Fendi’s great Spring 2011 bags come at a significant price

I’ve already waxed rhapsodic about my love for Fendi’s Spring 2011 bags several times, and now it’s time for the hard truth of the collection: These bags cost a lot. But, surprisingly, not as much as I was expecting from all the whispers that it would require the sale of a kidney in order to buy one.

The Fendi Croco and Calfskin Top Handle you see at left comes in above eight grand because of the exotic flap, and similar bags with regular leather come in above two grand, at least according to Luisa Via Roma’s European prices, which often vary a bit (sometimes up, sometimes down) from what American retailers charge when they receive these bags. The leather totes from the collection? Also around two grand. Whether or not those prices are justified (or if any of the prices we pay are really justified) is a more
complicated question.

Exotics aside, I can stomach a $2,000 price tag on a bag that is clearly made of very fine, smooth calfskin and displays a level of attention to detail that perhaps we’ve forgotten to expect in the mass luxury market. For the totes, however, I find the expectation of two grand a bit less palatable. They’re structured simply and mostly made of the kind of soft, slouchy material that nearly every brand uses with great regularity, and for $1495, they’d be great bags. For 33% more, you’d be well advised to look elsewhere to spend your money. Shop the collection via Luisa Via Roma.