When Teen Vogue and Vanity Fair both
recommend a collab, then it’s the collab for me.
I've admired Dame Vivienne Westwood since her
retrospective back in Canberra’s National Gallery of Australia, when I was a
teen. And I've admired The Cambridge Satchel Company since I spotted it on the BagaholicBoy blog.
I ended up with the Vivienne Westwood x The Cambridge Satchel Company tiny satchel in navy and orange.
Quality – beautiful. The outside is stunning.
The inside is unlined and a bit easy to mark.
Leather smell – intoxicating
Print – tiger-like, if you were viewing the
tiger through an imaginative haze. It’s Westwood's pirate print, an ‘80s print, so it
announces itself a LOT. The exception is the black-on-green colourway – that
one merely whispers. And on the red version, which is exclusive to Vivienne
Westwood stores, the print seems vaguely vaginal (I’m sorry, I deal with
letters pertaining to the vagina very often, don’t ask why).
Englishness – it’s very English-y. Westwood’s
an iconic Brit; the Cambridge Satchel Company’s name alone speaks of punting
down the river Cam. It so happens I have done this – the man wielding the big
punting stick (does it have a better name than this? Perhaps it does. Tell me, if
so, in the comments) happened to look like the love interest in Eat, Pray, Love
(by the way, haven’t seen that; have read about it).
Size – terribly adorable
Practicality – far less ideal than I’d like
to admit. The aforementioned adorable size means it looks like a
satchel stolen from a small child. Though I measured it out onto paper before I
ordered it, when I held it in my hands it was TINY. When I tried to put my
modest daily essentials in it, it didn’t quite work (it could only accommodate
two out of three of the keys/wallet/phone combo at any one time). A bit more
enthusiasm meant I was ultimately able to slot everything in, even my special
pass to get into work. But practical it is not. I would also not quite consider
it an evening bag. But if you’re wanting to walk around looking like a stylish
street-style person (NOT me – stylish street-style people do not combine the
carrying of a tiny bag with the lugging of a big tote), clearly this bag’s a
winner.
