Another pearl that we stumbled upon in the Bal Harbour Gucci store was the Gucci Medium Hobo that had just been released to the public eye and isn’t even available on their official site yet. The shape accords the pictured fuchsia ostrich hobo, the material was different. Its leather was entirely covered with their new horsebit emboss and came in either a darker brown shade or more of a burgundy red. Completed was the gorgeous $1080 hobo with single strap, zip-top closure, bamboo ring details, bamboo ornament zipper pull, embossed Gucci script logo on strap, studs, and an inside zip pocket. Megs fell in love immediately, but had to pull out of a possible impulse buy once reality settled back in. We will try to hunt down a picture of the gorgeous leather and report on it later. In the meanwhile, I would really recommend the pictured Gucci Ostrich Hobo. The bag is currently on sale from almost $4k down to $2,300 and available directly through Gucci. I got a little touchy with the bag and was positively surprised about the supple and soft appeal of the quality ostrich leather. If you dig pink and have a thing for feathered bird leather, grab it while it’s hot
We continued our excursion through Bal Harbour Shops, and obviously the Gucci store had to be one of our stops as well. It had appeared to us on several earlier occasions that employees of exclusive stores didn’t really seem to be too eager to consult a couple in the mid-20s (as opposed to the usual clientele of the older 40+ stash that usually seems to be roaming their grounds) about their newest and hottest items. We decided to give another approach a try. Megs’ mom was kind enough to let her daughter sport her horsebit hobo that she’s gotten a few weeks ago, and let me tell you — the store experience was slightly different. Let’s just say that Gucci does honor their recurring customer base. We did spend a good hour in there and we have particularly three bags in mind that require coverage today.
As I mentioned last night, BH stores enjoy the presence of special limited items that others around the country just have to miss out on. One of these stores was Gucci and the item in focus was the Gucci Crocodile and Ostrich Patchwork Bag. It was showcased in its own window on the side of the store all by itself and was just glaring at us with handcrafted details and superb materials. The friendly salesman (whose name I can’t recall, I’ll dig up his biz card later) brought it out for us to inspect — in my opinion the best $22,700 spent *if* you have them to spend on a bag. The blonde crocodile and ostrich patchwork, along with the bamboo detail and the gold hardware on the strap make the bag’s bite match the bark. Fantastic! Talking about exclusivity, there are only 10 (read: ten) of these made worldwide, and we got to appreciate it in its gorgeous entirety. The picture I pulled off the Gucci page shows the right bag — however, the strap on the one that we saw was much longer than the one depited here. Personally, it was my first time getting touchy and feely with a $20k+ bag, but I do realize where the price tag comes from. The stitching was handcrafted with out-of-this-world perfection and the materials just felt so right. If you are a collector or someone who enjoys highly exclusive shoulder bags, you may want to give this creation a try.