So, you know how you see those Chanel black and white totes sometimes? Yeah, the ones that look super sleek. I’ve seen them around, on social media, sometimes even in real life if I’m in a fancy part of town. They just scream “I’ve got it together,” don’t they?
I heard some of them, like that Deauville bag, can actually get you more money back than you paid. Imagine that! A shopping bag that makes you money. It’s a wild concept. And Chanel, well, black was her thing, right? Someone told me she said something like, “When I find a colour darker than black, I’ll wear it.” And white, well, it just makes things pop, makes you look good, I guess. Simple. Black and white. Classic.
My Own Little Brush with “Fancy”
But all this talk about timeless style and investment pieces, it just reminds me of this one period in my life. It wasn’t about buying a Chanel tote, not even close. It was more about just… noticing things, I guess. This was a few years back. I was working this job, just trying to make ends meet, really. And you see all sorts of stuff when you’re just out there, living your life, not scrolling through perfect pictures online.
I remember thinking, okay, what’s the big deal with these bags? I started actually looking, you know, paying attention. What kind of person carries them? What’s it all about? My “practice” at that time was pretty much just surviving the week, but you observe things, you can’t help it.
I had this coworker, not at that particular job, but another one I had. She was obsessed with designer stuff. Not sure if any of it was real, to be honest, but she had the look down. She’d talk about:
- The latest “it” bag.
- Who was seen carrying what.
- How she was “saving up” for some tiny wallet that cost more than my rent.
It was a whole different world.
Anyway, back to this other job. It was tough. Long hours, not much pay. The kind of job where you’re on your feet all day and you go home smelling like… well, whatever you were working with. And I’d see people come in, sometimes, customers, you know? And a few of them, they’d have these really expensive-looking bags. Some were black and white, really striking. Maybe they were Chanel, maybe not. But they looked the part.
There was this one day, I was having a pretty rough shift. Everything that could go wrong, did go wrong. Spills, complaints, the works. I was feeling so tired, just drained. And this woman walks in. She’s got this pristine, large black and white tote. Perfectly structured. Looked like it had never seen a speck of dust. And she was complaining about something so tiny, so insignificant, I can’t even remember what it was. But I remember looking at her bag, then looking at my own worn-out backpack stuffed in a locker, and just thinking… wow. What a difference a bag can make, or at least, what it represents.
I didn’t feel jealous, not really. It was more like… a moment of clarity. Like, okay, that’s one version of life. And I’m over here, in a completely different version. And both are happening at the same time. It was just a very stark, black and white contrast, kind of like the bag itself, if that makes any sense.
I never got into the whole designer bag thing myself. My money always had other places to go – bills, fixing stuff, the usual. That “practice” of mine, observing the fancy totes, it didn’t make me want one more. It just made me think. About priorities, about what “value” really means. Is it the resale price of a bag, or is it having enough to get by and maybe help someone else out?
So yeah, that Chanel black and white tote. For me, it’s not just an accessory. It’s kind of a marker for that whole period of my life, a reminder of those observations and the things I was figuring out. It’s funny how an object can do that, stick in your mind for reasons totally unrelated to its actual purpose. Still see them around, of course. And I still think, “Huh. Black and white. Classic.” But now, it just makes me nod to myself, remembering my own little journey with it all.
