Kurt Geiger

Kurt Geiger opened on Bond Street in London in 1963, an Austrian-born shoe retailer selling other people's footwear before the name became a brand in its own right. It is still a shoemaker first, sold through its own stores and through British department stores, and it sits firmly in the accessible tier rather than the luxury one. Bags came later and are built on ornament: crystal-set eagle heads, rainbow stripes, chain straps and heavy stud work over quilted or coated surfaces. Very little of it is full-grain leather, which is worth knowing before comparing prices against Italian houses in the same band. There is no matched model line to filter on here. Because the appeal is entirely in the decoration, missing crystals and worn plating are what to check, and both are common.