Investment Style, Without the Splurge
The price is absolutely right. Ryann Stutz picks her favorite bags on SECONDSENSE
Today’s edition of Friends with Taste is brought to you by Ryann Stutz!
is a writer and brand marketer based in Brooklyn, obsessing over good omens in the form of Dalmatians and Audrey Hepburn’s Givenchy pillbox hats in Charade. She runs a monthly writers group called Rookie Residency, and her Substack, , interrogates the existing world order as it relates to fashion, politics and culture. Follow her on Instagram @ryannstutz and get in touch (she loves mail!) at ryannstutz@gmail.com.Friends With Taste: Ryann Stutz
On Monday, BoF featured a lineup of designer-led labels finding success and longevity in attracting luxury consumers at the intersection of high-quality materials and accessible price points. Sherri McMullen, the founder of McMullen was quoted, saying, “Consumers don’t want to just wear a brand anymore… They want to feel some connection to what they’re putting on their body, and quite frankly, how they’re spending their money.”
At a time when many aspirational shoppers are finding a higher barrier to entry for luxury fashion, both businesses and consumers are forced to reconsider what is prioritized when shopping. Money matters, and while many people are still looking to spend well on brands they love or the values that matter most to them, the selectivity in the act is quite often swayed by the price tag.
The word investment is a bell rung relentlessly in fashion, hoping to lure consumers into viewing their products as cherished pieces that transcend time and $$$. In the circular/sustainability space, it serves as a reminder to the magpies that though we may be cheap and prefer immediacy, we’re capable of wiring our brains to a new wavelength that preaches compatibility between ethical goods and the cash we shell out to support the means to our ends.
So what makes a bag an investment para mí? If this lineup is any indication, that just means an east-west chocolate leather tote. It IS deeper than that, but my selection skews heavily toward finding the One Good Purse To End All Purses and see me through the fall and winter. We are slowly rolling over to the other side of the year where having an investment bag, and likewise, a coat, reign supreme. Scrolling through SECONDSENSE’s offering has been a healthy reminder that it’s better to act sooner than later on any necessary additions before getting stuck mid-season sans fashion armor.
With spring and summer come relaxed silhouettes and airy materials to run in tandem with our sudden itch to take flight. Get enough vitamin D, and we all want to vitamin GTFO. I arguably carry more things in warmer weather once the sunscreens, fans, deodorants and hair clips tally up on top of laptops, books, journals and lip liners; but lugging these around the city in flimsier vessels becomes a sensory issue once weightier layers are reintroduced into my wardrobe. The combination simply does not compute when double-breasted wool coats are in the picture.
In the stage of life I am at, I find that somewhere in the $300-400 range is the maximum I’d be willing to pay for the premium pieces that really change the style game. To this day, I haven’t paid more than $200 on any one garment, and many of the designer pieces I do own are secondhand. With a different job, with less student loans, with a sensationally reinvigorated economy, these conditions may certainly change, but even the aspirational need to be realistic. There’s plenty of sexy finds within these bounds!
What’s so great about SECONDSENSE is the financial market literacy the platform feeds you. I can filter for my price point as well as for the “deals” that make the most sense. A “Great Deal” may be due to an atypical price for a Bottega in excellent condition, or a standard price for a trending designer that isn’t trying to trick you into paying more than you should. It lets you know that the coveted bag you are investing in is via the best possible avenue. There’s a bevy of average deals for above average bags that are still worth looking into — SECONDSENSE researches across multiple resale sites to find just the kinda thing you might dig.
Tom Haverford tells everyone to take the high road so there’s more room for himself on the low road. I would usually agree with him for my most selfish shopping, but today I’ll let you join the fun. Here are my favorite deals and steals!!!
Ryann’s Shopping Edit
☆ Before we begin, a moment of silence for the loved ones we’ve lost. Namely, this chocolate Bottega with the intrecciato weave on the top flap. *Blows nose, wipes single tear*
☆ Microguccissima!! Hell yeah I guess. Logomania has passed me by a few times already, but my theory of exposure therapy seems to take effect in the form of this neutral Gucci bowler. Try as I may to fight monograms, I may also be getting into the LV Speedy… and we’ll just have to blame AJLT and Tyler, the Creator for that. (additional, slightly more splurge-y Microguccisima top handles here and here).
This is the market price history for the Microguccisima — showing you the methodology and trend movement of the listing and similar listings.
☆ Between the above Gucci and this Fendi top handle, I confess my love for a bowler bag. On the street I usually spot my favorite iterations from Prada, Gucci and Puma (if you can believe that last one!).
☆ Lotta haters and fakers out there trying the Bottega weave lately! If I were to be so lucky as to find one within my price range, to my tastes, in the current wave of demand for the label, perhaps it’s this east-west hobo.
☆ Visible signs of wear have never scared me off when it comes to leather. I don’t keep too many things that I need to be precious about, and when it comes to a purse I find myself more in the Olsen/Birkin variety. Plus, I follow a leather refurbishing queen on IG who’s always bringing old Coach Ergos and the like back to life, so perhaps a good scrub is all this Loewe needs. Did I mention it’s a mf hobo bag? I love her.
☆ This is a New York Bag who just came back from a summer in Provence or Sardinia and holding on to the woman she became while abroad. There were a couple fringe finds when I first started writing this post that have now been scooped up and shipped off to new homes. Fringe is happening, y’all!! Stand out with this Saint Laurent firecracker, unless you thought the pop of red everyone wanted last year was just a phase…
☆ With everything I know about the inhumane destruction of animals used for their skins in global fashion production chains, who gives crocodile leather the right to look this good? When it comes to wearing my values, so to speak, I either prefer to shop secondhand/pre-existing materials, or want to know the Leather Working Standard certification guidelines a brand (hopefully) upholds. Not the case with feathers, which I hate enough from a sensory standpoint that there’s no temptation even for resale. Croc leather is an interesting one in that it has the potential to look really cheap, imo, but between the top handle and suede lining, this Givenchy spared no effort to exceed expectations.
☆ In the wisest words I’ve ever heard from my friend , meeeeeowwwwww. When I wear animal print, I prefer it in choice moments as an accent or to perform as a neutral in the ensemble. Kate Spade got a bad rap (from me) for a few years, but I’m ready to accept the iconic brand for exactly what it is with open arms. This bag is so cutie. And at a price like that, you can’t hate on the Kate!!!!
☆ And let me tell you how good this deal really is for Celine to be sub-500…let alone a mid-three??? Who’s buying this for me to wear every day until my shoulder falls off is the real question at hand. This one I would die for. This may be the One who can save me.
Flatter the most stylish person in your life by nominating them for a future post! We’d love to see what’s in their cart. And be sure to follow SECONDSENSE on Instagram for more fun.
See you next time! x
 | A guest post by
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using a pic from my ig feed is hot guys thnx for the service
so CUTE miss ryann