How To Be Smart About Your Luxury Shopping

In general, I aim at doing this and probably you do too for any kind of purchase but I am going to share some key tips that you can keep in the back of your mind when making buying decisions specially for designer goods because lets face it they are expensive money suckers. Hahaha, dont get me wrong, I love designer products and if you guys want I can talk about the pros of actually buying designer goods but in this post I want to touch base on the cons of making a wrong designer purchase and how to avoid is always.

I love designer bags, shoes and sunglasses and I am slowly venturing into designer clothes. I think there is a famous saying that once you use any luxury item, you would not want to go back to anything else. Its actually very true, because you realize the value in that extremely high quality item and how much it impacts your overall style, but on the other hand, a wrong purchase will make you bitter because you suddenly realize that you wasted all this money for something that is not at all worth it and then you probably will never want to waste your money on them. I am with you there, I have made my fair share of mistakes as well, so I thought why not share with you ladies and gentlemen (thank you for reading) so that you get your best value for money because we work so hard to earn that money.

FUNCTIONALITY IS THE QUEEN!

I cannot emphasize this enough, oh gosh! Let me give you my example of the biggest mistake I did. My first designer handbag video is the Prada Bicolor Cross Body Clutch that my husband gifted me after sharing some options with me to pick out. My decision of picking that piece was purely on the basis of cuteness and looks. I loved the retro style of the bag and the fact that it is so colorful. I love colors as you already know by my blog. I have shared some more details of the bag, that you can see on my YouTube video here.

But the biggest problem that I didnt think of how much I would use it, or would I use it enough in the initial year to get my cost per wear down of the item, that it feels worth it. The bag was around $1700 (approx.) and I haven’t till date used it to its money’s worth. I still love the bag, but that experience made me doubt my designer handbag purchase decisions because I felt like I am wasting money.

So, when you are initially trying to buy a designer product always think of how you can get the most use out of it. If you think that its not going to be worn a lot, try to find one that will, it will make you lot more happier and confident in your next purchase.

Let me explain this a bit further to make it more clear. If you work at an office environment, invest in a bigger work appropriate handbag because that will get a lot of use and you will feel happier with spending all that money on it. If you are a work from home gal, opt for a cross body style bag that is medium sized which you can pop on when you need to do a quick errand. If you have a young child, you might need your hands free, maybe you can get a backpack style bag that will keep your hands free.

This also applies to shoes, or any other kind of designer purchase, always think of functionality of the product in your lifestyle and not what looks cool and cute.

BASIC IS ALWAYS THE BEST!

Yes, and its so true for designer goods too. Yes, statement pieces are awesome too, I have some statement pieces that I love a lot, but that will come into picture when you have an established collection. It took me years to get a decent handbag collection which is versatile and I can use those statement bags to create my outfit around, but you cannot do that everyday, its really not possible.

There is a reason that even till date, my Louis Vuitton Pochette Metis and my Chloe Faye bags are the most worn bags, they are the basic bags that work for me, because they are neutral in color and go with any outfit I throw on. I literally only took my LV bag to one of my work trips a few years ago to Singapore where I literally used it everywhere because it just was basic and worked with any style of outfit I was wearing.

If you are starting out, you need to build a basic collection before you get to the statement. In today’s Instagram world, we see influencers carrying these awesome handbags am we instantly want to buy them, its awesome to see how these bags are styled by these influencers, but you need to think that a lot of time they get these bags gifted, so they probably have there basic bags that they actually bought and these are just additional bags.

Designer products themselves are a statement, It instantly elevates your style and makes you look luxurious, so even if you invest in a basic bag, trust me, it will still look designer. What are basics, there are many ways of going at it, color is one. Go for colors that are basic to you and not to me. Yes thats so important, if your wardrobe basic color is pink, buy a pink bag. I touched upon this subject a little bit more on my 5 ways to get your most Wearable Wardrobe ever which will help you understand that a bit deeper. If you hate black and bought a black handbag because I told you so, you might never use it, but if you love white bags and thats your color, a white bag would make more sense.

Its a bit different with shoes, when we talk about basics, we don’t talk about color we talk about type of shoes. If you are a sneaker kind of gal, then you will get the most wear out of a sneaker because that is the basic in your closet.

I think you get the idea don’t you. If you don’t, you can always ask questions in the comment section below.

COMFORT IS THE KEY!

This is key just like my other points. Just because a product is designer does not mean its a great quality material and it automatically qualifies. My Jimmy Choo mules are the cutest and my favorite pair of shoes, but they are not the best quality in terms of comfort. The really skinny soles which are soon to completely wear out makes it difficult to walk in them for a longer period of time. But, I love my Chloe Slides which I have literally worn the entire summer and to all my summer destinations last year and are half the price of the Jimmy Choos. My Acne Studio Chelsea boots are another pair that are such a basic necessity and is made out of such good quality material that its going to last me forever. Keep an eye for the material and design always.

If the material and design makes it difficult for you to use it, then its not worth at all even though its designer. That is one of the reason I dont buy designer fashion jewelries because I honestly dont see the long term benefit of spending that much money on fashion jewelry that will get damaged compared to gold jewelries. Get my point. If you find something not working for you, please don’t buy it no matter how much of a discount it is on, which brings me to our next point

AUTHENTICITY IS PEACE OF MIND!

If you are a first time designer good buyer and you want to buy a vintage one, I always recommend buying it from an authentic reseller like The Real Real, Rebag, etc which will provide authentication for your products because there is nothing worse than a major rip off of your first designer purchase. That will just be so horrible and I can’t even imagine how I will feel if that happens to me. (I get mortified when my favorite t-shirt shrinks).

Think about a designer product as not just a status but a high quality essential that will make your life easier because you are buying something that will last for you a long time and in that process you are actually consuming less amount of cheaper goods. Hope all these tips and tricks gives you a new perspective when you are looking at that new designer item.

I would love to know your thoughts on this, and the main thing that I would stress is that these things don’t just apply to designer goods, these are important points for any kind of important purchases you are making whether it be a sofa, car or your next designer Handbag.