Well, at least I thought mine did. And no, not talking about the actual person – thank God, and sorry if I gave you a scare. I’m talking about my actual bag. She was the second love of my designer bag life after my first Louis Vuitton Alma PM (which I had bought secondhand – I’m also selling this on Poshmark and you can buy new HERE).  I have dreamed about her for years – my Stella was my first new designer bag that I had purchased with my own hard-earned money. I remember I would ask a salesperson at every luxury department store to show me where the Stella McCartney bags were, just so I could stand there fawning over them. When my Stella Falabella triple-chain bag was finally in my possession, I was overcome with both excitement and gratitude.

So you can imagine how distraught I’d be if anything happened to my baby Stella. And something did. My dear Elephant-colored Falabella bag. Last week, she died. Okay, maybe she didn’t exactly die. But, she got very ill.  She got SOILED.

On top of not having the best day ever, my Kleen Kanteen water bottle decided to leak for the very first time…in my Stella bag. It’s never leaked the 365 days before in my $39.99 Zara tote that I carry to work every day…but of course, the day I switch my bag to add some glamour to my life, water decides to envelope my entire bag. I silently freak out on the bus ride home as I witness the water seeping towards the edges of my Stella – the light elephant gray started to become darker and murkier.

I finally get home and immediately get ready to air-dry my bag by laying her on an elevated stool. I think to myself, ‘air-drying shouldn’t be so bad.’ I start emptying her by collecting my lipstick, makeup, and wallet, and then all of a sudden, I see lots of WET POWDER. Everywhere. It looks like someone had brought my bag to the Jersey shore, filled it with sand, and used it as a flotation device in the ocean. Wet powder was caked onto the material and into crevices. Where could this have come from!? I dug deeper into my bag and realized I had some loose horse pill vitamins lying around, half-melted. The spilled water had disintegrated them inside and left their marks all over.  I took a deep breath and tried to keep my cool. Rational thoughts, Kasey.

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So this is what I did when I got home:

1) Flipped the inside material of my bag out.

2) Used a paper towel and physically “picked off” the wet vitamin powder as much as I could from the material and whatever got stuck in the seams. This is very similar to what I do when I have food stains on my clothes.

3) Took a paper towel and towel-dried/blotted the inside and outside of the bag to soak up as much water as I could.

4) Laid out the bag on a flat surface with the inside out so it didn’t lose its shape.

24 hours later….

I noticed the vitamin powder dried on the inside I was able to dust off some more of the powder. There was slight lightening on the pink material inside, but it wasn’t too bad.

5) Next, I stuffed the inside of my bag with plastic bags to keep the shape, (I always do this or use bubble wrap), put her in a dust bag, and placed her on a shelf in my closet. The outside of my bag that touched the water was a little “crispier” than the rest, but I think with use, it’ll soften up again.

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The good thing about the Stella McCartney Falabella bag is that it is not made with real leather (coined “vegan leather.”) So, spilling water on this bag didn’t ruin it as much as let’s say, if I spilled it on my Chanel (yikes!). It was very treatable, and I’m glad I didn’t freak out too much. Everything turned out to be okay.

Overall, I’m not 100% pleased, but I’m not 100% scarred. I am appreciative that my Stella is still very useable, in-tact, and continues to look stunning. Kudos to that.

What do you do when you’ve made a mess on your bag? Feel free to leave comments, suggestions, or send me an email at AskStyleWright@gmail.com. Remember to follow me on IG @theStyleWright and on Snapchat @kcmama8 for more adventures.

Xoxo,

Kasey

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P.S. When I asked Customer service from Saks what to do with my bag, this is what they said:

Dear Kasey,

Thank you for your recent inquiry regarding cleaning leather. I am sorry to hear that you spilled water on your Stella McCartney Bag. When cleaning leather, the general instructions is a lightly damp cloth on leather and store in a duster bag. There are other methods, you could either google them or use what is best for you.

Obviously, I went above and beyond that  ;-).

Click below link to shop the bag!