After over a year of looking and searching for The Row Camdem bag, I finally got my hands on one. I absolutely love the color, the smooth saddle leather, and the minimalist design. In my mind, this would be a perfect addition to my collection. I already have two bags from The Row and love them so much and was super excited to add the Camdem bag. In my head it was the perfect Row Trifecta. Spoiler alert, turns out, I was wrong!
For reference I'm 4 feet 11 inches tall. Please check out my video for a full review!
This small purse can be carried a few different ways. It comes with a crossbody strap that I deem to be too thin for this bag to carry comfortably. I was surprised to see that the strap did not use your typical o-ring and clip on. Instead it has a buckle design which is very cumbersome and does not allow you to swap for a different strap. So that was a letdown for me as I typically like to swap straps. You can also carry the bag by the double handles or at the crook of your arm. The handle drop is small, I would say it's a four inch drop at the max. There's not enough room to wear a thick sweater or jacket underneath. It would definitely feel tight. That's another strike against this bag.
Let's take a closer look at the bag.
This is some of the nicest leather I have ever felt in my years of collecting. It rivals that of Louis Vuitton's Millesime leather and Peter Nitz Arosa Calf. I do not have a smooth leather from Hermès yet, maybe someday so I can use it to compare!
The side profile looks a little strange because of how the handles lean to one side. There's almost no branding on this bag except for The Row spelled out in tiny gold letters. If you're into quiet luxury or luxury without logos all over the bag, this brand is for you. It's quality without being ostentatious like some other luxury brands that I will not name!
Here's my biggest gripe about the design. The handles are flat and wide. You can overlap the two handles so they sit on top of one another, but I have very small hands and they are too wide for me to hold comfortably. If the crossbody strap was easily swappable, there's a good chance I would have kept this bag in my collection.
This bag also does not have any feet. It's not a deal breaker for me, but I would have loved to see some leather strips added if they did not want to use hardware. There's also some natural veining of the leather on the bottom of the bag. Overall, this leather is very beautiful and so supple to the touch. It has a lovely hand feel. The kind of leather that's very pettable!
The inside of the bag is lined with lambskin. I can only describe it as buttery silky leather. It feels gorgeous. This is top tier luxury in materials. None of my other bags in my collection has this kind of lining. NONE.
There's one zippered pocket on one side and a slip pocket on the opposite side. There is a strong magnetic closure that makes a very satisfied snap.
Even though this bag turned out to be disappointing, I'm glad I was able to get it out of my system. I will be selling this bag to make way for something else. This is all part of the hobby. Buying and selling to curate the best collection.
That's it for me! I hope you all enjoyed this review! Hope you all have a wonder start to a brand new week!
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Have you ever posted about how to buy a purse on the resale market? I bought a Louis Vuitton purse from a friend I trust, but I’ve never bought any other purses second hand because I don’t know if I should stick to certain sites or how to find a trustworthy seller. I love your collection of Le City bags. I have one that I bought new but would love to find others.
ReplyDeleteHi there, I usually stick to Fashionphile, and The PurseForum has a thread called Post Your Balenciaga Finds - but they tend to go pretty fast. Most of the finds are from eBay - who will authenticate the bag for you. The older city bags have some of the best leather vs the newer ones.
DeleteIs the reason behind not finding these issues prior to purchasing that there are no places to purchase the Row in person where you are? I find a lot of these items could be discovered by in store try ons, cuz my fear is the buying and selling would cost you in transaction fees etc even though the bag itself retains value. I’m sure it’s all part of the hobby but just wondering why this is!
ReplyDeleteHi AC! Great question and yes, living in Atlanta, it's actually really hard to find stores that sell the bags I'm interested in. This style in particular is an older discontinued style no longer sold or made. The only way to get it is pre-loved and I got it off of TRR - which do not allow for returns. They're hard to come by and Fashionphile did not get one for a long time, they finally just got one recently. If it were available on Fashionphile I could have bought it and returned it. There's I think a couple of department stores that sell the row, but they don't always have a big selection.
DeleteOh that makes sense, if it’s discontinued then you really have to buy to know!
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