Best Louis Vuitton Designer Handbags Reviews and Shopping

Louis Vuitton Summer 2014 Collection

Louis Vuitton News

Let’s say you’re hunting for a summer bag and it needs to be multi-functional. You got your entire summer days planned out; a barbeque party in your garden next Sunday, two weeks with BFF at Barcelona, shopping spree with your niece – sandals on! And when the sun hits to 33+ degrees, I can find you tanning on the beach. Long story short, you need an everyday-summer bag.

Sunglasses on or off, it has no effect, the brand-new Louis Vuitton Articles de Voyages suits you anyway. It’s the perfect summer bag to go with, either on the beach, next to the swimming pool or in your summer dress. It’s glamorously white with the LV logo printed on it, the strap comes in different color, you like blue or pink? I like both. More information later this week.

Then of course Louis Vuitton has to show off their newest shades of the Neverfull bag in epi leather. This bag doesn’t need any introduction, just click over to our previous post to know more.

The Louis Vuitton Louise Bag has been selected by our community as one of the ‘must have’, and now in its new pink color, can you resist, can you?

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Louis Vuitton A dozen girls FW2014 Collection

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Before Nicolas Ghesquière sent his army of models down the runway in Paris, he first released an exclusive first-look of the Fall Winter 2014 Collection. A Dozen Girls is a series of pictures shot by Juergen Teller; basically a portfolio of 12 looks accessorized with items from the new collection. It gives you a sense and inspiration of how to combine the dresses, shoes and bags for casual and formal occasions.

Although everything is timeless, the most notable is the iconic Louis Vuitton trunk luggage that got re-designed and shrunken into a compact handbag. All the traditional elements give it a vintage look; like the shade of the leather combined with monogram canvas, the three security locks in luxurious golden hardware. The edges are refined with black steel and it comes with a black shoulder strap.

The style is there, your essentials are safe in the box and it’s transportable around your shoulder. It got everything you need. We will post more details about this bag later on, but…

What’s more? Each Louis Vuitton picture ends with a short description, the same you would expect from a blogger. Take a look at the rest of the images…

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How to Refurbish a Louis Vuitton Bag

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Because of the desirability and quality of Louis Vuitton, there are many vintage pieces out there. While these bags are still fashionable, some signs of age are probably visible. This post will go over how to refurbish all of the usual areas that show wear, and how to make your bag look newer than it really is by lightening and evening the vachetta leather and brightening the metal fittings.

Here is our bag before any refurbishment. This charming Speedy 30 is 22 years old and is considered a vintage piece. As is, it's still very wearable, but we can make it way way better!

As you can see, the monogram canvas holds up very well. There is no tearing and very little wear to it. But, the metal fittings, lock, and zipper have lost their luster. Instead of shiny gold, it is a dull bronze accompanied with a little bit of rust. Also, the vachetta leather exhibits age. Vachetta leather is a beautiful leather that develops a patina over time. Some people love a darkened patina on their Louis Vuitton, but blotchy uneven patina is generally not desirable. Other than these two things, this classic vintage bag does not exhibit much wear at all. Luckily, we can fix dark blotchy vachetta leather and dull metal hardware!

psst... Btw, you can use this guide on most canvas and vachetta leather Louis Vuitton bags, not just Speedy bags!

What You Will Need to Refurbish your Louis Vuitton Bag

1. Paper towels
2. At least 5 q-tips
3. BlueMagic metal polish cream 
4. 1 Mr. Clean Magic Eraser 
5. Cadillac boot & shoe care leather conditioner 
6. Clean soft cloth (not pictured)

I strongly recommend Blue Magic metal polish cream due to its effectiveness. It fights the tarnish and gunk, while not disturbing any etching and brand markings. Do NOT use metal polish on gold-plated hardware. For example, Chanel frequently uses gold-plated hardware on their bags.

I also strong recommend Cadillac leather conditioner . I've tried and used MANY different leather conditioners including Apple and more high-end conditioners, and Cadillac is the best, most versatile one that I have tried. Used reasonably and sparingly, it is one of the few leather conditioners in the market that will not darken vachetta leather, while noticeably re-hydrating it.

Now, let's proceed with how to make your bag look amazing!

STEP 1: With a dry paper towel, try to wipe off as much of the rust around any of the fittings.

Look at all that rust that built up over the years!

STEP 2: Now, using the q-tips, buff the small metal fitting pieces with a small amount of metal polish cream. Try not to get any of the cream onto the leather.

STEP 3: Using a dry paper towel, firmly buff the metal pieces that have received metal polish treatment. Keep buffing until the metal is shiny and no longer giving you black residue.

The left metal fitting and stud has not been polished. The right one has been polished and exhibits a gold mirror finish!

Before and after metal polishing. Huge difference!

STEP 4: Buff larger metal hardware such as the lock as well. Instead of using a q-tip, use a paper towel for both polish cream application and buffing. Locks will require this step to be repeated a few times before it is shiny.

And, here is the bag after all of the metal hardware have received polishing. This included the zipper as well.

Making the hardware shiny has already made this bag look much more polished (pun intended :D )!

Before proceeding to the next step (Magic Eraser), please examine how glossy the vachetta leather is. If the leather does not look glossy, do NOT apply the magic eraser step. If the leather is not glossy looking, it means that the bag was recently cleaned and further cleaning can be bad for it, or that it is too dry or too new for cleaning.

STEP 5: Taking your Magic Eraser, dampen it, and squeeze out all excess water. Now rub this against the vachetta leather handles, and tabs. Remember, rub, NOT SCRUB! Focus on each spot for 15 seconds. Do not do more as this cleaning process is very strong and too much time in any one spot can dry out the leather. So, this means, the small end tabs each took 15 seconds of rubbing, while each handle with larger surface area got a total of 1.5 minutes of rubbing. You will need to rinse out the Magic Eraser every once in a while, because it accumulates a lot of residue. Squeeze out excess water each time before going back to cleaning the vachetta leather. You will want to do this step in a large sink, as the Magic Eraser will start to disintegrate and crumble. Try to keep the bag as dry as possible.

The vachetta leather will be darker when you do this step. Don't freak out! This is only temporary. After this step, you will see the leather start lightening within 3 minutes!

STEP 6: Immediately, after the leather has dried (approximately after 30 minutes - 1 hour), put a small amount of Cadillac leather conditioner onto a soft clean cloth and condition the entire bag.

A small amount of Cadillac leather conditioner will make the cleaned vachetta leather hydrated, smooth and buttery with a slight sheen. This final step is important and keeps your bag protected.

Here is the beautiful final result:

And, just to show the drastic transformation, here are closeups of the vachetta leather handles throughout the cleaning process.

And, here is the entire bag:

I'm so happy with the results of this diy! The vachetta leather is so even in color and many shades lighter! The metal fittings look so glamorous!

My previous how to lighten Louis Vuitton vachetta leather post is completely inferior to the Magic Eraser solution.

Hope you enjoyed this post! Leave any questions or comments below. Would love to hear from you!

Though this process worked very well for us with no problems, we do want to caution that outcomes cannot be guaranteed. Please proceed with caution.

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Easy Louis Vuitton Bag Authentication Guide

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Louis Vuitton is the most counterfeited designer out there. They have produced many different lines of bags throughout the years; canvas monogram, epi, vernis, damier azur just to name a few of their outside finishes. With all of this, authentication can be overwhelming. So, we put together an easy beginner's guide to authenticating Louis Vuitton bags. Enjoy!

When authenticating Louis Vuitton purses, there are many details to study: leather, stitch trim, inside lining, hardware details, monogram pattern/alignment, d-rings, etc, etc. Unless you're really familiar with LV, it is just too much! So, let's look at 3 of the most important authentication features that apply to ALL Louis Vuitton bags.

1. Louis Vuitton Stamping

These are all AUTHENTIC Louis Vuitton stamps.

The main Louis Vuitton stamp is very important for authentication, and oftentimes it can easily allow you to determine that a bag is fake.

Features to pay attention to: 
1. The tail on the L is very short. 
2. The O's are very round and look bigger than the L. 
3. The T's are almost touching each other or are so close that it looks like it. 
4. Lettering should be thin to somewhat thin, clear and very crisp.
5. Study the general font used and how it is aligned.
*There are rare exceptions to the above rules.*

Next up, are some counterfeits that you can compare to:

These are all FAKE Louis Vuitton stamps.

Notice how the first three fake Louis Vuitton stamps all have obvious errors. For instance, oval O's instead of round O's, the size of the O's, the space between the T's, and width of the imprint.

The last (4th) fake Louis Vuitton stamp is from a better counterfeit. Notice how this stamping does not appear to have any mistakes. Further authentication steps would be required to weed out this fake.

2. Hardware

Authentic zipper is on the left, while the counterfeit zipper is on the right.

In general, most fake Louis Vuitton bags will have very poor quality hardware. In fact, some are colored plastic!

Observing how clean and precise the imprinting is on hardware will also be a giveaway for many fakes. Notice how clean and crisp the lettering and imprinting on the authentic hardware is compared to the replicas.

Authentic clasp is on the left, while the fake clasp is on the right.

3. Datecode

All Louis Vuitton bags before the early 1980s did not come with a datecode. But most Louis Vuitton bags still in circulation will have a datecode.

Datecodes can provide the date and place of manufacture of the bag. Because many datecodes provide the country origin of this bag, this can be another checkpoint for authentication. Again, this is another thing that counterfeiters mess up on.

For instance, the fake datecode is MI 1920. MI means that the bag came from France. If the stamping on the Louis Vuitton bag states: made in U.S.A or Spain, you know that this bag is a counterfeit. The country signified on the datecode must be the same country specified on the "Made in" stamping.

Countries and their Datecodes:
made in France- A0, A1, A2, AA, AAS, AH, AN, AR, AS, BA, BJ, BU, DR, DU, CO, CT, ET, FL, LW, MB, MI, NO, RA, RI, SD, SF, SL, SN, SP, SR, TJ, TH, TR, TS, VI, VX
made in Italy- BC, BO, CE, FO, MA, RC, RE, SA, TD
made in Spain- CA, GI, LO, LB, LM, LW
made in U.S.A.- FC, FH, FL, LA, OS, SD
made in Switzerland- DI, FA
made in Germany- LP

Datecodes are embossed on a piece of leather on the inside of the bag or on the side near a seam inside the bag. They can sometimes be difficult to find. Unless the datecode has been rubbed down or the bag is very vintage, it should always be there. Fake bags oftentimes do not have datecodes.

We hope that this simplified guide helps you significantly. These 3 easy tips would be adequate for many Louis Vuitton counterfeits. A thorough authentication guide for Louis Vuitton would cover specific hardware pieces, datecode fonts, monogram alignment and much more; it would be extremely lengthy and too exhaustive for a non-specialist!

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How to Lighten Louis Vuitton Vachetta Leather

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The vachetta leather that is seen on many Louis Vuitton bags, such as the Alma, Speedy, Houston, Tivoli, etc, has very unique properties. When a bag is new, the vachetta leather is very light in color. Over time, due to age, moisture, wear and sunlight, the leather develops a patina and deepens in color. Many people prefer the vachetta to darken to a honey color, while others love the crisp light color of new vachetta. Either way, over time, the Louis Vuitton's vachetta leather will darken even without use. Here's a trick to lighten it up.

Please note that we have only used this trick on bags that had darkened vachetta leather. Do not use this on nearly new Louis Vuitton, as the leather would not need lightening and the wipes may cause premature darkening.

Only about $2!

This is so easy! All you need is baby wipes! The only caveat is that the baby wipes must not have oil, alcohol, or fragrance. Just check the ingredients list on the back. No oil, because this has a tendency to darken leather. No alcohol or fragrance, as this has the tendency to dry out leather. Baby wipes are ideal, because they're super gentle, nourishing and cleansing.

All you need to do is apply some pressure and wipe. The cloth wipe will most likely pick up slight yellow, orange, or brown color, depending on how dark the vachetta is.

After you have thoroughly wiped down the vachetta leather, it will temporarily be darker due to dampness. Don't fret, just allow the leather to dry.

Before (left), After (right)

After drying, you'll notice that the leather is slightly lighter in color. This trick will also make the vachetta more matte (the way that it was originally), help even out blotchy patina, and may diminish some water staining. Also, it is perfect for cleaning epi leather and monogram canvas.

If you want to slow down the darkening of vachetta leather, remember to always keep the bag away from moisture. When the bag is not in use, store it in its dustbag or a pillowcase, away from moisture and light.

If you want to know how to darken the patina of your vachetta, stick around. We'll focus on that topic in the future.

Hope you enjoyed this tip. Have you done this before? Do you have your own tricks for leather? If so, please share. :)

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Louis Vuitton Cruise 2014 Bag Collection

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On Thursday 13th June, the nature stood at Louis Vuitton’s side, as the sun delivered warm and bright sunshine to the Zeiglerhouse in the morning. It was the missing ingredient, that even Marc Jacobs didn’t had control, to make the event of Louis Vuitton Cruise 2014 collection perfect. Image how beautiful it was; extravagant rooms, villa inspired by the ancient Roman times and beautifully decorated marble mantels made in Italy. The new collection features the ‘neverfull’ tote in bright shade like red and blue, the sofia coppola bag in effortless summer blue that can resonates with any woman and the new fold-up tote bag that can be carried either by hand. The launch of the neverfull in epi leather showed how Marc Jacobs can creatively transform a traditional bag into a modern essential and the option to choose from different layers of colors just take our breath away, it’s timeless. However, I am suprised not to see bags in sophisticated or extremely large LV logo embellished, something that Louis Vuitton usually do in the past, but instead a series of shades has been introduced, with simple patterns or in single colors, which makes it very easy for us to pick.

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