Everything we launch at VESTIRSI is made for a reason. And our new BELLA XL is no exception. This week, we share the story behind our newest launch BELLA XL.
]]>This week, our founder Monica shares the story behind our newest launch BELLA XL.
I owned a handbag range, yet I still didn't have a zip up bag that could carry my laptop, charger and work essentials, plus all of my baby's things. Crazy.
I knew I wanted something that had the practical aspects of a backpack, that allowed me to go handsfree (essential with kids or just for busy days carrying alot of samples to shoots or meetings, or white walking through an airport) and a bag that could zip up (required for travel or just general security and so you things don't fall out!).
Our original Bella Backpack tote ticked all these boxes but wasn't quite big enough if you needed to carry a lot.
I loved our original Bella but I needed something bigger. The emails were flooding in - so did you. I had countless requests for a larger version, with Vestirsi VIPs saying they loved the 2-in-1 nature of the original Bella, but once they put their laptop inside, there was no room for anything else.
So we created BELLA XL - the same shape and functionality as the orginal Bella (as we knew you all loved this 2-in-1 style, but added an extra 10cm height and width on the original BELLA.
BELLA XL is now my everyday bag and can fit absolutely everything I need for work including a4 files, laptop and charger, plus the food, clothes and toys for I need for my 1 year old son.
There is a concept in retail called product cannibalisation. Retail experts would say to not launch something if it is too similar to another product in your existing range, as you'll cannibalise the existing sales for the original product. But I didn't care. I knew many of your love the original Bella, so I wasn't going to get rid of that product. And I also knew, after enough conversations with our customers and our VIPS, that enough of you also wanted a larger Bella.
So here she is, our Extra Large Bella, roomy enough for the corporate women, uni students, working mums and really any woman who just likes to carry a lot with her and to do it in style.
You can shop BELLA XL here, or the original smaller BELLA here.
Enjoy,
Love Monica x
PS. Want to see BELLA XL in action? See how much fits in the new BELLA XL below. Watch as I pack for the airport and fit all the necessities for myself and my baby in this incredibly roomy bag.
The Last Thing he Told Me by Laura Dave: A fast-paced domestic thriller, with plenty of plot twists, perfect for fans of Liane Moriarty and Celeste Ng.
Apples Never Fall by Liane Moriarty: She's back at it again - the Australian author we all know and love from best seller Big Little Lies, is back with her newest novel which follows the Delaney family and the sudden and unexplained disappearance of Joy, the matriarch of this athletic, successful, seemingly perfect family.
LA Weather by Maria Amparo Escandon: Join the Alvarado family as they wrestle with impending evacuations, secrets, deception, and betrayal in this fast paced and quick witted New York Times best seller.
How do we know we're doing it right? Essays on Modern Life' By Pandora Sykes. A relatable, thought-provoking collection of essays by one of our favourite podcasters (Pandora Skyes of 'The High Low') - on everything from fast-fashion, to millennial burnout, to cancel culture. The busy modern woman faces a million daily choices, but what "does doing it right" even look like? And why do so many women feel like they’re getting it wrong?
Virgin River - Melinda Monroe answers an ad to work as a midwife and nurse practitioner in the remote Northern California town of Virgin River, thinking it will be the perfect place to start fresh and leave painful memories behind. An easy to watch romance, season 3 is out now on Netflix.
Starstruck - A drunken New Year's eve hook-up becomes far more complicated for Jessie when she discovers her one night stand is actually a film star. Catch it on ABC iview
The Chair - At a major university, the first woman of color to become chair tries to meet the dizzying demands and high expectations of a failing English department. Satrring everyone's favourite Grey's Anatomy character, Sandra Oh, watch it now on Netflix.
Ted Lasso - This easy watching comedy is back for season 2 on Apple TV. Jason Sudeikis just won an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series for his portray of Ted, a small-time football coach who is hired to coach a professional soccer team in England, despite having no experience coaching soccer.
The Dropout: Elizabeth Holmes on Trial. The story of Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos is an unbelievable tale of ambition and fame gone terribly wrong. How did the world’s youngest self-made female billionaire lose it all in the blink of an eye? How did the woman once heralded as “the next Steve Jobs” find herself facing criminal charges — to which she pleaded not guilty — and up to decades in prison? Go inside the courtroom, breaking down the evidence and keeping score for both sides until 12 jurors decide the fate of the Theranos founder and new mother. Three years after she was first charged, we find out how this saga finally ends.
Tony Bianco slides and the VESTIRSI Monica bag are the perfect luxury leather additions to any outfit and we all slide back into normal life (we're looking at you NSW and VIC - welcome back ladies!) Complete your look with a simple shirt dress from Zara and gold huggies from Mode Sportif to add effortless elegance.
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FICTION - Ghosts - Dolly Alderton's debut novel - a funny, tender and painfully relatable fiction about 32-year-old Nina Dean, a successful food writer with a loyal online following, but a life that is falling apart. Filled with whip-smart observations about relationships and the way we live today.
NON-FICTION - The Company I Keep: My Life in Beauty by Leonard A. Lauder. The much-anticipated memoir from the son of Estee Lauder; Leonard Lauder shares his account of how he had built his mother's brand which started from very humble beginnings, into the global beauty brand it is today. Essential reading for anyone working in beauty, marketing, product development, or anyone interested in building a brand.
WORKING MOM'S - Any new mum will laugh and cry along with this group of working mums, struggling (between wines) to juggle it all. Great comic relief after a long day of parenting.
LUPIN - A retelling of the classic French story about Arsène Lupin, the world-famous gentleman thief and master of disguise. Staring the handsome Omar Sy, season two is out now.
CRIMINAL - For when you want to just "check out" for 30 minutes, Phoebe Judge provides short compelling stories
HOW I BUILT THIS - For stories of how some of the worlds best businesses were built.
Afew of our favourites we're wearing this month. Knits from Melbourne brand Friends with Frank, sneakers from Italian made Melbourne designed Department of Finery and jewellery from Reliquia Jewellery. Pairs very well with our everyday carry all, Katie in Tan
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The aim behind the launch of PHOEBE was to provide a bag with the chic elegance of SIMONE, without the bulk.
Designed to be "Simone's little sister", PHOEBE has the class of SIMONE, and features the same luxe pebbled leather, but is slightly smaller making her ideal for those who find the SIMONE too bulky, or for those who don't like the flap and belt buckle design of SIMONE.
The aim of the shoot was to capture the chic belt detailing of the bag, the textured leather, and the size and shape of this tote.
We were, for the first time ever, launching a work tote in a new shade - beige - so we wanted to capture the true tone of this buttery, creamy hue in natural light.
We can't wait to see what you think of this new buttery beige shade of the new PHOEBE BEIGE - the reviews so far have been really positive and we hope you love her as much as we do!
JILLIAN a chic, best selling tote which features a classic "fit-it-all" shopper silhouette, with a hidden zipper pouch to store your valuables.
A luxuriously soft leather tote, JILLIAN is crafted from beautiful pebbled Italian leather. Super simple, low maintenance ladies will love JILLIAN's chic understated design.
JILLIAN is reliable and always there for you - hence it was named after my sister!
JILLIAN's top handles are long enough to be worn over the shoulder and comfortable enough for extended wear, making her the ideal choice for days shopping, traveling or for a long commute home. Perfect as a gym bag, work bag, laptop bag, or as an everyday shopper tote. JILLIAN is also great for travel as she lays completely flat when empty.
Time constraints meant we were only able to shoot our JILLIAN Black - but we are thrilled to announce this essential every day shopper will be available in four shades! That's right ladies! For the first time ever, we are offering one single bag in a variety of FOUR different shades. Along with Black, JILLIAN will soon be available in BEIGE, TAUPE and TAN.
Our newest crossbody VANESSA was designed to make the smart, modern women look and feel amazing, so we really wanted to capture the quality of the beautiful pebbled leather in the shots, which we think our photographer Tarlie did really well.
VANESSA was designed to be a seriously roomy crossbody. The idea was that she would be our first crossbody that could fit a full-sized wallet, sunglasses case, phone, keys and a few extras. It's often hard to find a crossbody that can fit a full-sized wallet and sunglasses cases, amongst all your other important things, without being too bulky. Removing any separators inside the bag, meant it's quite a large roomy cavity, so you've got space to carry your daily essentials.
VANESSA needed to be a worthwhile investment, we wanted her to be able to take you from season to season, so this is what we kept in mind when choosing our colour palette. In the end taupe and beige were added to the mix (along with black) to ensure the bag came in a variety of shades, each of which could be worn with summer or winter wardrobes. The VANESSA Beige looks excellent on denim and linens, the VANESSA Black really pops on colour, but looks equally chic with an all black ensemble, and the VANESSA Taupe goes with pretty much any outfit.
We hope you love this little sneak peak into our shoot and please comment below if you have any other questions!
Love Monica + Team VESTIRSI
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VESTIRSI bags are only sold via our website online. Being purely online is great because we don't have to add the cost of rents and retailer mark-ups to our prices, which enables us to provide beautiful designer quality Italian leather handbags, at a more affordable price (luxury minus the luxury markup).
BUT! Being purely online means there's no way our customers can touch or feel our bags. This makes constantly photographing them in different contexts, in different outfits and different lights, vitally important to ensure you, the VESTIRSI shopper, gets as much information as possible about each bag before you decide to purchase. This way you can make an informed decision and you will (hopefully) love your bag as much as we loved making it!
So, recently, I had the pleasure of shooting some of our VESTIRSI best sellers with the incredible Melbourne based fashion photographer Tarlie Russel and our beautiful model, blogger and influencer Molly.
We took to the streets of Melbourne to shoot three of our classic best sellers, KATIE, CLAIRE and SIMONE (before moving on to shoot some new products - which I can't share yet, but promise to share soon!)
Adjusting the Simone belt
While it is without a doubt our best-selling bag, SIMONE is still a very polarising bag. It is very large (our largest bag by far) which our VESTIRSI customers seem to either love or hate. Because of its size and because it is handmade from full-grain Italian leather then lined with suede, it is a relatively heavy weighty bag. (It is 1.3kg/2.8 pounds before you put anything in it.) Which doesn't bother some people who use it daily, but does become too heavy for others.
So, the aim of the shoot was to provide more imagery and therefore more context around the size of the bag, so our customers could get a better understanding of the true size and shape of the bag and then make an educated decision on whether to invest in this beautiful leather bag.
I also wanted to take the opportunity to shoot the details on the bag, like the belt buckle and the raw, exposed edges, so customers could get a really clear idea of exactly what the bag looked like. Sometimes in-studio product shots don't show all the details of a bag, so we wanted to capture the features of the bag outside, close up and in natural light.
I also wanted to show the versatility of SIMONE. We hoped by styling the bag in a more corporate attire (as opposed to our last shoot in which we shot the model holding SIMONE in a causal white linen dress) we would more effectively show how this bag is super versatile and can "take you from your workout, to work, to work drinks without a hassle."
We then went on to shoot our CLAIRE.
Most people wear their CLAIRE in either a casual setting (with jeans) or a cocktail setting (with a black dress) but we wanted to show CLAIRE can also be worn to work! We shot CLAIRE with our model Molly in corporate wear, so our customers could see how they could style this bag with corporate office wear / office outfits if they are an office worker who doesn't carry alot to the office, or doesn't need to bring a laptop with them to work.
Molly showcasing our CLAIRE
Finally, we shot our KATIE large. At our last shoot with Molly and Tarlie we shot our KATIE small, and we are constantly trying to shoot the KATIE as much as possible to help people see the size difference between KATIE large and KATIE small.
The way I describe it to people is: KATIE small can fit an iPad, lunch box, full-sized wallet, water bottle, a small makeup pouch, phone and keys. It is very deep and roomy, but not big enough for a laptop. It is the perfect sized work bag, provided you don't need to fit in A4 folders or a laptop. If you need a bigger everyday bag (work bag, baby bag, overnight bag, gym bag) KATIE large is the one for you. KATIE large can fit everything KATIE small can fit, but can also fit in folders, notebooks, a laptop and a jumper or jacket.
Molly beautifully modeling our KATIE LARGE
We also shot some other bags which I can't show you get, but we have some other luxurious shopper totes coming soon, along with some small, chic yet super practical crossbody bags which will be launching very soon and I'll share the details as soon as I can!
Any questions? What are you excited to see from VESTIRSI next? Please leave a comment below!
]]>ONCE UPON A TIME in a busy inner suburb of Melbourne a group of young, modern, down-to-earth Princesses all faced the same woe....
Princess A (let’s call her Amber) was so busy dancing at a Ball that she forgot where she put her new designer handbag! Princess B (let’s call he Brigitte) was at the Royal Horse Races with her new Prince and he accidentally spilt beer all over her new suede designer handbag! Princess C (let’s call her Carly) had too much Princess Punch one evening and left her new designer handbag in the back of a Uber Chariot! The Princesses were distraught – what a waste of money on these expensive designer items!
The fourth Princess, Princess M (let’s call her Monica) couldn’t quite afford a designer handbag. She was saving for a deposit for her first ever Palace, for a trip overseas to another Kingdom and for a wedding to her very own Prince Charming. She just couldn’t quite come up with $3000 for a handbag and even if she could, she wasn’t sure it was a smart idea as she’d seen first hand how much it cost to make these leather bags and she didn't want to pay for an overpriced accessory with a ridiculous mark-up.
Princess M was not content with the status quo and knew there must be a better solution. Beautiful minimal, quality bags, handmade by leather artisans. Bags the exuded elegance and style (that wouldn’t cost a deposit on a Palace!)
So she took off on a quest back to her homeland - the home of quality leather, the birth place of luxury leather goods - the Kingdom of Italy.
She was on a mission to find quality, stylish handbags fit for a Queen (or a Princess) but without the high-end designer price tag, as she wanted these bags to be accessible to all the women throughout the entire kingdom.
She wanted the best quality and the best style, at the best price. (She liked to break the rules, not the bank!) Surely that was not too much to ask? Because a Princess should be able to have her cake and eat it too, right?
And because Princess M had been touched by mental health issues in the past, as had those close to her (because even in a fairytale, life isn’t perfect) she decided to donate 10% of proceeds from the bags to women’s mental health charities throughout the Kingdom of Victoria and beyond.
And so VESTIRSI was born, for the modern down-to-earth Princess. Smart young women who know they don’t have to spend a fortune on a beautiful bag. Women who want to look amazing and help other women feel amazing in the process. Because it's cool to be kind and because when women support women, phenomenal things can happen.
And what became of them all in the end? Well, as you very well know, they all lived happily ever after.
The real-life AMBER, ERIN, CARLY, BRIGITTE, LOUISA and GRACE - the inspirations behind Monica's first VESTIRSI collection. Each bag was named after one of these special women.
]]>"My love of all things black and leather came to a beautiful explosion of heart eyes when I opened the box I ordered from VESTIRSI arrived at my house. The smell of the leather from Italy combined with the quality of craftsmanship AND the price point (for such an amazing quality bag) make these bags the TRIPLE threat! Trust me when I say the quality is unmatched for the price point ( I buy and own a LOT of leather bags folks)."
"Not only this, but check this out: “Every VESTIRSI bag was designed with the goal of making the smart, modern woman look and feel her most polished.” If that isn’t the definition of what I have always wanted with a purse or “diaper bag” then I don’t know what is! I intentionally chose the largest bag that this woman owned business offers, because I carry a TON of junk with me at all times. From camera gear to baby gear, it all gets thrown in my bag, and the one I chose makes all my junk look SOOOOO good. I can run from a consult with a client or a shoot, to date night with my husband or even just run errands at target with the kids and my bag can withstand all of it."
"Also, I don’t often read the “about” page on websites, but when Monica (the creator and Owner of VESTIRSI) started chatting me up about some of it, I KNEW I had to run and read it. (you can read it here) They have an amazing philanthropic side to their business surrounding women’s mental health that I LOVE. Giving 10% of their profits back is huge and admirable!"
"So, all I can say is that these bags are worth every penny and I cannot wait to purchase my second bag from VESTIRSI! You can also use code “TONIE” to get $10 off your first bag purchase from them… but don’t blame me when it arrives and you fall in love and you want to build your closet shelves around your VESTIRSI Bag Collection! 😉 This post is not a paid post, it is an honest review of my purse because I love it THAT MUCH."