When you read a fashion magazine, are you someone that skips through the advertisements and jumps straight into the articles? Or are you like me, someone that looks forward to the new ad campaigns as much (if not more) than the articles in the magazine? Do you even read magazines anymore?! I'm aging myself here, but in a time before the Internet and online shopping we had to get our fashion fixes the old-fashioned way. In print.

My obsession with all things fashion started at a young age and was amplified by the abundance of fashion magazines I subscribed to. I grew up waiting in anticipation for my Teen, Seventeen and YM magazines to arrive in the mail. I would slowly devour every page, dog-earring the beautiful advertisements of things I desperately wanted in my closet. Things I NEVER saw in real life at our dowdy malls in St. Louis. One ad that stands out in particular is the Steve Madden ad below.

My heart ached for those shoes. I had never felt that need; that my life would somehow be different if I had them. Thankfully, my Mom and I took two shopping trips a year to Chicago and I knew I would find them at my Mecca at the time, Bloomingdale's.

As I got older, I began taking an interest in the magazines that were arriving for my Mother. Vogue, Cosmopolitan, Town & Country, and on rare occasions, the highly coveted W magazine. I remember the advertisements so clearly. At the ripe age of 12, some of the articles were a bit over my head, but I loved the artistic ads that showcased beautiful clothes, bags and shoes. I would rip out the glossy pages and tape to them to my walls. Just like the Steve Madden ad, the Louis Vuitton ads always made a big impact on me. A couple of my favorites are below.

Once again, my heart ached for those beautiful bags. This time there would be no trip to Chicago to procure them. My Mom said, "those bags are something you will have to look forward to having when you are older." I took her words seriously and, always being a planner, began to figure out how I would make them mine ...

At the bottom of the ads, the cities New York, Paris and London were often printed underneath. I understood that the items I coveted were completely out of reach in my hometown of St. Louis. Chicago wasn't even going to cut it! I would have to move to New York City - which I did a decade later after college. But even when I moved to NYC and the bags were geographically available to me they were still financially out of reach! At 22, I felt like I was doomed to stare at beautiful bags on the pages of magazines forever!

Eight years later, enter Bella Bag, a store where fashion dreams come true. The beautiful bags that were always out of reach are now accessible. I still have some serious saving to do, but the bags captured on paper and locked behind the glass cases at Barney's and Bergdorf's are now right at my fingertips! I can touch them, smell them, and hold them without an impatient sales rep giving me the evil-eye ...

If you have fashion aspirations similar to mine, stop fantasizing over the bags you see in magazines, on blogs and social media, toted around by celebrities etcetera, etcetera, etcetera and come to Bella Bag and experience a designer bag in the flesh. I'm sure you can find a gently-loved bag that fits your budget and will turn your fashion dreams into a reality.

The Louis Vuitton bags that I'm currently coveting are pictured below. I'd say wish me luck acquiring them, but with Bella Bag I don't need it ;)

Louis Vuitton Gold Suhali Lockit PM Tote Bag

Louis Vuitton Bordeaux Mirage Speedy 30 Bag

xo

Terrill