Is Hervé Chapelier the next it-bag ?
(Spoiler : I already bought one)
Hello I’m back, following up on my last newsletter, I moved back to France, broke up with by boyfriend and never received the socks as there was an issue with customs and I’m still a tiny bit depressed felling like I’m in the waiting room of my life. I also revive my insta Fendorinos where I’m publishing archive photos (the only people liking my posts are my dad and best friend lol) that inspire me (kind of my mood board) mixed with vintage designer pieces I sourced and my own creation (I’m making hand-embroidered everything which is napkin at the moment). I made a drop for Christmas with some pieces for sale. I also discovered that the Japanese girl who contacted me on Depop to make a collab 4 years ago (hand-died and hand-embroidered shopping bags) seems to now have a thriving business and girls like Emrata (jaw dropping) Iris Law and Illit are wearing her creations. I’m shocked what if I never stopped my insta and kept showing up everyday (sigh…Law of attraction guys). Where would I be today but it is the thing with me I never commit 100% to something (need to work on that).
Anyway, enough with the sad rumbling let’s jump back to today’s topic. Quite recently I started to become obsessed with bags. When I was younger it was shoes, specifically sneakers (#sneakeraddict, now I feel it has become a bit outdated) but now it is bags. This is the only thing I can think of bag bags bag and how bags can be reminiscent of a specific time. They capture the zeitgeist of a period. I’m thinking Nicole Richie going to the gym with her capris on, a green juice in one hand and her Balenciaga city bag in the other, Carrie Bradshaw and her 1000 Fendi embellished baguette, Lauren Conrad in The Hills coming back from her trip to Italy with her brand new Balenciaga vibrant purple purse, Nicole Campbell on the phone surrounded by bodyguards with her Louis Vuitton x Stephen Sprouse, the Fendi Spy on the arms of all the cool girls in 2005, Misha Barton shot by paparazzi with her Gucci Indy, the so many Chloe it-bags : the Paddington, the Silverado, the Bay, Nicky Hilton and the cherry Takashi Murakami x LV bowling bag, the classic Chanel 11.12 in every color, pattern, texture possible and so many others. I recently added the Spy and Dita by Sonia Rykiel to my collection. So as you may have understood by now I’m hooked and I’m on the hunt for the new big bag. I’m browsing endless archive photos on Pinterest and Getty looking for what Celebs where wearing in 1990s-2000s because as you know fashion is a cycle and I am curious about what is going to make a come back.
So the other day when I was on TikTok (since deleted and re-downloaded #digitaldetoxneeded - The TikTok in question) watching Chelsea Parke from the eponymous brand Parke doing an OOTD and saying that her tiny bag (that I was looking with heart in my eyes) is Hervé Chapelier, I’m shocked. I’m thinking what the heck : this brand that my mom had 2 big canvas cabas in green and pink when I was a teenager is now what the EIHG girlies (ndlr Elusive International Hot Girls go check out
) are wearing??
Back in the day she lended me one of her bags because I needed a travel bag to go visit my bff in Normandy and I remember thinking well it looks like but it is not a Lonchamp. At the time all the girlies in my high school were wearing the Lonchamp canvas bag but I was in my emo-rebel phase so I was like how unoriginal the are all sheeps I’m not wearing this and besides who wear a handbag to high-school?? I remember that for Christmas my dad gifted me a small Lonchamp coin purse and I was like what the heck dad it is so not me!!
Back to Chelsea she was wearing the 701GP Pebbled Grain Coated Canvas small tote bag in ivoire and I have to say it looked so cool!
This weekend I went to la Fnac (equivalent to Barnes & Nobles) to check out a book I was interested in : Sacs by Sophie Gachet. There was a two-page dedicated to Hervé Chapelier. He was born in Biarritz, travelled between France and the US and arrived in Saint-Tropez where he sold his first bags. Apparently, the canvas cabas was the it-bag for the girlies in high school in the 1990s (out the Lonchamp in the Hervé). The brand has only 2 stores in France (with disastrous reviews mostly written by Japanese tourists saying the store is always empty and the sales associate are super rude) but seems to be pretty big in Japan (34 stores!). I went on their insta (the official one) and have to say it feels a bit…amateurish compare to other luxury brands.
I also checked the Japanese one and the one created by the staff where they post their outfits with a bag. It is fun and refreshing, it feels authentic it is no overly polished or curated. It feels like Instagram before it became Instagrammable.
I would say it has potential to become the next big it-bag. In an era where everybody is talking quit luxury, there is no big ostentatious logo on the bags (if you know you know), prices are decent (especially when Luxury Houses have raised their prices by so much and way above the inflation rate in the last few years without no real reasons). There is also a mystery element to it, apparently Hervé Chapelier still is the one running it but we do not know much about him…
So as you can imagine I bought one but second hand (because I’m never spending more than 300e in a bag). I found the same model as Chelsea in a chocolate brown and red handles color on Vinted for a steal!
up for summer, must agree