WOMEN DETERMINED TO SUCCEED: The Modernist Designer: COCO CHANEL

Buying My First Chanel Bag in Paris

It's always been on my bucketlist to purchase a Chanel in Paris so during our little weekend trip last week I asked my husband to choose a boutique while I finished getting dressed. A little googling led him to decide for us to visit the location at 31 rue Cambon, which happens to be the original Chanel boutique.. the flagship, the mothership! Coco Chanel even once lived in the apartment upstairs. We popped in less than an hour before closing and it was still pretty busy in there, lots of tourists buzzing around making their Chanel purchases. We waited in line for a few minutes before a kind woman grabbed us to help. I can't say it enough that everyone working at this boutique was so friendly! Something I usually don't experience at designer boutiques in the US and I seriously thought that attitude would be on ten in Paris. Thinking back though.. I made my first Louboutin purchase in Paris years ago and they were also much nicer than any Louboutin boutique I've been to at home (agh especially Chicago!). Maybe I just have great luck in Paris! I came in with a good idea of what I was looking for, so it was a very quick process for her to pull options for me. I was looking for a wallet-on-chain in caviar leather or patent leather - in a neutral color. I narrowed it down to classic black with gold hardware and a nude le boy with what looked like champagne hardware.. it wasn't quite gold or silver. Waseem wanted me to go with the boy but it's so hard for me to stray from a black & gold combo, and I just love classic designs. It took me a couple years to even appreciate the newer le boy style & I even own one in a loud electric blue patent leather but classics will always have my heart! My lambskin double flap gives me so much grief because I hate how soft the leather is so I was long overdue on something black & in caviar leather anyways. All the other shoppers were sipping on champagne as they made their purchases but me being the child that I am enjoyed a cold can of pop while I checked out lol! From start to finish it was such a lovely experience shopping at Chanel Cambon and what is extra unique about this location is that they have exclusive packaging. Every boutique in the world uses black boxes/bags but the flagship location perfectly wraps everything in white! If you ever buy a pre-loved Chanel and it comes in its original white box, you'll know it came from the iconic Cambon location. Very cool! Don't forget your passport so you can get a VAT refund when you leave Europe! I forgot mine but luckily I always have a scan of it handy on my phone and they were nice enough to accept that! Even without the tax refund, my WOC was cheaper in Paris than in the US; but with the tax refund it really was a great deal (about $1600 vs $2100+tax)! I kind of wish I splurged on something bigger.. ah well, next time! :) Shop Pre-Loved Chanel WOCs

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