Chanel Glazed Calfskin - 4.5 Year Wear and Tear

Hi everyone!

I thought I’d do a review of my Chanel Glazed Calfskin Boy Bag, given that I don’t see a ton of reviews online of this material.  I wanted to give you a sense of how the glazed calfskin will look over time. Reviews normally focus on caviar and lambskin as those are the most popular. However, Chanel does do a lot of bags in glazed calfskin. In particular, this chevron Coco handle bag was released in glazed calfskin.

As some background, my boy is a 17 series bag, purchased in February 2013 . It’s in the old medium size with aged gold hardware.

So here is the wear and tear. I should note that I only occasionally wear this on the weekends for shopping, dinners and sometimes to work on Fridays. But I have worn this against jeans and other rough materials. It has felt a few raindrops too. Keep in mind though that this bag is MEANT to crease and develop a vintage look.

As you can see there is creasing all over the bag. The front shows some creasing on the quilted puffs. There are crease lines on the bottom of the bag and on the sides. There’s creasing around the clasp as I likely press down on it while trying to close it. There’s nothing wrong with the corners except for the slight bend, but I believe it is because I store it standing up (which I might stop doing now to prevent the bend from getting worse). I also tried to take some close up shots of the worse creasing on the front so you could see what it looked like.  Of course there is lots of creasing along the strap.

I have found that over time, the glaze is starting to fade slightly. It’s not as shiny as it used to be.

But all in all, it’s not bad. Glazed calfskin is meant to develop a vintage type look. It’s meant to crease and look aged. It will not stay smooth (unless you never use it). I personally love the way it looks. Sometimes I find caviar looks too grainy. Lambskin is too delicate and I predict that the corners on the front flap will wear easily. I believe calfskin is a good middle ground. Even though its showing wear, that’s what it’s meant to do. I love vintage looking things, so maybe that’s why I’m so drawn to it. I’m a big glazed calfskin fan!!


However, if creasing bothers you, I wouldn’t recommend it. If you do decide to get it, I would recommend being very careful not to press too hard down on it, otherwise large permanent creases will result. So don’t put it in a suitcase or bag that could run the risk of squishing it. Also make sure to store it properly by putting the stuffing back into the bag to keep it’s shape.


If you have any questions, or even tips for me, please leave me a comment! Thanks!