My Louis Vuitton Collection as Omega and Alpha: The Destiny of Things, Story XXXIII

My Louis Vuitton Collection:  The Destiny of Things, Story XXXIII, Omega and Alpha, Part 2
started June, 19, 2012, added more on 29dec2012, 30th and complete on 31st.Orginally part 1, but I don't know how it ended up being part 2, revised by adding ms. K and little details on 9Jan2013

The end of my collections have been the beginnings for others.  I know at least three stories of this happening and thought it a good way to end the year and symbolize the new one!

The most practical LV keychain purse in the world went to Ms. K and was my first sale on HoarderRehab, how appropriate I think!  It's her first piece starting her LV collection and quite frankly and hopefully the last of mine.  Although I have the LV and eyeglass case and clutch wallet thingy, I consider this those pieces non chalantly and this LV keychain pouch, well, the halls bells of the mother of all mothers of LV items!

My Louis Vuitton collections is/was extensive for someone who couldn't afford luxury items on a teacher salary, but could later as a real estate investor.  Now that I think about it, most of them were gifts.

I didn't want to count it, but did because it is an eye opener to a more meaningful consciousness of my hoard!  At last count it was 12 and I have two pieces left.

My Louis Vuitton collection began when I was in middle school.  My best friend got luxury gifts from her father on her birthday and Christmas and we would ooh and ahh over them.

One year she got 14k gold matching barrettes with real pearls and diamonds and then the next gift was a Louis Vuitton bag, but we didn't know it was Louis Vuitton and even thought it was plastic!  We laughed so hard when she opened what we thought was such an "ugly" bag!  She swore to never use such and "ugly" thing and we hit K-mart first off to return it!  We lived in two different cities and I can't remember how we got places, except by bike.

This is the Louis Vuitton bag that started it all!

photo from Mitzi Achilles of sashayvintag,on etsy.  This LV bag is up for grabs!

We went to a bunch of other stores looking for it, but never found it and she put it on the top shelf of her closet and we forgot about it.  She used it occasionally, but later when we went to visit her father for the first time for her in a long time and my first ever, she used it more regularly and the matching barrettes.  We still thought it was plastic!

We were the tomboy types and usually didn't even use purses, but stuffed things in our pockets.  Light riders is what we called people who didn't use purses.

A few years later, we took the bus to South Coast Plaza for their after-Christmas sales and the bus let us off right in front of Saks Fifth Ave.  As we were walking through the store, I couldn't believe my eyes!  There was her purse!  I don't remember what the price was, but we were so shocked and surprised that a piece of plastic could cost so much! I remember going home and telling the story about her super expensive plastic purse from Saks at the dinner table!  I have no idea when we learned it was made out of leather.

We still laugh about it today and I remember her using the purse until it's seams were unraveling!  I can still remember us using the front and back pockets of the purse!  It was so practical with an easy access front pocket for lip gloss and a more secure zippered on on the back for cash.  Cell phones were not invented yet and we used dimes and pay phones to call home!
 

 My first Louis Vuitton store bought piece from the LV store in South Coast Plaza.  

The perfect Light Rider piece!  It held id, c/c and money with keys and would fit in most pockets!  I can still remember this being in the back pocket of my Calvin Klein jeans with the keys hanging out!  This broke many times, but the LV store kept fixing it for free.

I've had two more since then, the other two bought thifting, one was a buck and the other a thrift gift from my hoarder enabler thrift shop buddy from back in the day!  So back in the day in fact, that "hoarding" didn't even have a name yet, kinda like when Karen Carpenter died from anorexia.  Eating disorders were unheard of.  The name for "hoarding" would take, what? another 40 years to be discovered/pinned after anorexia?

Also when I was in middle school, during one of our family trips to Tijuana (TJ) for miniatures  I ran across one of these but it was lined with black and white pony. I thought it was too expensive (10 bucks!) and didn't like the idea of a pony being inside it!  Funny now, but I could also kick myself for not getting it!

My first LV thrifting find in almost new condition at a thrift store in Orange for $5, back in the late 70s or early 80s.

By the time, I sold this beauty, it was one of my favorites because it has a divider in it.  I used one side for dollar bills and pennies and the other side for silver coins.  It also held an id and credit cards.  It was all I needed and used for a very long time.

The LV keychain  purse has it beat by a mile if you ask me!


My first LV item I gave away.

photo from STYLE of FannyChanel on etsy.  Get this while it's still hot here!

One like this with a LV leash was given away to a good friend who always wanted one, however I never saw her use it.  Hope she's using it now!

The Speedy, I think was part of the souvenir gifts from Paris and used both all the way through college!  The LV checkbook wallet also came inside it! with Cartier perfume and garnet gold earrings!

Okay, going through my LV list of items is going to take forever, so I'll just post what pics I have of them.  Most of them sold on ebay.

Souvenir gift from another teacher when she returned from France.

Also in college I found a LV trunk for $10 thrifting and first used it as a little vignette corner and hung my Victorian and flapper clothes in it.  The other side had drawers for storing my knick knacks.

Later I used it as a coffee table.  I have no idea what happened to it when I moved, but at that time I also had a 60s teak rocking chair, a set of primary color nesting pyrex bowls from my Aunt.

The rocking chair went to a friend of a friend who was expecting and her name was Roxanna.  I have no idea how I can remember that, but not know about my LV trunk.

LV Hair Baubbles I bought for myself when I had to cut my hair because I was too sick to take care of it  and it was falling out in droves anyway.

I vowed to use it when my hair grew back, which took about three years and now it's back to falling out again.  I think this was a stress buy to help cheer myself up!

I do not miss these, but for some reason, I miss the packaging and the box more! Weird, I know.

 I used these boxes in a trio, layered and stacked on top of each other and used them as a desk organizer.


This pouchet was a gift.  I only used it the day I got it and that was it.

Another gift.  I loved the Zippy and thought it was going to be my new bff in purse accessory wear!  Nope!  It still didn't beat out the LV keychain c/c holder!

I'm still a Light Rider!  Now I use a recycled plastic Target bag turned into a keychain id c/c coin purse I have from etsy, March 12, 2010.

When we go hiking or I go walking, I still use her recycled trash bag crocheted water bottle carrier!

I can't believe we found it!  It's from Some Things BandB on etsy!



I still have my last two next favorite pieces, after the keychain coin purse.  My LV checkbook wallet and eyeglass case are still available.  I used the eyeglass case to hold my glasses from back in the day when one had regular glasses and sunglasses, they didn't have polarized glasses like they do now!  Once I updated and got polarized glasses I loved using it as a cosmetic case!  It holds a stash of mula rolled in the bottom, fem. hygiene products, lip gloss, rice paper face blotters and a small mini perfume, mine was Miss Dior and the eyeglass case still smells just like it!

 My Louis Vuitton checkbook wallet souvenir gift from Paris, France, available here!

I think this may be a rare luxury item from Louis Vuitton. In all the years I've had it I've seen no one else with one, others often would ask me where I got it with the gold corners and back in the day, when I first got it, one of my other friends searched all over for it because the checkbook can can be inserted horizontally, as well as vertically.  If anyone has any information on it, it would be welcomed and appreciated.  Thanks.


My other last LV collection item:  LV eyeglass case/cigarette case buy it here:
This eyeglass case has a soft cloth divider separator in it.  In the old days, you would put your regular glasses in one slot and your sunglasses in the other. It was also sold as a cigarette case, one side for your cigarettes and the other for your lady like lighter. I used it for my sunglasses and also as a small cosmetic bag for girlie stuff, like emergency feminine hygiene products, lipstick, night jewelry, perfume, pen, powder paper and a stash of mula. It holds a lot!

Now I use a zip lock snack bag and put it inside cosmetic bags my mom has made for me.  I have three of them!  And two more that I can think of somewhere and one that my aunt made from when I was a kid!  Most of my purse collection is here and ranges from Antique to vintage from around the world!  I used to arranged them on a wall in each house.  Some of the smaller ones and handmade ones I haven't found yet.  I have one that I can't give up yet for some reason.

Saying Good-bye:  The LV keychain coin purse was exciting because it was the last of the three I had and my first sale on HoarderRehab.  I do not miss it.  My recycled Target keychain wallet actually is more practical, since it has the outside pocket.  I can honestly say that I miss the LV boxes and bags more than the items.  Go figure!

What I Learned:

1.  We saw the Murakami exhibit on it's last day, February 11, 2008.  My LV collection went downhill after I saw what Murakami and Marc Jacobs did to them.  I guess I'm old fashioned and lost heart, which sounds lame to me, but I don't have time to think about it right now.

But if (cross my fingers, hope to die, stick a needle in my eye, knock on wood, don't start it up again!)...IF I started to collect it again, it would be vintage pieces and certain ones I already have envisioned.  However, I doubt it will happen, since I'll remain a Light Rider or just use my backpack.

My backpack(it's from a shop on etsy called mim of maine or something, but I've spent 10 min and can't find it searing on etsy, I'll try google later) holds many books and frees up my hands wherever I go!  I have one vintage Coach bag saved in case, "knock on wood-no way, but just in case", if I ever have a job interview again.

And two hand embroidered bags, one from Africa and the other from Vietnam.  So I still have a hoard of purses!  Which seems ironic for a light rider!  And even worse, in this high time of stress, I've been relooking for this Lay's potato chip backpack I lost at auction on ebay a couple of years ago.

2.  I'm tired now that I've caught up with my backdrafts and after this will go buy some stuff because my new motto is, "better to buy stuff than to stuff my face!"

3.  Definitely will start my HoarderRehab diet, crafting and exercise to see how it helps my stress levels.  Even though, I've tried crafting and exercise before and exercise seems to take more effort and shabazz than I possess most of the time, this time I'd like to keep the experiment going and see if at least the HR diet will help me with my holiday angst next year at this time.

Whatever shabazz or oomph means.  I know I can do the diet and crafting right off.  And out of all three, the HR diet seems to be the most motivating, so keeping with the HR diet may outlast the crafting and exercise, but only time will tell!

Thank you Ms. K for ending one of my collections to start yours!  I hope your LV collection brings you closer to whatever you are searching for and brings you good memories as it has done for me!

Thank you visitors from USA, Serbia, UK, AU, Germany, Trinidad and Tobago for joining me in my HoarderRehab adventure of my omega to your alpha!

Happy New Year's Eve to you and yours!  May destiny as infinity be yours!

Related Louis Vuitton Story:

1.  My Louis Vuitton Collection Update from May 3, 2013:  2nd to the Last of Piece of my LV Collection Good-Bye