Q: What was your first handbag?

A: I remember my first handbag when I was about 4 or 5 – it was a little black patent cross body from the High Street my mother had bought me. I count my first “designer” purchase as a Ralph by Ralph Lauren pink satchel which I bought from House of Fraser. At the time, I loved the colour and wanted a bag that was practical, although I was little scared to use it at first as it was considerably more expensive that my other purchases I had previously made!

 

Q: Which brands do you like the most?

A: At the moment, I am a big fan of Coach. I became interested in them for a few years now and I love their designs and the quality of their bags. I normally shop through their website and have had no issues with ordering and delivery so far. I am also loving a Singaporean handbag brand called Charles and Keith. Whilst the bags are faux leather, the quality of their pieces are good and the customer service is prompt and helpful.

 

Q: What is your favourite colour?

A: I tend to gravitate to lighter pastel hues as I generally prefer these colours more. I do have to be careful with the clothes I am wearing to avoid colour transfer and not to carry in heavy downpour. Whilst I can appreciate darker colour bags are more practical, I really love bags that are lilac, light yellow, light blue and pink.

 

Q: What is your favourite style?

A: I like bags that have multi-use i.e. ones that can be worn cross body, on the shoulder or (removing the detachable strap) handheld. I think it gives a handbag so much versatility and can be worn for different occasions. For daily use, I normally wear on the shoulder (sometimes cross body if not too heavy). At the moment, I am leaning towards smaller bags and trying to downsize what I carry. In the past, I used to carry a medium (to large) satchel which was heavy and caused shoulder pain, so I am looking to go light when going out.

 

Q: What are you currently using?

A: I normally rotate my bags so at the moment, I am using three in my current use: Small Cloud Bag in Lilac (Cambridge Satchel Company), Small Bayswater Satchel (Mulberry) and Swagger 27 in Jasmine (Coach). Now it is the summer season, I am trying to make use of the lighter colours!

 

Q: Have you had any problems with any brand?

A: Thankfully I haven’t had any quality issues with my current collection. I have had issues with customer service in buying in the past. I bought a handbag on sale from Aspinal of London’s website. I was disappointed to receive it – there were scratches and dust on the bag, and the leather in the chain had been pulled out. Aspinal of London’s handbags aren’t the cheapest so if you want to return a handbag, you will have to pay for the postage yourself, whilst a lot of other brands will provide free returns upfront. If you change your mind, you will have to bear the cost of return postage yourself. If the bag is faulty, they will eventually refund you the postage. My issue was it took a long time to receive confirmation of return and refund or the actual refund itself. I had to chase customer service so much – email, social media and phone.

 

Q: Do you have a favourite/worst bag?

A: My favourite bag is probably the Mulberry Small Bayswater Satchel. It is such a classic and it was a present from my partner, so it has a lot of sentimental value. I don’t have worst bags, but there are bags I don’t tend to reach for. There are some Kate Spade pieces I purchased on sale which are lovely pieces but I just tend to select other handbags over them.