The tale of that time I walked into the Hermès Faubourg Saint Honoré Store without purchase history
They say that everything happens for a reason, right? Prior to departing for my sojourn to Europe, my friend had convinced me that my Valentino VAVAVoom bag would sustain me throughout my travels as a good day to night bag. That was quickly dispelled as on the very first night of my trip, a stud popped off my Valentino bag. The whole ordeal was devastating: how was I to roam about Europe’s streets with a broken bag in tow?
My mission the next day was to find a suitable small rectangular purse that didn’t burst my travel budget… Though thanks to my bonus, a 2500 Euro bag wasn’t going to hurt my budget. I went to Zadig, Chloé, Dior; and nothing. Saint Laurent: the line outside was much too long for me to wait, same with Chanel.
Having reached the end of Rue Montaigne somewhat defeated, an idea popped into my head; **what about FSH in the 8ème? Hopefully I’ll get my mind off my broken bag by buying a cute twilly.**
With my mind set to go buy an Hermès scarf, in Paris no less, I trekked into that direction with little hope for a bag, fully aware of the hoops one needs to jump through to get something exclusive offered at Hermès resembling a Kelly or a Birkin, without purchase history to boot. But that never completely deterred me.
Upon arriving, I was met by a massive crowd. One wouldn’t assume that the quiet streets in the quarter would contain luxury stores as loud as a Costco on a Sunday morning. Despite that, I was quickly set up with a spécialiste de soie. Without thought, I immediately reverted to speaking to the SA exclusively in French in hopes of swaying her. She spotted my broken bag right away; I told her the whole story to be met with deep pity. The rest of my twilly buying experience consisted of a woman in a tan wool fur- trimmed coat and matching gold Birkin 30 ensemble fruitlessly begging the SA for a leather appointment, and simultaneously apologizing to me whilst I tried twillies on.
I chose a twilly, but didn’t feel done, I wanted a carré. I found a gorgeous carré with a new design (I think). When I was done, my SA asked “anything else?” Now or never I thought.
“Do you happen to have any Kelly WOCs in pink or gold?” to which she responded
“Do you mean a Kelly To Go? I don’t work in maroquineries, but I can certainly transfer you over” and she walked me to the SLG counter, explaining that my scarves will be held under my name behind the cash.
As soon as I greeted the new SA, she exclaimed that she had absolutely nothing in stock, and that I shouldn’t even try, unless I was interested in a Constance to go in crocodile, which was priced at 11000€.
I played defense, consistently speaking to her in french ” You see, I really want to replace my Valentino with something worthwhile”
“I’m sorry, there’s very little I can do. Do you have purchase history here?”
“None, except for a scarf I once bought in the US 5 years ago. But I’m buying a couples scarves now. I truly love Hermès and their use of colours on their silk scarves.”
We briefly discussed the artistic significance of Hermès scarves and the older Japanese marbled scarves that were released in 2018.
“What colours were you thinking of? If we did have a Kelly To Go I mean.”
“Gold or a basic like black, grey, white or nata.”
“Nothing unfortunately … perhaps orange?”
“Can’t say I’ll ever wear an orange bag unfortunately, not green either.” She was kind of shocked… I guess most people will take ANY colour.” But I love pink and red and blue.”
“I don’t think I have anything, I’m sorry.” I decided to tap out.
I moseyed off to the till and was quickly told that I needed to be accompanied by an SA so that she may process the sale (both the SAs I worked with were women). Naturally, the spécialiste de soie was nowhere to be found amongst the hopefuls. However, the Maroquinerie SA wasn’t out of sight. and she was pointing at me, whilst leaned towards the manager. Moments later, I walked over.
“Hi, may you please help me process the sale of my scarves, I cannot find my other SA.”
“Of course. I’ll bring your items”. She came back, opened the shopping bag, “you really like scarves.”
“I figured I’d treat myself.”
After processing the scarves she walked me to the door and asked “will you be here tomorrow?”
“Of course I will.” To be honest, I wasn’t going to try again. I didn’t have the time as I was in Paris for four days. But I felt like luck was on my side.
“Hmmmm” she thought aloud “It won’t be here tomorrow. Come with me.” My heart fell as I scurried after her to the corner of the SLG stand. She brought out a mid-sized box, and my heart fully stopped. I WAS IN SHOCK. She brought the box under the counter and motioned me to come around as she carefully untucked the wrapping paper for me to see the brightest shade of pink. Unable to contain myself, I gasped audibly. She placed her index finger on her lips and walked me over to a quiet, more secluded part of the shop, sat me down, and there she uncovered the bag. Fresh from the workshops, stickers and all. A Confetti Pink Kelly To Go in Epsom with Palladium HDW. I got my head together but I was not keeping calm. I needed to do the phone test first. My Iphone fit. I was sold as I exclaimed “She’s perfect!”
“I’m so glad you like it. I wasn’t sure before, but now I’m certain that you’re not the kind of girl looking to resell this bag. You clearly respect the brand, and I think you are the type of clientele that Hermès caters to” (I’ve retold this part to friends, some found that it was a super ingratiating comment, others (non- Hermes lovers) were absolutely insulted by how much her comment reeked of elitism). I smiled ear to ear, I still wasn’t entirely sure of how I lucked out so early on in the game.
p.s. She provided a large white bag for all my smaller orange bags in the name to stay safe.
p.p.s. This was in November 2022. Before the January price increases.
- GodSavetheBag posted 1 year ago
