Celine Handbags - Clandestine et al

[Taitai]

It's interesting how THE ANSWER to this puzzle seems to change, depending on whether one is a random stranger calling a boutique that's never heard of you, or when one is a regular customer that's been buying RTW for years, and whoaa, actually gets invited to trunk shows and private viewings.

Funny...what a world of difference that seems to make...

I bet Celine had no idea that this bag would inspire such exasperation, madness, snarkiness and desperation.
It's probably a marketing ploy on their part.

 

[janyoung99]

nefertiti,
I think the popular opinion is that there were only 2 large powders, and we definitely know one of the people who owns it and possibly the second owner. So they are all spoken for, and no others exist. It is possible that Celine will pull its head out of its a** and produce some given the CRAZY demand (who doesn't want to make money), but I won't be holding my breath.

 

[ilovepositano]

nefertiti,
I think the popular opinion is that there were only 2 large powders, and we definitely know one of the people who owns it and possibly the second owner. So they are all spoken for, and no others exist. It is possible that Celine will pull its head out of its a** and produce some given the CRAZY demand (who doesn't want to make money), but I won't be holding my breath.

when the aforementioned phenomenon occurs, could you please ask them to produce the suitcase which is what we really wanted in the first place?

 

[Pinky*]

thanks again everyone for the sweet words (and the help justifying splurging on 2 bags .. yay!)

amp - me tarzan.. you tarzan.. we tarzan modern..carry bag not vine..

gg - the med blush said shrunken calf and long cream said calf.. but the leathers look very different.. on eluxury the med luggage is 'soft grain leather' (calf?) and clutch/small black and blush 'richly finished calfskin' (shrunken calf?) so it sounds like maybe the different leathers are based on the different colours offered? i'm really interested in seeing what long black looks like!

maybe its..
blush - shrunken calf / smooth
black - shrunken calf / smooth
cream - calf / veinier (it looks super smooth in photos though..)
luggage - calf / veinier

??? it really feels 'veinier' than more grainy..

 

[Pinky*]

when the aforementioned phenomenon occurs, could you please ask them to produce the suitcase which is what we really wanted in the first place?

what i'm still puzzled about is why paris refused the special order!! when fakes are being made, that means theres some demand, no?

sometimes i think they think they're still in their 'glory days', not that they don't have the right to.. (ok so ivana has done a great job.. but the ppl at HQ being a little humble for business never hurt anyone.. )

 

[Keya]

I really love this bag, congrats to everyone who got it already!

 

[ilovepositano]

what i'm still puzzled about is why paris refused the special order!! when fakes are being made, that means theres some demand, no?

sometimes i think they think they're still in their 'glory days', not that they don't have the right to.. (ok so ivana has done a great job.. but the ppl at HQ being a little humble for business never hurt anyone.. )

i totally agree with you, pinky*. my personal theory is:

1. they're not attuned to what younger customers might want, and weren't even aware that they could have had an "It" bag in the clandy. instead all the buyers really liked the dorine which they put all their chips on.

2. they ran the #'s and realized they would lose money making lambskin in larger styles. they probabaly didn't even consider the special order because they wouldn't have met the production minimums for the powder lambskin leather with just 6 bags ordered, but at the same time they probably bought just enough powder lambskin to make the show and press samples.

i really think the house of celine could have been revived with the help of pinky* had they realized they could have made the suitcase size by tacking on an extra $500-$900 to the price tag. people would have still fallen over themselves trying to get the bag and celine would once again be surrounded by buzz. they could have cut the suitcase in a million different leathers/colors and it would have still been the best bag for several seasons esp. since gigantic bags seem only to be getting larger.

sad to say, they didn't see that the suitcase clandy really was the perfect bag for american-french girls who are looking for something like the old chloe before it lost some allure and became a little mainstream.

huge, squarish, butter soft, vintage and ladylike like the stam. but with top notch european craftsmanship and more polished lines, attributes that i find missing in the stam. pity.

 

[Taitai]

Posi, great insights.

Add Theory #3 (which is what I've deduced from Celine Corporate) - The new collection is generating some interest, but buyer response (ie dept. store buyer not consumer buyer) on the Celine accessory collection has been somewhat ambivalent. Just as importantly, NONE of the really influential fashion critics even noticed the Celine f/w accessory line during the shows which must have been disappointing (the critics did rave over some of the clothes) but would have influenced their marketing/business strategies.

The hype and waitlist is nowhere near the likes of BFendi or Spys, against which LVMH luxury bags are benchmarked against. Celine is trying to replicate the success of the Boogie line but even internally I don't think they believe this collection will meet that objective.

Also while there is frenzy on this thread for this collection, I don't think that is representative of the general buying population.

 

[janyoung99]

Great analysis, you guys!! It's the old ivory castle phenomenon. And you know what's funny (or rather pathetic actually) is that the powers that be regarding this work DILIGENTLY daily on trying to get "IT" right. The problem? - too much focus on the runway and the initial hype, too little focus on the actual consumer and the bottom line.

 

[morriseel]

Hey girls, i've lost a bit of speed on this forum and am now trying to catch up as I was away for a while.

Well, Celine HK are now holding the Blush Medium and the Cream Long for me (same as NAP have). I went in today to try them on and CANNOT decide! I usually opt for big bags and hence the long is a good size BUT I LOVE the colour of the blush! (i know this is everyone's dilemma now since there are only 2 of what we all so desperately want!)

Anyway, Pinky, without looking back to far I think you've got both??? If so, PLEASE help me decide which one. I'm going to take hubby in tomorrow to have a look but i'd love yours and everyone's opinion.

Thanks!!

 

[Guessgirl96]

Pinky -- Thanks for the explanation on the leathers!

Morri -- Welcome back I agree it is a hard decision, both are so nice in their own ways. For me, I'd go with the long, just becuase the smallness really bugs me. But if you have enough larger bags, maybe get the medium? I'm not sure if you saw but pinky posted pics of herself witht he bag here:
http://www.thefashionspot.com/forums/1767501-post540.html

 

[Pinky*]

great analyses! perhaps in a different season or some more agressive marketing budget, the clandys even without the suitcase could be successful enough to satisfy LVMH to promote celine a bit more, give them a better budget to hire some less stuck-in-the-past staff? then again.. it seems houses that aren't yet bloated by success work a bit harder, at least in the creative dept.. i love the new celine yet don't want them to reach a semi-moronic mainstream level.. how evil is that.. hehe.. wishful thinking..(i really feel what you said about the old effortlessly romantic chloe, posi!)

morri - welcome home! heehee.. you're asking the wrong person for advice! i love them too much i succumbed to getting both! it almost seems blasphemous to say one is a little better than the other, but as a big bag lover also, the long is so satisfying bc of the sheer amount of crud i can carry around in it (hahaha you know what i mean!) compared to feeling so very romantic and dainty with the medium.. the long is a bit more eye-catching bc of the size and the med more of a subtle surprise.. good luck tmr

 

[kissmesweet]

i love this bag, its so cute

 

[amp88]

The medium really isn't that small -- about the same as a Paddington.

 

[klow-chloe']

I believe we all have the right to choose which information we want to believe and trust. All I am doing is stating the 'FACTS' from the information I have researched.

We are all using our commonsense to justify the information we read and what we have seen in this forum, whether it is sensible info or not.

So I will leave it up to each individual to decide what info you choose to believe ... or in my case, I've spoken to many Celine boutiques and I've choosen to believe them !!!!!!!

You don't need to be a genius to figure this out all you need is commonsense.

If anyone would like to call Celine boutiques to verify my comments please feel free to do so. The contact numbers are on their website : http://www.celine.com

...... please let me know what they say.

 

[Keya]

morriseel~I'd def get the medium, it looks more unique, I think.

 

[ilovepositano]

is there a conflict or something going on that i don't know about? there seems to be alot of tension on this thread.

i don't think it's wrong for relative newcomers to come to this thread and ask questions when they're confused about a bag that is very confusing already.

happy happy, everyone! the only thing that i know for sure about fashion is that something better will always come along tomorrow! if anything, the seasons are kind of relentless in that way.

 

[Greendrv]

I'm going to echo what Posi just posted because I too feel there's a lot of tension on this thread.

In the infamous words of Santino Rice of Bravo's Project Runway 2, "Lighten up, it's just fashion!" *Dancing spryly about the room* There will be other fabulous bags that will come along to capture our hearts , and I'll be there to post my two cents about them (as well as where to find them) on tfs, should anyone care to read about them!

 

[nefertiti]

I definately did not mean to post anything offending to anyone. If I did I am very sorry. I think people on this tread, and on TFS in general are very knowledgeful. In fact, I bet nobody, except maybe the peole at Celine (which I kinda doubt given all the mixed information they have been giving), know as much about the Clandys as here.
If I did sound rude which I hope I did not, I guess it could be that the TFS attract people from all over the globe. Some are less fluent in English than others (me included). Translating from ones own language to English can sometimes make you sound a bit different than you intend.
Anyways, thank you so much to everybody on this tread for opening y eyes to this beautiful bag (I don't think my bank account is as happy, though).

 

[LuvManoloB]

While on my vacation East, I shopped at Neiman Marcus @ Tyson's Galleria. I noticed they had a couple different Celine Clandestine bags. I know there was a brown (luggage) in the medium size. I could have sworn I saw the style with the pockets on the side. I could be wrong though, so don't quote me on that. The SA that I spoke with said that Neiman's would not be carrying Celine anymore. I am not sure if it was just that Neiman's or Neiman's in general. She said it wasn't a great seller for them.