Okay, let’s talk about my little project – remaking the YSL College Bag. You know, the one you see on the official flagship store? Yeah, that one. I’ve been eyeing it for a while, and I finally decided, “Why not try to make one myself?” It sounded like a fun challenge, plus I really wanted that bag but wasn’t ready to drop that much cash.
First things first, I hit up the Saint Laurent official online store. I spent hours just browsing, looking at all the different handbags, but my eyes were glued to the College Bag. I made sure to save a bunch of pictures. I needed to figure out the details, you know, the stitching, the hardware, the exact shade of leather. I was basically doing some serious detective work, studying every image I could find.
I learned that the full name is Yves Saint Laurent, but it’s also called Saint Laurent or just YSL. The brand has a long history, it’s a French luxury fashion house founded in 1961. It’s a big name. They even changed their name from Yves Saint Laurent to Saint Laurent Paris a few years back. Sounds fancy, right?
Then, I tried to search for any info I could find about remaking YSL bags. I saw some warnings about being careful where you buy them, which, yeah, makes sense. There are a lot of fakes out there. I even found some info about a “West Hollywood Bag” on their site, but that wasn’t what I was after. I was focused on the College Bag.
- Gathering my materials was the next big step. I found some leather that looked pretty close to the original. I wanted to match the color and texture as much as possible. I also found some replica hardware online. It’s not the real deal, obviously, but it looked pretty similar.
- Next, I started working on the pattern. This was the most difficult part, I swear. I used some old bags I had to figure out the basic shape and then adjusted it based on the pictures of the College Bag. There was a lot of trial and error, cutting and sewing, and then ripping seams out and starting over.
- Once I had the pattern down, I started assembling the bag. I sewed the leather pieces together, carefully following the lines I had marked. I used a heavy-duty needle and thread because I wanted the bag to be sturdy. I also added some padding to give it that structured look.
- The final step was attaching the hardware. This included the chain strap, the YSL logo, and the magnetic closure. I used some strong glue to secure them in place. I wanted to make sure they wouldn’t fall off, you know?
It took me a few weeks, working on it during my free time, but I finally finished it! It’s not perfect, of course. There are some imperfections here and there, but I’m pretty proud of how it turned out. It looks surprisingly similar to the real YSL College Bag. It was such a fun and rewarding project. I learned a lot about bag making, and I saved a bunch of money. Plus, now I have a unique bag that I made myself!
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