…..IF YOU WEAR YOUR NEW SHOES!!!!!

OK. Masih ingat dengan cerita scholl saya? Baiklah, saya muak. Entah  kenapa sendal scholl saya itu mendadak melebar *mungkin karena kaki saya yang membengkak* dan jadi kurang nyaman dikenakan. Bagian depannya apalagi, seringkali membuat jari-jari kaki keluar secara berlebihan.
Akhirnya kemarin…efek baru menerima THR, saya pun memborong 2 pasang sepatu dan 1 sendal
Salah satunya adalah yang ini, yang  sedang saya kenakan di minggu-sore-yang-cerah-tapi-harus-masuk-kerja ini , sebuah flat shoes berwarna cream dan black patent.

mari bekerja di minggu sore

Belinya di metoo yang kebetulan sedang mengadakan diskon lebaran.Sepatu ini  sangat-sangat enak dipakai dan sepertinya sepatu dengan sol lentur seperti ini sangat cocok untuk dikenakan wanita hamil seperti saya. Hati sungguhlah senang, karena tak lagi harus merasa muram saat melihat kaki-kaki.

Ah well…kerjaan saya masih banyak..jadi marilah kita bekerja lagi

Saya bolehlah dibilang sedikit terkena demam Balenciaga. Candunya mulai terasa setelah membeli tas pertama, dan perlahan-lahan mulai berpikir dan berpikir warna mana yang selanjutnya hendak diburu

Sayangnya color swatch Balenciaga untuk SS 2011 sangatlah tak ada yang menggoda iman. Tentu ini kabar baik buat dompet saya!!

Balenciaga color swatch preseason ss 2011

Tentu, sangatlah tidak adil menghakimi warna-warna ini tidak menarik sebelum melihat penampakannya secara langsung. Jadi marilah kita tunggu sama-sama, siapa tahu begitu melihat penampakannya, kondisi dompet malah cenderung tidak aman

pic: purseforum.com

Beberapa bulan yang lalu, sebagai pecinta berat hak platform, saya sungguh bahagia dan sukacita luarbiasa menemukan sepatu platform ini.

dknyplatform

Sepatu hak tinggi yang tapinya luarbiasa nyaman ini,  kira-kira berhasil dipakai sebanyak 5 kali dan terpaksa langsung masuk box kembali begitu saya positif hamil.

Selanjutnya sudah pasti telapak kaki saya HANYA bisa berteman baik dengan sendal tanpa hak dan sepatu flat.Tapi di beberapa minggu terakhir ini saya mulai putus asa karena sepatu flat tak lagi nyaman dipakai termasuk sendal yang teplek sekalipun.Karena kaki-kaki ini pelan-pelan mulai membengkak.

Dan suatu hari, saya pun berputar-putar di department store serta memutuskan dan menyerah untuk mengadopsi sendal yang……..sangat identik dengan pilihan nenek-nenek, scholl sandals *tutup muka*

schollsandals

Tapi jujur…siapa yang peduli dengan model sendal yang sangat sangat tidak ada modelnya ini? Kaku dan sangat tidak mengundang perhatian. Bukan berarti ini adalah tanda-tanda menurunnya selera saya terhadap sendal/sepatu (bahkan Ibu saya tertawa melihat  sendal pilihan saya ini!). Karena sumpah saya hampir nangis mengingat sendal ini akan pasangan kaki saya sehari-hari. Tapi sumpah juga kalau ini adalah sendal TERENAK yang pernah saya miliki (mengalahkan birkenstock yang menurut saya kalau dipakai terlalu lama membuat telapak kaki sakit)

But oh well…i dont mind being “grandma”  For A WHILE. Telapak kaki saya butuh sol yang enak yang mampu menopang tubuh saya dengan baik. Iseng, saya pun membuka website www.drschollshoes.com dan menemukan sebenarnya koleksinya sangat beragam dan cukup menarik. Beberapa malah jauh dari kesan sendal nenek-nenek . Misalnya seperti sendal-sendal kayu klasiknya.

classic scholl in tan

classic scholl in red

Bayangkan memakainya dengan summer dress atau dipadankan dengan jeans dan tshirt sederhana. Umm…lovely…

pics:drschollshoes.com

Mau tas designer secara gratis? Silahkan ke Wolipop.com. Isi formulirnya dan siapa tahu salah satu tas diatas jadi milikmu!

Setelah sukses dengan seri journey sebelumnya dengan menampilkan Catherine Deneuve, Steffi Graff dan Andre Agassi,Francis Ford Coppola dan Sofia Coppola, Keith Richards, Mikael Gorbachev dan Sean Connery,  kini Louis Vuitton menampilkan tiga legenda sepakbola di iklan terbaru mereka, Pele, Zidane dan Maradona di tahun 2010, bertepatan dengan tahun diselenggarakannya Piala Dunia.

Zidane,Pele & Maradona for Louis Vuitton

Secara pribadi, saya menyukai iklan cetak yang diambil gambarnya oleh Annie Leibovitz ini. Warna dan latar belakang yang terasa konsisten seperti di iklan-iklan journey lainnya. Karakter-karakter yang ditampilkan pun sejalan napas Louis Vuitton sebagai brand yang telah melegenda selama puluhan tahun.

Untuk ikut ber”partisipasi” silahkan buka http://www.louisvuittonjourneys.com

pic: Louisvuitton.com

Sejalan dengan keinginan saya untuk memutuskan membeli Balenciaga, saya pun berusaha mencari tahu bagaimana caranya melindungi tas yang konon memiliki kulit yang sensitif ini. Soalnya, sayang sekali kalau pada akhirnya tas ini tidak terjaga dengan baik. Apalagi buat membelinya butuh waktu untuk menabungnya

Akhirnya, setelah cari-cari di purseforum, kesimpulannya adalah…untuk memproteksi tas baru, produk kulit yang direkomendasikan adalah Apple Garde. Idealnya Apple Garde langsung disemprotkan saat tas baru masih belum dipakai. Gunanya untuk melindungi dari air, debu dan kotoran yang akan menempel di kemudian hari.

Apple Garde Rain and Stain Repellent

Apple Garde Rain and Stain repellent ini cocok digunakan untuk melindungi smooth leathers, canvas, fabrics, Suede dan Nubuck leather dari segala noda kotoran termasuk minyak dan keringat.

Masih belum cukup, para fans Balenciaga di purseforum juga menganjurkan pemakaian Apple Care Conditioner, agar kulit Balenciaga yang tipis ini selalu terjaga dengan baik. Seperti layaknya moisturizer untuk kulit kita, Apple Care ini akan melembabkan kulit Balenciaga agar dapat terus terlihat bagus.

Apple Care Conditioner

Karena tiap-tiap tas memiliki jenis kulit yang berbeda, Apple juga memiliki conditioner lain seperti Meltonian Cleanser and Conditioner. Dari yang saya telusuri, Meltonian ini cocok untuk tas-tas Chanel, Tod’s, Prada, Hermes.

Meltonian Cleaner and Conditioner

Ada berbagai kelebihan dari produk Apple yang membuat produk ini direkomendasikan. Yang pertama, karena tidak meninggalkan bau. Yang kedua, cepat kering. Yang ketiga, aman untuk digunakan pada tas-tas yang berwarna muda bahkan warna putih sekalipun.

Untuk lebih jelasnya mengenai produk-produk Apple, bisa dibaca di www.applepolishes.com

Tapi sayangnya, produk Apple ini belum tersedia disini. Tetapi, salah satu teman saya, Nadya dari nadinsky.multiply.com sedang melakukan pre-order untuk produk Apple ini. 3 Produk diatas termasuk ke dalam daftarnya.

So go, hurry…..order these apple products from her! Lindungi tas-tas kesayangan supaya tetap terlihat cantik dan awet. Supaya investasi yang sudah dikeluarkan dapat bertahan lama

pic: leatherstuff.com

Mohon maaf kalau beberapa bulan ini, blog-nya terbelangkai. Hamil di semester pertama ini betul-betul sedikit menyiksa. Bukan cuma mual dipagi hari, tapi mualnya selalu datang setiap saat. Bertemu komputer betul-betul hanya untuk urusan kerja.

Tapi, sekarang, semuanya sudah membaik, Alhamdulillah. Mual masih ada, tapi sudah mulai jarang-jarang. Mood pun pelan-pelan membaik. Biasanya kucel luar biasa, malas nyisir *!!!!* sekarang sudah kembali berteman kembali dengan salon

Baiklah…mari menulis-nulis lagi. Terlalu banyak tas diluar sana yang saya lewatkan.

Berikut info mengenai serial numbers dan cara membaca Balenciaga tag:

Serial Numbers
Matching front & back of bags with metal tags. Located on the back of the tag, on bags that only have a leather tag.

First: 103208
Day: 140442
Twiggy: 128523
City: 115748
Giant City: 173084
Part-Time: 168028
Giant Part-Time: 173082
Work: 132110
Giant Work: 173080
Weekender, metal tag: 110506
Mini-Bowling:163259
Mid-Afternoon:168026
Flat Messenger: 177289
Courier:
Purse: 128522
Box: 145694
Shopping:145704

Shoulder: 138226
Giant Clutch(07):177286
Money Wallet: 163471
Le Campagnon: 130788
Le Mini Campagnon:156537
Coin Purse: 130783

Date Codes

Each of the tags that have a metal tag only, will additionally have an alpha indicator at the end of its serial number. This alpha indicator designates the season that the color/bag comes from. Balenciaga is working its way backwards through the alphabet, so its fairly easy to determine what season your bag is from, on bags with a metal tag is, based on this letter.

For example:

SS07, has the designator “V”
FW07, has the designator “U”

So you can go forwards or backwards in time, to get to the season indicator that you’re looking for. (The letter “x” is not used in the series.) It stands to reason, that next season “SS08″… the indicator should be a “T”.

There is also a “Season code” on the paper card that comes with each Balenciaga bag, regardless of tag. This can be the easiest determinant of color, regardless of the type of tag the bag has inside.

A paper tag may read something like this: “2006 3 163259 D941T 250″
Indicating this is a 2006 bag, from the FW series, style Mini-bowling, in the color Blueberry. FUN!

Metal vs. Leather Tags

First: Metal
Day: Leather
Twiggy: Leather
City: Metal
Giant City: Leather
Part-Time: Leather
Giant Part-Time: Leather
Work: Metal
Giant Work: Leather
Weekender: Metal or Leather, depending on if its the Women’s or Men’s version
Mini-Bowling: Leather
Mid-Afternoon:Leather
Flat Messenger: Leather
Courier: Leather
Purse:Leather
Box: Leather
Shopping:Leather

Shoulder: Leather
Giant Clutch(07):Imprinted into the leather
Money Wallet: Imprinted into the leather
Le Campagnon: Imprinted into the leather
Le Mini Campagnon:Imprinted into the leather
Coin Purse: Leather

So you can see that Balenciaga moto styles prodominantly have the leather style tag throughout the line. The most popular consumer styles seem to have the silver metal tag, with style serial number indicators on the front. Regular leather tags with say, “Balenciaga.Paris” on the front, with serial information on the back.

How to read a Balenciaga tag

(from purseforum)

Here is how to read your tag:

The Silver Tag includes:
Nxxxx which is commonly thought to be Leather Batch,
followed by the letter designation the year/season (after S/S 2003)
Under that is the Style/Model number

The backside of the Leather tag often has the Style/Model number and what is commonly thought of as the Serial Number (listed below by style name/model number):

The Paper Tag includes

• the Year and a ’1′ for S/S or ’3′ for F/W.
• the next set of numbers are the style number and this should match your silver tag style number.
• the next set of numbers is the type of Hardware on the bag (ie raised brass, giant gold, etc)
• the last set of numbers seems to be linked to the color/season/year of the bag. Stay tuned for further decoding!

For a complete list of Balenciaga colors and their corresponding tag letters, please see Serial numbers for all Balenciaga styles

“1” = S/S Spring/Summer Season
“3” = F/W Fall/Winter Season

P = S/S 2010
Q = F/W 2009
R = S/S 2009 Raised Brass HW, Silver Giant HW, Body Colored HW
S = F/W 2008 Raised Brass HW, Gold Giant Hardware, Silver Giant HW, Body Colored HW
T = S/S 2008 Raised Brass HW, Gold Giant Hardware, Silver Giant HW
U = F/W 2007 Raised Brass HW, Gold Giant Hardware, Silver Giant HW
V = S/S 2007 Raised Brass HW, Gold Giant HW
W = F/W 206 Raised Brass HW Pony hair had raised silver HW
Y = S/S 2006 Raised Brass HW White Pony hair had Swarovski crystals
Z = F/W 2005 Raised Brass HW Canvas had raised silver HW
A = S/S 2005 Raised Brass HW Metallics has raised silver HW
B = F/W 2004 Raised Brass HW with Sans Serif Font from here on out
C = S/S 2004 Raised Silver/Pweter HW with Serif Font
D = F/W 2003 Raised Silver/Pewter HW with Serif Font
S/S 2003 Raised Silver/Pewter HW
F/W 2002 Suede with Raised Silver HW
S/S 2002 Smooth and Pebbled Leather with Flat Brass HW
F/W 2001 Smooth and Pebbled Leather with Flat Brass HW

Like I mentioned above, Louis Vuitton has been only using these date codes since the early 80s.  This means that Louis Vuitton vintage items- pre early 80′s will not have a date code.  They may have other Louis Vuitton markings, but will not have a code.  When it comes to vintage pieces, it’s important to know the styles, when they were introduced etc. and then to inspect the brass LV hardware, the lining, the leather and stitches for authenticity.  It is really not uncommon to find nice vintage pieces without a date code.

Vintage French Company pieces- No Date Codes

During a period from the 1970′s through 1991- Louis Vuitton had a licensing relationship with The French Luggage Company here in the United States.  I’ve written an entire guide on Vintage Louis Vuitton French Company pieces…  These items had different markings that its International counterparts.  They also do not have date codes.

In the early 80′s Louis Vuitton used only three or four numbers that would represent the month and year that a particular item was manufactured.  Notice the three digit code below:

If you look carefully, you can see the number 831 near the bottom.  This is a vintage glasses case.  It was made in January of 1983.  The first two numbers represent the year, and the last number represents the month.

Obviously, if the month were October, November, or December… the last number would actually be two numbers… so a glasses case made in November of 1983 would have the date code 8311.

Back “in those days” a date code was a date code… a number that could give you the general date when the item was manufactured.

Late 80′s:  Three or Four Numbers Followed by Two Letters

Later in the 80′s, Louis Vuitton started using a production code that consisted of the same three or four numbers as above… followed by two letters.  These letters are an abreviation for the factory where that particular piece was manufactured.  Using the number and letter combination- Louis Vuitton (and all of us!) can tell where and when that particular item came to be!  Take the piece below for example (sorry, eBay limits my image size on Guide pictures…)

Notice the code above- 8911 AN.  This vintage Louis Vuitton Rabat was made in a factory in France, in November of 1989.  See the production code below…

This wallet has a date code 884 ET.  So we know that this piece was made in France in April of 1988.

For the vintage Speedy, sometimes LV actually split up the two parts of the date code… so that the numbers were on one set of rivets and the letters were on the other, like this:

The date code above was 892 on one side and FC on the other.

Very early 1990′s: Two Letters followed by Four Numbers

I am not sure the exact month that it happened, but I do know that by 1990, at least some Louis Vuitton production codes had taken a new format…  Take a look at this date code- from 1990:

OK, very annoying that these pictures are so tiny- and unclear.  The code above was SL 0990.  Obvioulsy, this code makes no sense with the older formatting of the first two numbers being the year, the second one or two being the month.  With that system, the bag above is made in 2009, in the 90th month- it makes no sense.

But in 1990, Louis Vuitton began staggering the  year and the month… so that the first and third number represent the month, and the second and fourth number represent the year.  This is the method that was used through December of 2006 (scroll below for January 2007 updated).  Here are some examples:

It could be on a vachetta or other colored leather tab (this was from a Mini Monogram Francoise) like this:

Or just embossed in the lining like this (notice there is some color to the embossing… (like this mini pochette that came with a Bucket 27):

Or embossed on the D-ring like on this Cabas Piano:

When embossing is in the alcantara lining, it is often very hard to read.  It helps to know exactly where it should be, and either examine carefully outside or with a flash light.  I have seen alcantara linings that have seen enough wear that the date code is impossible to make out- although I could tell that something had been there.  Here is the date code in a black Multicolore 30:

Other date codes are virtually impossible to get to!  This is the date code for a Papillon 26.  It was so far back in such an awkward spot, that I could hardly find it.

January 2007:  Date Code changes to weekly format.

Again, for whatever reason, Louis Vuitton made another change to the date code format beginning in January 2007.  You will still find the same two letters followed by four number format, however instead of using the staggered month and year, Louis Vuitton is now using a staggered Week of the Year and Year formula… so that…  a date code that says SD 0077 is not a bag that was made in July of 2007, but is a bag that was made in the 7th week of the year 2007- so mid-to-late February of 2007.   For some reason, I can only add 10 pictures to an eBay guide, so I’m not able to add this picture.  I’ll get it up on our website soon.

Why are the letters important?

By this 1990s, Louis Vuitton had been manufacturing outside of France for years- through it’s partnership with the US based “The French Company” (See my guide to authentic Louis Vuitton French Company pieces if you’re interested).  Not only that, but Louis Vuitton had a factory in Spain and soon had one of their own in San Dimas, California.

This is very interesting, as I mentioned earlier, the two letters correspond with the country of production.  So, if a bag has a date code with the CA pre-fix… I know for sure, that that bag is made in Spain.  You want to be sure that a bag that you are looking to purchase, has a date code- with a prefix for a country of origin that matches the embossing on the bag that says where it’s made.  (Made in USA, France, Spain etc.)

So, If I have a bag, with a date code with the CA prefix, and it has “Made in USA” or “Made in France”… I know that at the very least I need to really scruitinize that bag for authenicity.  There are a few reasons why a bag could have a US date code and be Made in France… for example, if the lining has been redone… the date code may be very new (so a bag that was made in 1998 in France could end up with a 2006 date code that was repaired in the USA).  It’s just definitely a reason to get a second look at the bag.

So how do you know what those letters mean?  Here’s a little guide to help you out.  You’ll find the country followed by the letters that coordinate with that country…

France:  A0, A1, A2, AA, AN, AR, AS, BA, BJ, CT, DU, ET, FL, MB, MI, NO, RA, RI, SD, SL, SN, SP, SR, TH, VI

USA:  FC, FH, LA, OS, SD

Spain:  CA, LO, LB, LM, LW

Italy:  CE, SA

Germany:  LP

from: Fashionphile (ebayguides)