{"id":4222,"date":"2026-05-31T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-31T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/facesjournal.com\/?p=4222"},"modified":"2026-05-31T05:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-05-31T05:00:00","slug":"meet-the-woman-who-sources-the-worlds-most-elusive-handbags","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/facesjournal.com\/?p=4222","title":{"rendered":"Meet the Woman Who Sources the World\u2019s Most Elusive Handbags"},"content":{"rendered":"

Joanna Uzunova reveals how rare Herm\u00e8s Birkin and Kelly bags, alongside Chanel collectibles, are sourced through a discreet global concierge and allocation network.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Luxe<\/div>\n

\u201cThe collector that has that asset-driven mindset is going to be interested in an Herm\u00e8s Birkin, just like they’re going to be interested in off-market properties in London or even rare whisky,\u201d says Joanna Uzunova, founder of Luxe Buyers Club<\/a> and ex-buyer for Chanel, Ralph Lauren, Mulberry, and Herm\u00e8s.<\/p>\n

Her company sits at the intersection of concierge sourcing and market intelligence, serving an international client base that already understands the mechanics of luxury acquisition. \u201cThe clients that we serve are looking for the next level of precision. It’s not to say that they can’t go into boutiques and buy what they want \u2013 they are very familiar with acquisition strategies within the maisons \u2013 but they don’t have the time, the energy or the interest in doing that,\u201d she says. \u201cThey come to us knowing the exact leather, the hardware, the year stamp of the handbag they are interested in \u2013 and they want it tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Luxe
A So Black Birkin 30 sourced by Luxe Buyers Club \u00a9Luxe Buyers Club<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In this instance, the role of the concierge increasingly overlaps with that of a portfolio advisor. \u201cThere\u2019s only about 50 to 100 of people doing what I do worldwide,\u201d Uzunova tells Elite Traveler<\/em>. \u201cA lot of our clients have worked with us for such a long time that we have visibility over their existing collections. So, we go beyond just sourcing for them \u2013 we guide them with how the market is doing.\u201d She does this through market intelligence, by collaborating with peers and insiders at the maisons themselves, so she knows \u201cahead of time which pieces are going to be discontinued or how prices will move.\u201d<\/p>\n

At product level, value is increasingly shaped by discontinuation cycles and allocation control across maisons. But timing has become just as important. \u201cMy clients will sometimes just store their pieces to resell them at a different price level. It can be a lucrative investment.\u201d<\/p>\n

See also: The Fun Designer Bags Bringing Joy This Summer<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

\"special
A special order Mini Kelly \u00a9Luxe Buyers Club<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Uzunova\u2019s core focus remains anchored in Herm\u00e8s, where controlled distribution and limited production intensify both demand and secondary market premiums. \u201cWe’ve sourced a fair share of Herm\u00e8s Himalayan Birkins. An example that always pops into my head is a very rare \u2013 one in the market type of rare \u2013 special order piece, which is an Herm\u00e8s Exotic Mini. It required insane logistics to get it from France \u2013 with multiple flights to and the right documentation.\u201d<\/p>\n

She adds that \u201cwe recently had a celebrity client who bought an Herm\u00e8s Exotic Shoulder Birkin, which is beautiful. Clients will fight over it, because there’s so few in circulation. Even the auction houses don’t have access to them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Contemporary cultural moments also feed directly into this ecosystem of demand and scarcity. \u201cChanel has been the talk of the town [this year]. Everyone is talking about the Hailey Bieber bag (the Large Shopping Bag\u00a0from Matthieu Blazy’s debut Spring\/Summer 2026<\/a>) \u2013 we sourced three just last week. They were allocated one per Chanel boutique around the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"joanna
\u00a9Luxe Buyers Club<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

With a sourcing team embedded across fashion capitals \u2013 \u201cmy shopping team are the feet on the ground that shop full time in Paris<\/a>, London<\/a>, and Hong Kong<\/a>\u201d \u2013 the scale of the operation is clear. \u201cA lot of our clients are based in the US, UAE, Hong Kong, and Singapore. Given the nature of the service that I offer, which is white glove and hand delivery around the world, we travel often to see clients. I’m in Switzerland every other week.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"kelly
A Kelly Midas Gold Exotic \u00a9Luxe Buyers Club<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The service that Luxe Buyers Club offers extends beyond acquisition into lifecycle planning, mapping client behaviour across travel, wardrobe needs, and future purchasing cycles. \u201cThe biggest part of what we do that I love the most is that we know our clients\u2019 lifestyle inside-out. For example, I would know that my client in Zurich is traveling in two weeks\u2019 time, and I know what her family’s needs are going to be, what luggage they’re going to need.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yet despite the visibility of certain pieces, her client base itself remains intentionally private. \u201cA lot of our clients are super anonymous. They’re very open to new things and are early adopters as well.\u201d At scale, however, output remains relatively contained \u2013 underscoring how narrow the apex of the market truly is. \u201cI want to say last year, we probably sourced around a hundred bags.\u201d<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Joanna Uzunova reveals how rare Herm\u00e8s Birkin and Kelly bags, alongside Chanel collectibles, are sourced through a discreet global concierge and allocation network.\u00a0 \u201cThe collector that has that asset-driven mindset is going to be interested in an Herm\u00e8s Birkin, just like they’re going to be interested in off-market properties in London or even rare whisky,\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4223,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","beyondwords_generate_audio":"","beyondwords_project_id":"","beyondwords_content_id":"","beyondwords_preview_token":"","beyondwords_player_content":"","beyondwords_player_style":"","beyondwords_language_id":"","beyondwords_title_voice_id":"","beyondwords_body_voice_id":"","beyondwords_summary_voice_id":"","beyondwords_error_message":"","beyondwords_disabled":"","beyondwords_delete_content":"","beyondwords_podcast_id":"","beyondwords_hash":"","publish_post_to_speechkit":"","speechkit_hash":"","speechkit_generate_audio":"","speechkit_project_id":"","speechkit_podcast_id":"","speechkit_error_message":"","speechkit_disabled":"","speechkit_access_key":"","speechkit_error":"","speechkit_info":"","speechkit_response":"","speechkit_retries":"","speechkit_status":"","speechkit_updated_at":"","_speechkit_link":"","_speechkit_text":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4222","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/facesjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4222","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/facesjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/facesjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/facesjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/facesjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4222"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/facesjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4222\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/facesjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4223"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/facesjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/facesjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/facesjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}