“Shoes? Bag?” I finally gathered myself to ask the owner of the shop I’m visiting “Can I take pictures here?” while putting a begging face. I only had my cellphone then, but I hoped I would shoot great pictures.
Cloudy Sunday, in a dry season, actually I would prefer having a lazy time at home to enjoy my rare free day. But my aunt had convinced me that this day was too precious to be passed idling. So we went downtown. Auntie wanted to buy Jimmy Choo bag that she had always wanted. She then said, “That’s why a wife should have independent income, honey, so whnever you want luxury bag, you don’t have to nag your husband.” I just smiled when I heard this SUPER lady in our family said that.
I was pretty surprised to find a bag shop this complete and this cool in this town. So I guessed I wasn’t sorry I missed my nap time. The place was a heaven for ladies. And only Auntie and her buddies knew about it. What I regretted the most was the fact that I didn’t bring my camera! Crap!
And, it’s show time! I didn’t waste time. Normally I would be shy taking pictures because I wouldn’t have money to shop. But this time, my Auntie was sure to buy, so I shot without hesitating.
What was my target? Bag! Yeah bag. Bag in heel-like form, made from leather with snake hide texture really stole my attention since I entered the shop. I took pictures with my cellphone. But after selection, only 2 of them I found decent enough to upload here.
Actually I wanted to take the picture of the shop owner. He himself served the customer. That fact was what made the bag shop different from all the others. But the owner was reluctant to be picture taken and appear in public blogs.
One thing that disappoint me was that this heel like bag was not for sale. I was surprised when I asked for the price of the bag, and the owner replied while smiling: “Sorry, this one is not for sale. That is my private collection.” So why did he put the charming bag on show? He then shared a story. The bag had a special memory for him. The bag was the first bag that drove him into fashion and made him obsessed with bags. And finally he decided to start this shop selling bags. So his career started with this heel like bag that he bought when he was in high school. For him, the bag represented the idea that creativity should not be limited by age. He gave emphasis on the word age, and I thought I get what he meant.
I started to adore this 40 something guy. It must have been difficult to manage all of that all alone. I saw how his private collection among other newer collection. That private collection still looked new. I guess I had to learn from him. How did he take care of it so it still looked good after years. “Simple. Try not to be selfish. Try not to buy new bag each month. Save the money to buy display window that you can put in your room. A bag needs a decent place to keep, right?” He said jokingly. “And once more, never throw away the silicon bag. You never know when you’ll need them back. The silicon bag helps your bag to fend off the fungus” He said that while showing a small bag of silicon.
So my Sunday was extraordinary. I met a person who was so dedicated into fashion, to be inspired by him, to learn from his experience, and perhaps one day there would be an opportunity for us to work together. Perhaps I needed to spend more time to explore this town where I lived. Because I might find some new surprises out there, right? And I hope one day I will have more acess to tell more about this bag shop to you. See you!
He also had a lot of perfume collection in beautiful cases for sale. Unfortunately, I could only offer the pictures here.
And the bag above is my favorite, but I think I must stop shopping this month. Because I need money to buy my own window display :p
Translation by @ukmekgnac
