the bulk production of plastic items. My husband tells me this, and he is never wrong. He's very clever, you know. However, he does inform me that bags made from PU are much better. PU is synthetic, but high quality with all the properties of real leather, including the look and the smell. Nevertheless, the Miroir bags are made from PVC. Yuk!
