So a few weeks ago I went out to tapas dinner with a few girlfriends. The food was AMAZING, as was the company. But that’s another story. My friend Jean was carrying a purse which I, as a handbag enthusiast, spotted across the room. I had to know more about it. It was a large patent leather tote in a striking shade of dark blue. The leather had this very cool watercolor effect. I asked her about it and she said that it was actually made by a friend of hers who had a handbag line, and that it retailed for like $500. Oh, I thought. Well, it sure is pretty!

So I was still thinking about this bag a few weeks later. How cool that there was a local designer making such great stuff. Why am I wasting my time with stupid Coach, who are moving their manufacturing out of China because it’s “too expensive” now to pay workers there (and still reap huge profits), and instead are setting up factories in even poorer economies. Ugh, fuck them. So I wrote to Jean to ask about this designer, thinking maybe I could see if she made a little wallet I could afford or something.

She told me the brand is Rocco e Dante, based in Seattle. I did some googling, and couldn’t find much at all in terms of online sales or anything. It seemed like a dead end. So, I tried again with a different search for “patent leather rocco dante,” and I saw a couple of eBay auctions come up. In fact, there was that same blue bag, brand new, selling for 95 dollars. It’s called the Olivia.

Of course my instinct was to ask, is it real? But who would go through the trouble to knock off a small boutique designer no one’s heard of (yet)? It was certainly authentic, and the seller had impeccable feedback. I mulled it over for a little while. It was still ninety-five bucks. But it was also $400 off the retail price. Lordy. I had to get it. I don’t have any patent leather bags, or big totes that I could use someday for work. That’s how I reason with myself sometimes. Heh.

Here are some pics…