How to Buy a Gucci Bag

Gucci is a luxury brand; choosing one of these designer bags is a declaration of style. When buying your first Gucci bag, research the bag types and their variations to find which works best for you. Bags come in many styles, some appropriate for everyday use and others intended for an evening out. Gucci offers several variations for most of their styles, with some having upwards of seven or more color and fabric variations. Once you settle on a style, decide whether you want to purchase the bag new or used. While a used bag offers significant savings, it may have some damage from everyday use.

Choose a Gucci Bag Style
If this is your first handbag, decide the best style to suit your needs. For the purse that follows you from work to a casual evening out, look for a bag that is big enough to carry all the things you need throughout the day. This can include your wallet, your phone, grooming supplies, and other miscellaneous items that make up your day. For most women, this should be a medium or larger sized bag. Small bags and clutches are best for evenings, when you only need a few items.

Common Features of Gucci Bags
Gucci bags have a few things in common no matter what the style. The company only makes the bags in Italy, and all new bags come with a few distinctive features. Every bag has an interior tag sewn into the lining of the purse that includes a serial number stamped into the leather. The front of the tag says "Gucci" and "Made in Italy." The back of the tag has the purse's model number and a unique serial number.

Branding and Iconography
Some bags use a canvas fabric with a "GG" pattern on it, while others merely have the letters present somewhere in the design, such as on metal accents. Gucci got its start as an equestrian company; many of the handbags offer small nods to this in bags' lining patterns or by using horse bit accents. Gucci even offers a line of horse bit bags.

Cards and Accessories
Every new Gucci bag comes with two cards: the Controllato card and the care card. The Controllato card is a sign that the bag passed inspection. It has the word "Gucci" in all caps at the top, the word "Controllato," and ten digits (1 through 9, plus 0) below that. The care card includes, as you might suspect, care instructions for the bag in several different languages.

New bags also come with a dust bag for storing the handbag. This bag has a satin finish and a cotton interior to protect your handbag. It has an interior tag that says both "Gucci" and "Made in Italy."

By comparing the common features of top-selling bags, you can assess which styles will last beyond the current season. However, choose bags that also offer features that appeal to you. For instance, if you do not like gold hardware, look for bags that use palladium or have minimal metal accents.