There have always been a select number of pieces that I have wanted to purchase pre-loved/vintage, one of them being the Louis Vuitton Noe. With the retail price constantly on the increase and knowing that it would probably be a bag that I only use every now and again (predominantly in Spring/Summer), I didn’t see the point in paying the full retail price. I personally love the way Louis Vuitton bags age, from the supple canvas to the patina of the vachetta. They really age like fine wine, and only get better with time. I love the classic, aged look and I knew it would take far too long to get a brand new one to get to the stage of how I like my LV bags to look.
WHERE?
I bought my Noe from Vestiaire Collective, which is an online marketplace where you can buy and sell authenticated pre-owned luxury fashion. I bought my Noe from a professional seller of Louis Vuitton Noe bags and Vestiaire have an authentication service in which every item is checked to ensure it’s authentic and exactly as listed in the specification. It gave me peace of mind knowing that it would be authenticated and that the seller themselves specialise in selling vintage Louis Vuitton Noe bags.
THE FIRST LOOK
I was very nervous about buying my first vintage piece. I was the most scared of it having a weird stuck-in-the-back-of-a-cupboard smell or stains in the bag. Thankfully when I opened it there were no nasty surprises, horrible smells or stains in the bag! As listed, my Noe just came as it was, so without a dustbag or box, just in a Vestiaire Collective dustbag with the authentication, which I knew and was fine with as I never use dustbags anyway and boxes take up space. The only thing to note was because of the shape of the bag, it’s quite awkward to pack, so when I received it I left it out hanging on a door knob to get it’s shape back.
DETAILS ABOUT MY NOE
The difference between vintage and pre-loved is predominately due to age. An item is usually considered vintage if it’s 20 years old or more, whereas a pre-loved item could merely be 6 months old. My Noe has a date code of A2 882, which means it was made in France in February of 1988.
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HOW MUCH?
At the time I purchased this (December 2020), the Noe had an RRP of £1,150. I paid about £730 for this bag, including shipping and authentication. One thing to note if you’re buying from the UK, because of Brexit, you now have to pay fees for import and taxes on anything coming from outside of the UK, including Europe which automatically adds on another 20% on top of the product value. So you have to factor that into the costs now which sometimes doesn’t make it feasible to purchase pre-loved when you can buy new – more so in terms of Louis Vuitton, than Chanel.
THE LOUIS VUITTON NOE GM
I absolutely love having this addition to my handbag collection. It’s such a classic and timeless piece, but one that not everyone owns (unlike the Neverfull or Speedy – although I do in fact own both). As expected, I don’t use this bag a great deal, but I love having it as an option and available for when I want it, especially for a casual look with an oversized crisp white shirt. It makes for a great everyday bag, although the size is deceptive – I think it looks bigger than it is, however it carries everything you need, such as handbag essentials and an iPad or laptop. Irrespective of the colour, it goes with pretty much everything, you really don’t need to think too much about what to wear with it.
WOULD I BUY VINTAGE/PRE LOVED AGAIN?
I would definitely buy another pre-loved/vintage piece again, particularly if I know it’s something that I won’t get a huge amount of use from, whereby paying the full retail price isn’t justifiable. I still have a Chanel Classic Flap and a Louis Vuitton Keepall 50 or 55 on mt list of things to buy and would love to buy these vintage.
Have you ever bought anything vintage/pre-loved? What was your experience like?
