Handbag Amour by Cavewoman

It was love at first sight.

Last week, Miss Blogdorf And The Cavewoman headed to Saks in Cleveland, armed with our Friends & Family coupons and a determination to use them. We approached the store with open minds, greeted all of our friends in the cosmetics department, sampled some scents, dabbed lipsticks on our hands, and stocked up on some staples in the beauty department. We headed upstairs to a little annex store -- just outside of the upper level, Saks has outgrown it's original space and has taken a storefront for the Contemporary collection. This is where the Nanette Lepore, Diane Von Furstenberg, Theory, and other fabulous fashions are found.

I spotted the blue bag almost immediately. I couldn't help myself, I had it on my shoulder within a half-minute. It was perfection in color, weight, feel, and style. And the subtle scent of the leather was as intoxicating as the beautiful blue color. I wanted to cave immediately, but we still had some other stores to visit. It was hard to let go. In the store, next to the blue bag, we spotted an adorable yellow clutch, from the same company. I tucked it under Annie's arm and made her go look in the mirror. It was adorable with her black outfit and blue and black printed blouse. We remarked to each other that these were gorgeous bags, and why hadn't we heard of the Treesje line before this!

So we left the store, bags unpurchased, to head to Nordstrom. I was haunted. Nothing else pleased or attracted. I was in a blue haze.
Even a fabulous and funky turquoise Marc By Marc Jacobs couldn't turn my head. Even when the Nordstrom SA offered to price match the Saks Friends & Family in the bag department! Even when other shoppers were staring at the turquoise MBMJ on my arm as I checked it out in the mirror. In a department filled with the most lovely handbags, nothing could distract me from thinking of the one I'd left behind. So back to the Saks annex we went.

It was gone!

Someone had put the bag on hold!

We left the annex and headed back to the main store. I plotted my strategy and decided to throw myself mercilessly at my sweet SA, and if she couldn't sell the bag to me, maybe she could find the bag on the Saks website search. This is a service that Saks provides to their customers. If what you want isn't in the store you are in, any SA in the store can do a search on the store computer to find what you want at another store, and have it sent out to you. We went back to the annex and I found the SA who by now had to think of me as a pest rather than a potential sale. The customer who had the bag on hold had not called the store and hadn't returned to buy it, and my SA said the magic words: "I'll sell it to you."

The bag was on my shoulder the next day when I went to Mass in the morning.

A few days later, an email came from Saks. A huge two-day sale was going on. A search of the website showed no bags from Treesje, so I called Annie, needing a poke of encouragement to call the annex to see if the yellow clutch might be on sale. She's such a good enabler. I did, and it was, and it arrived yesterday.

These bags by Treesje are beautifully crafted of the most luxurious leather from Italy. The texture is as soft as butter, with a kind of buffed effect, not quite as suede-y as a nubuck, but sort of like that. The colors are vibrant and fun, the stitching is impeccable, the styles are useable and practical, and oh, are they pretty!

It's been a very long time since I bought a new bag. Let alone two. I can't wait to see what else Treesje will be offering in the future. In the meantime, I'm happy in bag love.

Treesje Metro Collection:
Hudson Hobo in blue
Metro Clutch in yellow