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Handbag Designer 101: The Stories Behind Handbag Designers, Brands, and Industry Icons

Luxury Without Gatekeeping With Bags For Breakfast | Emily Blumenthal & Shay Prasad

March 10 · 28 min · Season 1 · 20.6 MB
0:00-28:30

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What makes a handbag truly worth carrying every day? We sit down with Shay Prasad of Bags for Breakfast to explore how years on the retail floor shaped her approach to bags as tools for life—not just status symbols. From writing deep-dive Substack essays to launching a curated vintage shop, Shay explains how storytelling, condition knowledge, and retail anthropology turn casual shoppers into thoughtful collectors. Along the way, she shares how to judge patina versus wear, why function matters as much as heritage, and how understanding the history behind iconic houses helps buyers make smarter, more sustainable choices.

Key Takeaways:
 • Function beats fantasy — A great bag works with your real life.
 • Patina has value — “Loved” pieces often carry more character than pristine ones.
 • Context sharpens taste — Knowing a brand’s history leads to better buying decisions.

🎧 Listen now for a thoughtful look at vintage handbags, collecting, and choosing pieces that truly earn their place in your rotation.

Our Guest:
 Shay Prasad is the founder of Bags for Breakfast, a platform dedicated to thoughtful handbag collecting and vintage discovery. Drawing on years of retail experience and deep research into fashion history, she blends storytelling, education, and curation to help buyers appreciate craftsmanship, condition, and the cultural stories behind the bags they carry.

Host Emily Blumenthal is a handbag industry expert, author of Handbag Designer 101, and founder of The Handbag Awards. Known as the “Handbag Fairy Godmother,” Emily also teaches entrepreneurship at the Fashion Institute of Technology. She is dedicated to celebrating creativity, craftsmanship, and the art of building iconic handbag brands.

Find Handbag Designer 101 Merch, HBD101 Masterclass, one-on-one sessions, and opportunities to book Emily Blumenthal as a speaker at emilyblumenthal.com. 


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