Are You a Fan of Designer Wallets?

The wallet, once the leather-bound totem of suburban American hellscape and the accessory du jour for working dads and helicopter moms, with a tight grip on their finances (and a tighter grip on the whereabouts of their offspring), has now seemingly devolved into a singular classification: default holiday presents. I should know. As someone who’s practically perfected the art of gifting pleather Amazon-adjacent billfolds and cardholders to various vague acquaintances, the wallet has consistently remained a festive favorite. SLGs fall within a specific sub-category of accessories that are useful enough to be perceived as thoughtful, work universally regardless of the recipient, and can still be tucked away inside your purse. But for all it does, the wallet doesn’t get the love it deserves. Even less if luxury buyers like ourselves are not as strong in our SLG game. The physical wallet may feel like a relic at times, absorbed into our phones, similar to cameras, Walkmans (Walkmen?), agendas, and personal computers of the past. In the age of digital payment, do wallets still have a place? After all, it’s super-efficient to wave an iPhone at an ApplePay reader and – ping! – call it a day. But, in my experience, that same efficiency makes spending money freakishly easy, a little too frictionless, as if I’m paying with virtually virtual cash. We’ve become accustomed to downsizing our accouterments to the bare minimum in the mini-bag age. Subsequently, the bulky wallets are often the first to go. Be it the recurring summer trend towards see-through purses that proudly put our SLGs and wet wipes on display or merely the fact that we’re faced with a continuous barrage of loyalty cards and gift coupons from retailers we frequent and infrequent, cardholders continue to thrive, their organizational benefits reigning supreme. What fits in a WOC often determines its functionality. The wallet has evolved to accommodate dual (or more) capacities, often serving as a complete alternative to the traditional purse or, at the very least, a clutch. On the other hand, wallet-on-chains yield an even wider array of functional features that make them suitable for many occasions, whether casual, formal, or even when traveling. At the end of the day, whipping out a wallet screams business. It places you in physical control of your finances, divorced from the rather mindless form of consumption that online shopping, or even swiping a debit card, can offer. It’s a power move, above all else. It makes perfect sense to flaunt this power with the added cachet of a designer label. The only snafu? Justifying the steep price point. On one hand, it’s something you’ll be carrying constantly, be it as a standalone accessory or inside some other means of schlepping. Durability, therefore, is a must. Plus, you’re likely to encounter it every time you open your bag. So, it should essentially spark joy, too, with a daring, dopamine-inducing colorway. SLGs are also at the lowest rung of the luxury ladder – precisely why they constitute a bigger slice of brands’ revenue. And for something that, at its core, is supposed to be affordable en masse, the quandary becomes whether they warrant that price tag. If you decide to take the designer route, the options are seemingly endless. Should you opt for the Hermès-favorite Silk’in, the quilted caviar Chanel WOC, the Lyst Index-approved YSL Cassandre Monogram Flap Wallet, the more outré Prada FW21 coin purse-glove, or the formidable resale-frontrunner, the Louis Vuitton Monogram Zippy? And we can continue to justify their exorbitant prices just as we justify the exorbitant cost of our luxury purses – guaranteed cost-per-wear! They are, after all, a reflection of our tastes.