The glitz and glam of Fashionphile’s grand opening in Lehi on January 9 had plenty to offer: specialty cocktails bearing names like “First Edition” and “Iconic,” snacks that made for food-porn worthy photos by Culinary Crafts, and the chance to interact with fan-favorite Salt Lake housewife, Bronwyn Newport. But the event made one major statement: Utah is officially on the luxury bag map.
Now, Utahns do not need to get out of town to score that Chanel bag they once dreamed of owning. Or wait to receive a coveted appointment with a Hermes sales associate. Pre-loved iconic designer bags line the shelves of Fashionphile in Lehi—and they do so bearing lower price tags than their brand-new counterparts.
“There’s a lot of demand [in Utah], but there’s very little as far as top luxury brands,” says Fashionphile founder Sarah Davis. “And when there’s no luxury, we are the luxury.”
Davis founded Fashionphile in 1999, when she created a storefront on eBay to sell pre-owned luxury brands. One major strategy was offering authentication guides to help buyers ensure that what they were purchasing was real. Twenty seven years later, Fashionphile is globally renowned online and has many storefront locations, with Lehi being its newest.
“I love everything about Fashionphile because I do collect, and I love the opportunity to go back and pick up something I didn’t get in a first run,” says The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City’s Bronwyn Newport. The SLC housewife, celebrated for her keen eye for fashion, hosted the grand opening on Thursday night. “This gives you the opportunity not to just be buying new but to buy something you really love. I think a lot about what’s next for fashion [versus] is it just new? With Fashionphile I feel like I’m buying what’s really next for me, not just buying what’s in the store.”
And what bag is next for Newport? It just might be one from the Louis Vuitton x Takashi Murakami Multicolore collection made famous by Jessica Simpson in 2003. “That’s always been on my wishlist so I will probably go home with one from there,” Newport says.
Newport also had her eye on a Fendi bag made entirely out of Swarovski crystals. But there is plenty to choose from at Fashionphile, and more to come.
“They always say with skincare that you should buy what you can afford to use regularly. I feel the same way about bags,” Newport says. “You should have bags that you take to the movie theater, that you do go to the grocery store with. If there’s a bag you know you want and it’s available in a secondary capacity and pre-loved and pre-owned, then you just go straight to it.”
Photos credit Ashley DeHart Photography
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