Searching for the perfect holiday present? Our Dandelion Chandelier holiday luxury gift-giving series showcases truly special products and experiences that will delight your beloved. We’re sharing incredible items and experiences that you can purchase right now. That way, when the holiday season actually arrives, you can go to parties, drink eggnog, look cute and be generally just totally chill. Sound like a dream? If you want to kick it like that this year, read on.
Holiday shopping? Already? We can hear you groaning, but it’s that time of year, dear reader. In fact, it will soon be too late to purchase some of the most special items that you could give to your friends and family this year. And no, we’re not crazy. According to the National Retail Federation, in 2016 12.2% of U.S. consumers began shopping for the holiday season before September; 6.5% started in September; 21.9% started in October; and 41.4% started during the month of November. We’re not trying to alarm you. This is just a nudge to say that if you start now, you’ll be able to give items that are truly special – for example, customized for the recipient. And when the holiday season rolls around, you can be that person who is totally chill, going to parties, singing songs, and planning a big party. Because your shopping will done! Win-win.
In our holiday gift series we’re sharing ideas about items that you can buy now (or must buy now) that will surprise and delight the people on your list when the holidays roll around. Today we look at customized luxury handbags and travel gear. We feel pretty sure that someone on your list is a jet-setting sophisticate who would love to find one these waiting for them on the Big Day. And every time they carry it, they’ll think of you.
Two of our favorite brands are making the process of creating a unique bag fun and easy.
Louis Vuitton. My LV World Tour is a new offering from Louis Vuitton that allows purchasers to customize six of their classic handbags, travel duffle bags and wallets with vintage hotel labels from the personal collection of Gaston-Louis Vuitton as well as other emblems. The program is a homage to the brand’s history: its iconic trunks have traditionally been portrayed with stickers accumulated from destinations across the globe. Now everyone can channel that glamorous age by personalizing a range of LV leather goods with custom patches that evoke memories of legendary hotels and the world’s most cosmopolitan cities.
The customization and personalization patches come in 5 categories, with 12 choices each: Grand hotels (like the Hotel Royal in Palm Beach); LV Heritage (vintage Louis Vuitton logos); Cities (Tokyo and Paris among them, natch); LV Pop (for example, headphones, lipstick, varsity letters, a book of matches); and “Make it Your Own” (options to monogram the bag with the recipient’s initials and if you like, a special date).
Lest you think that you can unleash your inner Stephen Sprouse, though, you should know in advance that the program is available only in the Monogram Canvas print; there are designated places where these emblems can be applied to the bags; and a maximum of 5 are allowed on the front, and another 5 on the back. So while it will be reflective of the final user’s travel patterns and personal loves, and you do have some control, it’s still going to be on-brand for the house of Vuitton. No going crazy.
Price and bag options are as follows:
- The Neverfull shopper is $1,720
- The Speedy Bandouliere 30 duffle bag is $1,820; the larger Keepall Bandouliere 50 is $2,220
- The Horizon 55 roller bag is $3,850
- There are also two different wallets: one for $835 and one for $1,100
We confess that when we saw the plethora of options, we were really skeptical that the final product would be at all appealing. At first glance it looks like too many choices that will result in a hot mess when the bag is finally created. But actually, thanks to the guard rails imposed by the brand, it totally works. The bags look chic and breezy, and emblematic of a well-lived and well-traveled lifestyle. We want one! Santa, did you catch that?
If you want to give one this holiday, you’ll need to act now. Once the order has been taken, the items are made in France; expect it to take eight to twelve weeks for the bag to arrive.
Gucci. DIY – Do It Yourself is Gucci’s version of this same concept. If you opt to make your purchase in one of their flagship stores, it promises to be an extremely fun shopping experience. Because after all, it’s Gucci!
Nestled in the corner of the first floor of the New York flagship is what can best be described as a craft table with two Gucci Decor chairs, surrounded by soft pink quilted walls and myriad handbags pinned to them. In this cozy little nook, clients can customize their own Dionysus or Sylvie bags with embroidery, patches, trims, hardware and monograms.
Patch choices are whimsical and iconic to the house of Gucci: they include roses, pink lips, lightning bolts, bees, dragonflies, hearts, and snakes. You can also opt for the phrase “L’Aveugle Par Amour” (“Blind for Love”). The back of the bag can be whatever you choose.
At the low end of the price range, you can craft a small suede Dionysus with patches for $4,400. That same size bag with just patches in crocodile is $11,600. Or if your gift recipient prefers a top-handle model, a medium-sized one can be yours for as little as $3,700 (“moon smooth” finish) or as much as $29,500 (crocodile). Want a large? In croc, that will run you $41,000. If you prefer the Sylvie, the only options are python, ostrich or croc — a small python shoulder bag runs $4,200 and a large top-handle crocodile runs $33,000.
As with the LV custom bags, Gucci says that it will take 12 to 16 weeks from order to delivery for these bags. So you could hurry and order one now, or you could let your gift recipient know that it’s on the way, or you could save this idea for a birthday gift or some other special occasion.
In any case, we find it fascinating that the trend toward enabling clients to customize and personalize the offerings from the large global luxury houses continues apace. No more take-it-or-leave-it. You get the brand’s guarantee of design and construction quality, and the fun of making it your own. After all, true luxury should be about having options, right? Happy DIY’ing!
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