I spent 15+ years collecting designer bags, and now I’m selling them all

Here's why!

Let me tell you about the shelf in my wardrobe that at one point made me feel like the most accomplished woman alive.

Fifteen years ago or thereabouts, I bought my first designer bag.

It was a Mulberry Mitzi in a beautiful, rich eggplant purple, and as soon as I saw it, I fell in love with it. I remember the price: It was €725, which felt like (and is!) a total FORTUNE to spend on anything, let alone a bag. But I had saved and saved and saved, and was finally ready to buy it.

I had just landed my dream job, which at the time was as a Staff Editor at a women’s glossy magazine. I was 22 and THRILLED to finally be on course to my ultimate goal: editor by 30. I decided I wanted to mark it by making a special purchase. A purchase that I thought would give me some leverage and prestige and recognition in the magazine world I found myself in, which was very focused on all of the above, and of course, fashion too.

Buying it felt amazing. I was so proud to ask the sales assistant to take it down from a high shelf for me – I’m sure she thought I would coo over it and then put it back. But I didn’t, I bought it, and I strutted out of the shop with the ludicrously capacious (Succession fans, ayooo) carrier bag and proudly unboxed it when I got home. Not to Instagram – I didn’t even use Instagram at the time – but to my parents. They were confused and appalled at the cost of it. They didn’t understand. These were investments. (Truth be told, I always knew they weren’t investments – they would be used, very well taken care of for sure, but I didn’t see them appreciating in value over time, bar maybe my Chanel bits).

I remember used to wear it in the crook of my elbow, no other way, because the crook of the elbow was *the* place to hang your bag at that time. And even though it was a tote, and it was large, I would wear it to every function, regardless of the need (or not) for a large handbag. I loved it, I wore it, I outwore it, and I was so proud to have it hanging off my arm because it meant so much to me.

I silently hoped that those who looked at it thought, first of all, ‘she can obviously afford such things’ (I couldn't), second of all, that I must *know* about such things because I didn't go for the obvious choice of the iconic and ubiquitous Bayswater style (I didn’t) and I didn’t pick a typical colour (that bit was true, but only because black didn’t speak to my soul at bright-eyed and bushy-tailed 22 the way it does now at 37, weirdly enough? And thirdly, because I wore it with ease, I felt it might indicate to those around me that maybe every single stitch of clothes I wore wasn't from Dunnes or Penneys, and in every single shop that I'd ever shopped in, I'd found the sale rail before I'd found the new stock. Maybe they would see the bag, stop there, and assume I fit in. Call it power dressing, call it dressing for the job you want, call it naive materialism – I was happy OUT.

Above: It’s an olllllld pic, it’s a grainy and underexposed pic, but you can see my prized Mulberry Mitzy here <3

From then on, I decided that every time I reached a major milestone, a designer bag would be the right way to celebrate that achievement.

Next came a beautiful Yves Saint Laurent black shopper tote, when I got promoted. Universally suitable, wearable and with a beautiful but extremely subtle laser-cut logo detailing and tassel which to this day I am obsessed with. Then came a Gucci Disco bag, practical and small, gold hardware to match my gold jewellery – a subtle logo, by comparison to some Gucci bits.

More followed, each because I achieved something big and each as wished for, researched and hard-saved for than the last. My Prada double zip saffiano leather bag, which Olivia ACTUAL Pope wears in Scandal, and remains one of the most popular ‘TV show’ bags of all time, saw me through some of the fanciest experiences of my life, where I felt utterly and completely out of place (me, from Swords, in Claridge’s to meet and interview celebrities? Like please? If it wasn’t for the bag I would’ve been ejected with great force from many of these gatherings, surely.

My YSL Collège, still a favourite now, was the perfect size to hold my 13” laptop and my makeup bag, for over-and-back trips to London for work, and wearing it open was the thing to do at the time I bought it.

Every bag has a story. A promotion, a career pivot, a freelance leap, a brave “I’m doing this now” moment. They were my adult Pokémon cards, and I was trying to catch ‘em all. But here’s the twist: I’m selling them. Why? How? When? Where? And importantly, for how much?! I’ll fill you in (and I’ll show you pictures!).