A Conscious Curation
Chloe Sense Micro Tote, $990
I started my handbag journey decades ago, when I wanted what was hot and always just out of my budget. After growing older (and hopefully wiser) I’ve changed the way I add to my purse collection. Here’s how and why…
I used to shop starting with “what’s my budget?” and “what occasion will this be used for,” or “what will this look good with?” But if money becomes less of a driving factor of your decision making like it was for me, I realized other things that started motivated me to buy or not to buy.
The entire experience became a part of the bag itself. Was the boutique pretty? Are the client advisors friendly? Was the website esthetically pleasing and easy to navigate? When a product arrived by mail how was it packaged and what was the unboxing like? I wasn’t just in it for the bag anymore. I wanted a full experience, a journey to the end product of a new piece in my collection.
After I found the best of the best experiences, my mind started wandering to sustainability and ethical practices. This is about the time I started hearing “fast fashion” a lot. I discovered the Goodonyou (love/hate) site and even started doing a little background dive for the labels I was looking to invest in.
Chloe was one of the brands that started making changes to be heard and seen. They signed on with ambassador Angelina Jolie announcing new principals and collaborations with the LWG and Certified B Corp. I was intrigued by their denim woody tote, where they were up cycling unsold denim pieces into bags. I was so in love but could never pull the trigger on the denim because of color transfer :( I did however jump at the adorable Sense Micro Tote. My little vibrant yellow one is a favorite in my collection.
It was also about this time a very specific brand started going viral for some ridiculous things.. Child abuse, satanic rituals, child pornoghraphy, things I wish I could unlearn and unsee. And IF YOU KNOW, YOU KNOW. A lot of the uncoverings were even removed from social media platforms so if you saw it early, it was the worst of it. Beyond not carrying a specific designer now, I also wanted to disassociate with the entire fashion house. I couldn’t be proud carrying certain labels anymore.
This is when I realized to buy or not to buy became, to support or not to support.
