About a month ago, I passed by The Hermes store at Liat Tower Orchard Road and standing in the window display was a large Bolide in the best form of the bag I had ever seen so I quickly sent an email to my contact in Hermes to inquire for the size, leather and the price. Unfortunately my dear friend was too busy with their Takashimaya store re-opening that she could only respond to me a week following that and told me that the bag on the display was the new Hermes Atlas, not Bolide. I might have been exhausted when I saw the bag but I DO NOT mistake Hermes bags so I knew that the window had been updated by the time she checked.
I had a bit of time last Sunday while doing some shopping (I bought two beautiful Armani cardigans and totally forgot that my main purpose of going down was to pick up my altered Levi’s Jeans) so I walked into the Hermes store to visit some of our favourite SAs there. There was a beautiful cardigan which was in a shade of green that is too difficult to pull off and costs SGD1,550 and so I passed. Then, I moved to the second floor where I browsed for their tea cup and teapot sets. There is one that I like but is not available immediately so there is a need to wait. The set costs about SGD1,500 too, it is in my wishlist.
Lastly, I saw, touched and tried it on. I was not imagining. The bag is as real as the fact that JLo slipped and fell in her AMA performance last month and is, in my opinion, the most perfect Bolide version for me. It is Bolide 1923 (also called WEB II), the original form of the Bolide when first created in 1923, called Bugati. The most noticeable differences are that the 1923 has an outside pocket, does not have the emboss oval shape mark on the Bolide we know and does not have the rings behind he handles to hook the shoulder strap to.
There is only one piece available now in Singapore, the size is 46cm, leather is Swift and the color is dark brown. Price? Just SGD12,200, which is okay compared to the Kelly Travel’s SGD19,500 price tag sitting next to it but still very expensive. It is difficult to find an image online on the 1923. I managed to find only one so far in what I could figure out as Lilac color Box.
Everytime I come out of an Hermes store, I always promise myself I will no longer buy any bag from another design house but it lasts only for a month so I guess I should visit more often.
Trivia: Do you know that the Bolide 1923 is the first bag ever created to use zipper as its closure mechanism?
Image is courtesy of Rakuten,jp