Red handbags - keep or consign?

OK, I feel like I'm blowing up the forum today, but please bear with me. Obviously I'm having some crisis over my unworn/unused items right now and I feel the need to bounce this off of you guys.

The two bags pictured here are really nice, beautiful bags. And yet, I never use them anymore. In fact, the darker red Hobo one I've put on eBay a time or two and didn't get a buyer. I'm ashamed to admit that I've never used it. Somehow I managed to let the return window lapse, even though I decided that the style was a bit too staid for me and the color not burgundy enough.

The tomato red Marc Jacobs I used a lot a couple of years ago, mainly in warmer months, but somehow something in my tastes has shifted and I haven't reached for it in God knows how long.

Can I get some opinions on these bags, and whether I should be keeping them and trying to make them work, or take them to the consignment shop with my other big pile? Be brutal. I have plenty of bags I love and use.

(And what is it with me and red? Why do I not use/wear it as much as I think I will? If it's truly burgundy, I love it, but other shades just go untouched.)

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10 years ago

Rambling Ann

(website)

Veteran

photos gone missing?

Peri

I think that style is really hard to use...those small handles that you have to hold and thus always have your hands tied up. Maybe that is a contributing factor.

I think you answered your own question...you have plenty of bags you love and use, so why would you ever reach for these instead of one of those? Let them go.

catgirl

Me too. And yet I reach for black all the time. I feel red is an aspirational color for me, unless it's something Indian. These are beautiful bags but Ihave a feeling that just having them around unused is a mental burden. Let them go....

carter

Didn't you have this very same epiphany about red a year or so ago? I think it's pretty clear that regular reds just don't add any value to your closet. I vote consign. See...I can make these decisions...just not in my own closet;-).

kellygirl

I picture you with more structured handbags for some reason. These just don't seem edgy enough for you. The one on the left seems more like your style if you wanted to keep one--that one seems like it might work as a more boho style.

Janet

Rambling Ann, they should be there now, sorry!

Peri, that may have something to do with it. The Hobo (darker one) has a crossbody strap too, but I rarely care to use crossbody bags unless they're small and compact, and only in certain situations.

Una, yes. I reach for my cobalt blue backpack all the time, and I use my mint bag too. I love my metallic and neutral bags, my floral clutch, etc. All of those bags complete my outfits better than these do, at least at this point in time. I think you've made a very good point about a mental burden.

Hah, Carter, you have a good memory. I have two red jackets that stay in my closet, resisting a purge, because they both fit and look really nice on me, even though I have trouble actually deciding to wear them. What *IS* that?? I'm going to give them a try this fall and see if it's just time for them to go. I hate to limit my wardrobe non-neutrals to just blues/greens/plums...

Suz

Let them go and try not to feel bad about yourself. You can't know until you try something whether it will work. These don't seem edgy enough for you. They are "pop of colour" bags vs. statement bags. You like statement bags or bags that blend in and do the job (if you are wearing enough other statement items), one or the other.

Maybe we should call the Style Exchange the Guilt Dump.

ROFL at the Guilt Dump!

OK, they're going on the GD.

viva

I just let a red bag go myself. I would say purge.

Anonymous

Una speaks for me too. And Viva. I don't know what it is with red either, but I'm already cringing at a red purse (thankfully NOT expensive) and reddish boots (WERE expensive- someone please help me) I bought last fall thinking red was for me. Eh, not so much.

I can hear those bags demanding their freedom. Release the hostages!

LOL Y'all are cracking me up.

FREE THE BAGS!

texstyle

I tried burgundy pants (recently again) and just laughed at myself when I put them on. I love deep wine shades on top but red or wine on bottom just never works for me and I never seem to learn.

Thistle

Consign. You haven't been using them unless there is a reason why that would change, you aren't going to start reaching for them.

Kristin L

Consign.

UmmLila (Lisa)

I think you're better off with more structured bags.

Jaime

Love it! To the guilt dump! You will appreciate them all the more on someone else.

Maneera

Ok I don't think RED is the problem here at all. The problem is the style and design of these small bags. Bags like these work only with dressy outfits...coz they're too small to work as your regular bag (in which we lug our world around!)

I picture you with large bags - both structured as well as slouchy-casual. Send them to the Guilt Dump I say!

Firecracker (Sharan)

I think carrying a red bag is a commitment. It's also perhaps a bit too conventional for your style. That's just a guess.
And what's wrong with limiting non-neutrals to blues/greens/plums? I don't wear bright red and don't miss it.

Ankita

Active Member

Set them free! ☺

Deborah

The darker red one is really lovely but what size is? It looks like a tote? They look too small for you?!?!

unfrumped

Bye- bye!

shedev

I went through the same thing with red shoes. Let the bags find new homes.

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