This blog contains affiliate links. They are placed for your connivence. If you choose to use them, I earn a small commission that I use to support this blog. Thanks.
Here’s a blog post that I could have NEVER imaged writing even just a few years back: Today I unboxed my first Chanel Mini Rectangular Flap bag.
I can’t possibly express in words how excited I am to have this bag in my position, though of course I’m going to try to anyways.
I only really became interested in fashion in my early 20’s, as my style began to shift from that of a carefree teen to that of a slightly less carefree adult.
While the underlying heart of my colorfully and bold platte hasn’t actually changed, I’ve defiantly have become more polished in the last decade.
Enter my current love of luxury fashion.
It’s not so much the names that I’m interested in, though I’ve been spending some time learning about the history behind different brands and it truly is fascinating. It’s the quality, timelessness and creativeness that draws me into these brands and the pieces that they have to offer.
When it comes to Chanel, I have truly been obsessed lately, mostly by the longevity of their items. When appreciated and cared for, many of these items can last for decades and that’s the type of thing I want to spend my money on.
These bags are expensive though–theres just no way getting around it. So while I loved these bags, I just never really thought that I would obtain them.
But here I am now with my bags, and it’s a total dream. So for this blog, I’m going to share with ya’ll how I got this bag, what I paid for it and my real first thought on this Chanel Rectangular Mini bag.
Buying Chanel Pre Loved
Growing up, I lived about 10-15 minutes away from the nearest luxury boutique/ shopping district. But now I live about 3.5 hours away.
This was fine pre covid, because we would frequently travel back to Seattle to visit friends and family. But currently,I haven’t been back home since October of 2019.
This means, every Chanel piece that I own is pre loved.
This is a scary thought for some because you are handing over a lot of money still for an item that you may not be able to authenticate yourself. I know it was nerve-racking for me at first too.
But I have a few rules that I follow when I buy pre loved that help put my mind at ease.
The first is the buy from reputable consignment shops. They come with authentication services and typically guarantee authenticity for life. This means, if your item turns out to be a super fake, you’ll get your money back. This is the route I went for with this particular bag.
The next option is to find a trustworthy personal shopper. I have used this option once and it was the easiest experience and honestly the closet you can get to actually shopping in stores if you live far away.
Lastly, there are resellers that you can buy from directly. If you go this route, I highly suggest finding a highly rated Japanese reseller, as Japan has strict counterfeit laws to protect consumers and brands.
As mentioned about, I got my mini flap from the online consignment giant Fashionphile.
It was listed in ‘Good’ condition for $3160 +tax. So defiantly not cheap. But compared to the $3800 starting price tag in stores, it’s a considerable savings.
Now, I was a bit nervous about this purchase after my last Fashionphile experience (read about that nightmare here). But the bag came without incident and I’m very happy.
First Impressions
I was slightly worried when I placed the order that the bag may be beyond an acceptable level of damage for me. Fashionphile is generally great about disclosing any damage to an item and showing detailed pictures.
But I normally buy items from them in ‘Very Good’ and up conditions.
This bag was listed as having starches, dents, and wrinkling– which I wasn’t sure how I was going to feel about that. It also appeared to have some structural damage, which is generally something you can’t do much about.
But when I received the bag, I was truly happy with it.
Being realistic, the bag has some major signs of wear to it, especially considering its age (according to the serial number, the bag was made in 2017). But a lot of the wear on it boils down to poor upkeep, and with a little bit of work, the bag can be in much better condition.
This is one of the things that I love with luxury bag–with a little TLC, their beauty tends to bounce right back.
Beyond its slightly worn appearance, the Chanel Rectangular Mini flap seems prefect for me.
While I love my Large Boy bag ( I briefly take about it in this post here) its a little big on me, especially when I’m not 7 months pregnant. For most quick outings, I really prefer smaller bags.
I have been loving my WOC and it fits all my essentials, but it’s depth is just a tad bit too small at times and I don’t always want to play Tetris to try and puzzle things in.
The Chanel Mini however kinda feels like a Goldie Locks item to me–not too big on my frame, but also just big enough to comfortably fit all my basics. Because of this, I can defiantly see myself reaching for this bag a bit more often than the other two.
Perhaps my only gripe off the bat with this bag is it’s chain length. I’m just about 5’5 in height with a more petite body frame and shorter torso. So when I where this bag over my shoulder, it just about touches my butt (this is also an issue for my WOC as well).
Wearing it cross body is a better option for me as it falls just below my hip bone. But even that is just a bit too long for my personal liking. Unlike the WOC, I don’t want to double up the straps, as it would pinch the sides of the bag in and accelerate any structural damage. So for any adjustments to the chain length, I highly recommend using something to gather the chains together inside the bag.
Now this bag is in lambskin leather, which makes it a bit more delicate in nature (one of the reasons why it has some knicks at the top). From what I have heard, Chanel doesn’t make their minis in caviar anymore, so if you want a bag that will be more robust, you’ll have to go the pre loved route.
Being that this bag is lambskin, it also requires good conditioning–something I suspect hasn’t happened in a long while with this piece. after taking photos of it when it arrived, I gave it a quick round of leather conditioning and it made a huge difference it terms of the feel and vibrancy of the bag.
The other thing about this bag is that it’s very light in color. The coloring in the gussets are slightly lighter shade of pink than the over all coloring of the bag. It’s nothing too noticeable, so a good cleaning may brighten the overall appearance. I’m also not too worried about it personally because my wardrobe trends to the lighter and brighter side of the spectrum, so I don’t really foresee color transfer being a major problem in the future. But I did want to point this out in case someone reading wants to purchase a similar bag.
I can’t make any real recommendations on if this bag is worth it right now because I haven’t really used it. But over all I think that this particular model of the Chanel flap is a stunning piece that I’m so happy to have one in my collection. So happy in fact that I have already made plans to get a hold of the square version.
This might be a bit preemptive, but the sizing and the amount it holds is prefect for my life style. Plus, I’ve really enjoyed my Chanel WOC which is comparable to these minis, do I don’t think I’ll be disappointed.
Which mini do ya’ll like out of the two? Let me know below!
1 Comment