Here’s a dilemma for you - and I don’t just mean the dilemma of trying to work out if dilemma is spelt with one ‘m’ or two!
You want to get a retro appealing handbag or bag of some sort.
Leafing through your favorite magazine or website, you come across the Pan Am Explorer bag - as shown below.
I’m fairly sure that there aren’t that many people around who would even attempt to argue that such a sight is not an iconic reminder of a golden age.
Plane travel, indeed most forms of travel, were still an adventure more than the hassle they’ve become in this pressured, modern world.
In the older days, few could afford the thrill of taking a plane to destinations only ever read about - let alone buy all the various clothes and handbags that the models were adorned with in the advertising images.
The thought that the gaily smiling man and woman in the pictures even had to consider tending to dear little Chuck Jr for 6 hours in a cramped and dirty airport lounge whilst repeated delays were announced and tempers frayed - well, it just wasn’t an element of travel.
It would have cheapened the image.
Strangely enough, that’s also a form of the dilemma that I suspect anyone considering buying this bag will be faced by.
Now I’d be the first to admit that this is not and was never intended to be a designer item, made from the finest leathers and suede trims, nor is it a bag that has been fermenting in the designers imagination for three months, prior to pen ever touching a single piece of design paper.
It’s a cheap looking, plastic looking rendition of a bag that was, well, cheap and plastic.
But the original was cheap and plastic in an age when cheap and plastic was - well, designer class!
Without a doubt, this bag shouts, screams and takes out a full page ad in all the top papers to advertise the fact it is, undoubtedly - retro in intent.
Sadly - bearing in mind the quality of bags you can buy these days for just $40 or $50 - it is just a little bit too much retro in quality.
But hey, if you like bags that are true to their roots in every detail - you really should get one of these from www.panamone.com
Just don’t expect it to last all that long!
Technorati Tags: pan am bag, pan am explorer, retro handbags
November 10th, 2007 at 10:20 pm
You can pick up the Marc Jacobs explorer and pan am handbags much cheaper on-line. I found them at www efashionhouse .com I just bought two of them for my daughters to use as a carry on during our christmas vacation. As you indicate they are what they are! Thank you.