Alright so this post is slightly delayed but my wonderful sales associate has managed to offer me the color of the season (and honestly my dream color!!) presenting the 21p “gold” (yes that is the official color, not caramel – see the tag of my bag below).
As a collector of all poop colors I had to get my hands on one for “research”. Oh the things I do for blog “research”. This is a REALLY expensive blog post.
Let me just start by saying I come from a vintage Chanel “heritage” and so I have long since had my eye on this color because to me it was always a very “wearable vintage”, so classic and cool despite the modern times.
The Vintage History
Nothing is really new with Chanel bringing back this poop color as the poop color was originally very much a color unique to vintage Chanel. They are in fact a true vintage in the sense they were produced in only very early series (around 0, 1 and 2) and they were produced in various combinations:
[Edit: I've been told that there is a 7 series that is actually also this similar color]
Where the entire bag was poop, including the inside lining (Ryan):
Where the bag had contrast dark brown lining (Tan):
Where the bag had contrast beige lining (Hugh):
As usual, no one knows when production stopped but from my experience and having surveyed a lot of my fellow buyers for vintage shops, production years were short.
Styles
This color was also produced in various classic styles such as:
small and medium classic flaps
17cm square mini
25cm square classic flap
single flap bag
Unfortunately from what I’ve seen this color likely predates the Diana production years but I have seen this in the square tab border “Diana” style (which is also a 1 series/early series style bag!) There are similar but not exact shades in the Diana style and would urge you to check out my library post for more information.
Ironically enough, this color was brought back in the 2015 reissue Diana and this was covered in my blog post here.
Owners of the vintage poop on Instagram:
If you want to see this style in action, I know of the following accounts who have this vintage classic flap and they definitely kill it with their respective styles.
- @cocoshannel (full disclosure, mumma of Edison, adopted from MGFT!), she owns a 1 series
- @mychanelstory, she owns a late one series. She owns the “youngest” vintage poop classic flap I’ve seen, it is almost a 2 series!
- @maycstyle, she owns another one series poop classic flap
- @mademoiselle.scarlet she also owns a very early one series!
- @alyssa.lenore, no idea what she owns as she doesn’t know I exist!
- @samishome, ditto although she did a youtube video on the comparison! [Edit: as comments have indicated, she owns a 7 series so actually much younger!]
Modern Production
[EDIT: again i have been told that this was also produced in 13 series so likely to predate any of the below history, it was in a matte yellow gold hardware, see @allisonsbagdiary for the one!]
First in 2012, a color not quite the poop share was produced in 12c but honestly I don’t personally think it is warm enough for me to consider it “poop”. This poop looks more like you ate a ton of carrots if you get what I mean. It’s also with silver hardware and so I personally would not classify it as a “traditional” poop color for the purposes of this blog post.
In 2015, this color was actually brought back in the form of the Diana reissue, which I have personally owned at some point and have now rehomed. This color was much more muted and grey, much like the 2021p from recollection.
In 2016, the color was re-introduced in lambskin, slightly darkened as you can see from my blog post where I compared a vintage 1 series classic flap (Edison) and 2016b classic flap. This is also the birth date of my first poop-colored mini.
Fast forward to 2021 this was finally produced AGAIN in lambskin and now everyone is going crazy for this color.
In fact 2021 appears to be THE year for this color as it is to pop up AGAIN in 21A in the caviar leather. So maybe this should have been Patone color of the year instead of the color “illuminating” (a yellow)?
Color Comparisons
Having now given you a brief history of this color, I thought I would show some comparison pics of the vintage poop color, the 2016 poop color and the 2021 poop color. I don’t have all three bags on hand so you will have to do some imagining:
2016b vs 2021p
I would actually place these two as being VERY similar. In the dark they are almost exactly identical. However, in the natural light, you can see the 2021p gold is slightly milkier whereas the 2016b poop is much more like the color of Thai iced tea. It has a slightly more orange tint to it compared to the 2021p under bright sunlight.
The main difference here is stitching. The 2021p has contrast stitching in the form of white whereas the 2016b doesn’t use contrast stitching. Also the hardware, I swear my 2016B has slightly oxidised to become more yellow?
A point to note on the craftsmanship though. As much as I want to be fan of the new stuff, the braiding on this new 21p in the chain is absolutely atrocious. Ever since they stopped with the flat plating the links jumble up and the leather inside always ends up loose and wobbly. I swear something is going to hook onto this! The price has also increased astronomically now, though the craftsmanship has also decreased astronomically!
Vintage vs 2021p
Again, I don’t have the vintage version on hand for pictures but given how similar 2021p is against the 2016b version, I think the original blog post will give you a picture of the changes. An updated picture below of the two minis, one being vintage and one being 2016b!
Setting aside that the fact that quality just cannot be beat with the vintage classic flaps, let's just talk color.
In my mind, the vintage color has something very classic and casual that the new poop color doesn’t have. If you like this poop color, it is because you love the warm gold color, and so the warmer the better but not brassy like the 12c. The warm tone is enhanced with the 24k gold plated hardware, whereas the 2016 and 2021p poop has light gold hardware that can almost look silver in certain lights. As a result, both of these newer years look cooler. So all logic then points to the vintage color being the best poop color!
Now you may be wondering why it is I don’t personally keep a bag in this color. The ONLY reason I don’t keep a bag in this color is because they usually are in the form of classic flaps and as you all know I don’t particularly love the style so it’s a love/hate for me. I am actually very picky with functionality in my bags since I do have so many vintage bags so unfortunately I haven’t found a style in THIS color that I am happy to add permanently. I used to own it in the 2015 Diana reissue and even then, I couldn’t be incentivised to keep it as again (see blog post for review), this is not a color that seems to be really in a functional form, save for my two minis!
That being said, who cares which series and color this is from? If you like the tone/shade range, then you’re probably going nuts for this season and I am more happy to join you!! Let me know in the blog post below which is YOUR favorite poop shade?
7 comments
Hi! I’m glad to have stumbled upon this blog post. Great read. I wanted to add that I actually purchased samishome’s vintage chanel from her and the bag is a 7 series.
Thank you for this informative a md entertaining post. My forever unicorn is the vintage “poop” caramel bag- Initially in classic. However I did not know came in mini square size. I know vintage has shorter straps even in minis but still longer than classics so this may be my true unicorn to search for! Thanks again. Aloha from Kauai!