By Rachael Wang
Some students on campus are trading in their JanSport back packs for more trendy and expensive designer totebags. Nineteen fifties inspired Louis Vuitton bags top spring lust-lists of the NU fashion elite.
Creative director Marc Jacobs teamed up with Japanese artist Takashi Murakami to create a candy-kaleidoscope take on the monogram classic handbag. The result bridges youth and sophistication, and screams college cool. Unfortunately, an exorbitant price tag will keep this piece from dangling in the crooks of more than a few arms around campus. The medium sized bag costs [gasp] $1560.
Many students who already own such designer creations received them as gifts. An enviable junior, who prefers to remain anonymous, was spotted carrying last season’s iconic Yves Saint Laurent. The $800 Mombasa, a crescent-shaped bag made of buffalo leather with an antelope horn handle, was a birthday present from her parents. They financially support her handbag habit, she explained.
Freshman Rebecca Fox, who is undecided, was given two different Louis Vuitton clutches and a Coach duffel sac upon graduating from high school. Each was a gift from friends of her parents. The signature sac costs $248 while her clutches are set at $340 for the Monogram Canvas and $400 for the Epi Leather version. Surprisingly, she feels tremendous pressure to leave them at home. Fox has noticed that students don’t feel the need to flaunt their economic status at NU, and “when someone does, it is frowned upon, even if she didn’t buy it for herself.”
Despite the negative comments Fox got from her roommates, she continues to use all three bags. She refuses to let the perfectly functional gifts collect dust merely because of what others might think about her.
“People who make judgements are ridiculous,” she said.
Tim Lynch was abhorred to find out how much is spent on handbags, saying that he thinks “it’s the stupidest thing in the universe!” The freshman criminal justice major suggested buying a dog instead.
Apparently not all guys maintain the same sentiment. The only designer handbag freshman Sharon Fonos, undecided, owns is from her boyfriend. Her Kate Spade tote was an unexpected Christmas gift.
“I don’t think I would ever spend that much money on a bag,” she said.
“I think they’re overpriced,” one middler declared. “There are much better places the money can go.”
The fact that many students own designer handbags, however, does not come as a surprise to the human service major. In her experience, the pressure at Northeastern to own designer duds is much stronger than on other campuses, said the NU student, “Our dining hall is like a fashion show.”
Theatre majors Jessica Kaminski and Brenna Isaacson discussed handbags over dinner at Levine Marketplace.
“I always get the knock-offs,” Isaacson said.
Kaminski said, “The closest I’ve ever had to designer is Nine West. I usually just make my own.”
Nine West handbags range from $30-70, as compared to Gucci: $490-2,150, Dior: $230-2,050, and Prada: $275-2,200, according to their respective Web sites. The two agree that Coach exploded last year and they have been dodging C’s ever since. Yet, unlike the human service major two years their senior, they feel the pressure to own such things ended in high school.
Freshman Colby Price, a psychology major, revealed that life was once dictated by the fleeting trends that surrounded her.
“In high school I used to be one of those people who bought whatever bag everyone else was buying.”
When they walked into Prada, she followed. She even ignored her gut when it warned against purchasing the humdrum silver triangle on black satin. Today, Price is carrying a Banana Republic bag that she bought on sale for $35.
She noted, “I love nice things and I have a lot of them, but I also have this cheap bag that I use everyday. I wear what looks good on me and fits me best.”
Sam Murray-Greenaway wrote for “The Express,” “Carrying the right handbag shows you’re in the know. Get the bag spot on and you don’t have to worry about the rest.”
In other words, there is one, and only one, right bag? Not so. Whether it’s the coveted $3000 Murakami design that Madonna and Eve are sporting, the $30 Gap staple that works with everything in your closet, or the quirky $3 flea-market find, in choosing the right handbag, take it from Price: “You just have to do what works for you.”
