Unbelievable its not mine.....: Borrowing

Have you ever just wanted to "try out" a bag for a week/month and didn't want to purchase it permanently? Do you ever need a stunning bag for a week of special event or a trip to Europe and did not want to have to pay full price for it? Most of you who watched the Sex and the City movie would have known about the Bag Borrow or Steal site, which is now renamed/revamped as Avelle. They have also added an outlet sale where you can BUY the name brands at a fraction of the price.

For example, you could participate in the fringe trend by borrowing a Botkier bag (below). Or, you could borrow a Judith Leiber for a wedding event, a Bottega for meeting Mr. and Mrs. Obama, and a Chanel for your trip in Paris. If you opted for a Hermes Birkin in Crocodile, your borrowing fee per week would be able to buy you a premium designer bag~, but for those who do not plan to hold on to the bags they borrow, Avelle still provides an important option for them to have.

Botkier Morgan Hobo Handbag

Retail value of $675.00

Member Preferred Price:
$32.00/week or $95.00/month
Non-Member Guest Price:
$38.00/week or $109.00/month

Become a member for:
* $9.95 per month
* $19.95 for 3 months - Save 33%!
* $59.95 for a full year - BEST VALUE! Save almost 50%

You can also save $20 off your first borrow by entering SAVE20 when you register as a member.

To borrow or not to borrow, that is the question...

Like transportation and shelter, bags can be rented instead of bought. Bag Borrow or Steal, a bag-renting site based in Seattle, welcomes people to their site with the caption "show off. send back. (repeat as your mood changes.) Welcome to the fun of borrowing designer handbags and jewelry."

Bag Borrow or Steal, sometimes called Netflix for bags, has everything from vintage bags to hot clutches and bags of current seasons. They are also celebrating their "role" in Sex and the City by having a one week complimentary promotion. What was the "role", you say? Well, Louise (played by Jennifer Hudson), the assistant to Carrie Bradshaw in the new Sex and the City movie, turns to Bag Borrow or Steal to feed her bag urges. Of course, Bag Borrow or Steal is smart enough to ride on the Sex and the City wave. They gave out prizes and trips to the premiere of the movie, and they singled out items with SATC flair. What could be better publicity? Personally, I think the link should be obvious. It's long established that Carrie Bradshaw could never afford her wardrobe on her sex columnist salary, so there's no reason she wouldn't rent bags off Bag Borrow or Steal to fake it. Faking it, after all, is not an alien concept in SATC.

There are some who would turn their noses down towards people who fake it. They may find the motives of bag borrowers reeking of vanity. If you don't have the mula to purchase designer bags, then don't! Get cheap bags for your everyday use. Why rent designer bags for the sake of showing off?

But for people who could well afford designer bags yet decide that the bag they love is only a fad or an obsession that can be flushed out of the system, bag borrowing might be an extremely down-to-earth manner of dealing with their bag craze. Occassionally, it's a spouse's bag craze that needs to be dealt with. And then there are occassions where you decide to travel light and did not pack for the must-attend black-tie event in another country. Sure you can buy a new bag!~ Yet, if you're like me, you may need to go back and forth and research for weeks before you can settle on the next bag conquest. Sometimes, you just need an economical, eco-friendly, bag-borrowing service to serve your needs.

That said, I agree that borrowing designer bags in an effort to show off the different arsenal of bags you have is simply disgusting. We should all stay within the bounds of sound financial practice and realistic materialism. If that makes any sense at all. By the way, if you are in Taiwan and find a sudden and temporary need for a designer bag, try this bag lender on Taiwan's Yahoo, who has been profiled on the local news before. Though reliability is good for this lender, I can find few delectable bags on the site. I guess this is due to the distasteful love for monogram LV and Gucci bags in Taiwan. (yuck).