How To Tell If Your Designer Chanel Handbag Is A Knock-off Or The Real Deal !

We often tend to overlook the quality of many fashion items for the price we have to pay. In many big fashion industry cities like Paris, Milan, and even resales online  tend to trick the buyer into purchasing knockoff designer handbags because they bring the cost down so low that people just can't resist to buy them. The price of an authentic Chanel bag varies from 500$ to 4,500$ depending on the size ,etc. For this edition of my blog, I will educate the fashions gurus out there on the 4 main differences of a true authentic designer Chanel Handbag compared to a knock-off. What are these differences I'm looking for , you may ask ? 

Original Chanel Flap Handbag :Take much detail in the leather peddled pattern  

1. The Quality of the leather and stitching:

 True authentic leather has a soft touch to it and if you look closes it contains a peddled grain imprint throughout the design. Most Chanel Handbags are made from Calfskin and Lambskin. Lambskin has a fine and butter soft texture while calfskin is tougher and very durable. The leather used for replicas (knock-offs) has a repeated dull color grain pattern, which makes the bag look uneven from one end to the other. Lastly, if we really want to get technical authentic Chanel handbags should have 10 stitches per inch on every seam of the handbag, compared to 7 bigger stitches on fakes.

2. Quilting Design:

Fake Chanel : Diamonds do not follow a pattern

This is a major detail that buyers tend not to notice till after the purchase is made. The quilting on every handbag should be aligned perfectly with every diamond shaped quilt aligned with every pocket and seam. The rule of thumb is you should be able to take a ruler and have perfect diagonal lines going from one end of the handbag to the other. If not it is a knock-off.




3. Hardware:

On authentic handbags the CC logo should catch your eye right away, with its bright gold color and perfect outlines. The CC logo should be placed on the front of the handbag as follows: the right C passes over the left at the top and the left passes over the right at the bottom. On knock-offs the hardware is usually disproportional and tend to bend easily. Also , the "bright gold" coloring tends to turn a burnt yellow color after a while.

4. CC em-boarded inside the bag:

Authentic Chanel

Fake Chanel

There is usually the CC logo always em-boarded on the inside of the top flap of the handbag. The width of each C should be the same and should have a thin core to them. Knock-offs usually have the em-boarded CCs with a thick and uneven core.





Before I let you readers go, there is one last very important thing that defines an authentic Chanel Handbag. Inside the inner pocket of the handbag should be an authenticity card and a hologram sticker of the CC logo. This card has everything you need to know about your handbag like , the ID # of the bag, the materials used and care warnings.

Well that's all for today fashionistas! Remember these 4 signs of authenticity the next time you want to be the one with that hot handbag on your shoulder!











Sources: http://www.ebay.com/gds/How-To-Spot-Fake-Chanel-Handbags-/10000000175729320/g.html
          
  

Devonshire Mall VS. High End Boutiques

Our home town Windsor, ON is known for its back to back OHL  Memorial Cup Champions, the Windsor Spitfires and also for its automotive industries. But have you ever heard an "out-of-towner" say "hey, I really want to go shopping at Devonshire Mall?". To be honest, none of my friends or I have been pleased with our selection of fashion in this city. But could Windsor ever afford to bring in anything more than the "no-name brands" stores like Urban Planet, Sirens and Aeropostale?

Devonshire Mall, Windsor

I think a lot of us could agree that it doesn't matter what season you go shopping for, Devonshire Mall always has the same style of sweaters, shoes, jeans and dresses.Most of the time I have come out from a 3 hour shopping  hunt bare handed. The only exposure we have to high end fashion boutiques is if we go shopping in Detroit, Michigan, USA. That is one of the advantages to being a border city! Wouldn't it be nice if you had designer stores like Chanel, in your own backyard?

Chanel Boutique, France

Why don't we have these luxuries you may ask ? It seems to always come down to the one and only cause of not having enough market sales for these companies to invest in , in the city of Windsor. Those market sales come from us , the citizens in the city which as we can say is more of an average class lifestyle, than upper class. These companies aim to catch the eye of the higher class more than anything else. When you buy these brand name clothing, you are buying for the name not the quality or style of the accessory, which in some cities like Windsor could turn the average citizen to buy less expensive brands.
Another fact is that the unemployment rate in Windsor is at a 9.2% as of June 2013. In other words, we could have all these luxury boutiques but most of the population would not be able to afford it.

Higher brand names tend to also strike in bigger and known cities in the world to better promote their company. In a town of just around 217,000 citizens, people say there is no demand to bring in these stores.
Not having this fashion right at our finger tips, is  what makes these brands so exclusive in our community and maybe it is just another market strategy towards buyers to always have the want of something they can't have?

Stay tuned for my next blog which goes deep neath the sparkle and ruffles of Chanel....






   

Is the Luxurious Label of Chanel Worth All the Hype?

First Chanel Boutique Opened In France

As you know the human population is always thriving for bigger and better! Even if they have everything in the world, they still think about the things they don't have. Well who could blame the human brain? If you had the choice to shop at Tiffany & Co. for a perfect pearl necklace rather then buying a 14.99$ Walmart brand one, who wouldn't hop in their cars to Tiffany's? I have to say I have no problem buying expensive accessories and clothes but sometimes I step back and wonder are all these brand name clothing worth spending hundreds of dollars on ?

A common question shoppers may ask themselves what differs the price of the same looking sweater at Walmart than at a high end brand name store like Chanel? Well to be honest, there are a lot of differences in the history of each sweater. For example, lets say the sweater from Chanel is 300$ and you gasp at the price. Take a step back and think about all the designs, real genuine materials and the fashion icon brains that it took to make this perfect high quality sweater. Buying from a high end clothing store guarantees a good quality piece of art!


A study on listdose.com stated that Chanel was the 2nd Best Luxury Clothing Brands in the world behind the famous designer Louise Vuitton*. As we all know you don't need to be an expert at fashion to know that you probably can not buy a shirt or handbag in a Chanel store for less then 100$. Considering those high price tag,s according to Forbes List the brand has a revenue of $4.2 B and has a value of $6.2 B**, with these numbers it is hard to see that there is any problem with sales. But the main concern is that, is it too expensive for the average citizens to experience the same treatment as the higher classes in cities and countries? Could stores like Chanel be a cause of the separation of classes in society? Some people say yes but others say that is just the uniqueness and exclusive trend of Chanel. Out of the 310 boutiques worldwide, the 5 top best Chanel countries are France, Tokyo, Australia, Turkey and London***.


My question is that could the city of Windsor every uphold such a fashion icon in our community ?  






*:http://listdose.com/top-10-best-luxury-clothing-brands-world/
**: http://www.forbes.com/companies/chanel/
***: http://www.styleite.com/retail/top-6-chanel-boutiques-were-dying-to-visit/#5

Evolution of Chanel's Designs

Coco Chanel's first design in 1909

"Fashion fades, only style remains the same" -Coco Chanel 

   

As we can see fashion evolves around us every day! It brings a new kind of sense and a new way to present ourselves in society. Every era has its one main style or color scheme  that people can not wait to have. But as we know everything starts from something , so what style did Chanel bring to the world
 first you ask?

Well it wasn't anything special let me tell you that. Her first designs in 1909 were women's sportswear, which she made for women in World War 1. They were a simple jersey material which gave women something lose and comfortable to wear instead of tight corsets, which was in style at the time. Her motto in the early years was comfort and affordability rather than chic, leek and glamour. But that didn't last long, when she came out with her first collection of day dresses which were described to be elegant and sleek. This triggered the chic style of the"little black dress".

In my opinion the 1920's were when Chanel designed her best pieces of art that would evolve as a must have in the 21st century. What were those pieces of art you may ask ? They were as simple as a black colored cardigan and her "Chanel No.5" fragrance. As you may have noticed on every shelve in the shopping malls there is a variety of knit, spandex, or cotton so called "cardigans"of every color. After reading about how Chanel brought the cardigan to life, I saw that one piece of clothing as a connection to the queen of fashion. In other words, ladies it doesn't matter where you got that cardigan from you ARE wearing an art of Chanel. Also, her "Chanel No. 5" has evolved so much in the past centuries but even tho the bottle has changed  I still feel that the sent still leaves the individual smelling and feeling like a million bucks!


The 1930's was known as the "Sleek Era" with long lengthy dresses which soon turned into a summer collection of rhinestone material. Her long elegant dresses were known for their sleek and fitting appeal to the eye. With this collection her designs were targeted to draw more of the small and petite sized women in society. Having said that, she then launched a collection of accessories such as her famous design of pearl necklaces and black leather handbags with the famous CC logo in gold.


Sadly, this icon of fashion ended her life in 1971. Even though the "queen" was gone her collections still kept her essences alive as Karl Lagerfeld became chief designer in 1983. During those years between her death and the upbringing of a new leader, the label struggled to uphold such a luxurious and known name. But Lagerfeld soon gave Chanel's designs a more classic look with "shorter dresses while still allowing women to look dignified"*.

It is funny how fashion revolves in a big circle! The evolution of Chanel's designs show a complete circle from staying away from tight clothes to designing more fitting and sleek dresses. I see it as every time a store puts out a new sweater or a new wash color of jeans for the shopper it changes the whole appeal on how we as people see each other. In this case, Chanel's designs have made a fine line to deffer the upper class and lower class in our society today. But the one thing I ask myself is, is the label of Coco Chanel to "upscale" for some countries? Was that "fine line" made to just please the upper class life style?    




     
*:http://www.fairwindssarongs.com/style-evolution--the-changing-face-of-chanel---how-chanel-s-classic-style-has-remained-relevant-over.html