A little bit of inside info about PurseBlog: between the regular site and Savvy, I usually write around 8 posts per day, 5 days per week. I have basically the coolest job of anyone I know, but every now and then, I get a little bleary-eyed and dizzy from looking at that many handbags. Bags sort of blend together, and sometimes I don’t notice things that should probably be obvious.
For example, I never would have realized that the Francesco Biasia Lillian Satchel looks so much like the Jimmy Choo Riki Tote if two things hadn’t happened: if I hadn’t written a post about Choo’s double-belted bags only yesterday, and if the Nordstrom website hadn’t referred to it as “double-belted.” I think it should have been clear to me from the beginning, though. Choo has been doing various bags like this for more than a year now, and the two belts at the top are one of their biggest signatures. The Biasia bag doesn’t take very design element from the Riki, and it makes the idea somewhat their own with the front knotting, but I still think they shouldn’t have gone there. Double belts at the top of the bag are something that Choo has used as a key design element in a huge number of their bags in recent seasons, and I think it’s in poor taste for another brand to be using them in such a similar way so soon. Buy through Nordstrom for $398.
Hi Amanda!
:)
I actually like this bag. OK I can see your point about the Jimmy Choo bag (especially when seeing it just recently on PB) but I wouldn’t consider paying that amount for a Jimmy Choo bag. I think this is different enough with the bow. The colour is lovely but I’d like to see it IRL.
BTW, would it be possible to maybe update the musthave bags? I know you are REALLY, REALLY busy but poor PB Savvy doesn’t get a regular makeover often!
Just a thought – feel free to hurl insults at me
Cheers
Julie
But Rebecca Minkoff is also doing “double-belted” bag http://shop.nordstrom.com/S/3025355/0~6006558~6007186~6007187?mediumthumbnail=Y&origin=category&searchtype=&pbo=6007187&P=2
“and I think it’s in poor taste for another brand to be using them in such a similar way “
I have to say, I actually prefer the Biasia! It’s much more reasonably priced than the Choo, for one, and the double-belt effect its more classy, elegant and subtle.
I’ve never owned any FB bag, but I’ve seen the RM Devote Tote lately and feel okay with it because not everyone is willing or able to pay for Jimmy Choo. And I must say, I like this version much better than the RM version, and this one costs a lot less,too!
I have to say I disagree. I think companies can and should take popular design elements and transmutate them, so people like me can afford to wear them! They changed it enough, and actually improved on it, I think.
I own this in straw (the straps and details are patent) in a bright cobalt blue — I didn’t know it was available in leather! Envy.
um. The bags look very different from one another. Was Jimmy Choo really the first to do a double belted bag? Serioulsy. Both bags are beatuiful in their owns ways and appeal to different types of customers. At $398 the Francesco Biasia bag is ” a lot of bag for your buck.”