No, sweetie, this not a love declaration from me to you. This is the actual name of an Australian brand that produces limited edition good-quality leather bags. What an appropriate name for a bag brand. Don't we all consider our bags an extension of ourselves and our most precious possession?
MOTL was founded in 2011 by Russian designer Nina Baranova after settling in Sydney, and has received a well-deserved media attention. The brand has seasonal unique classy designs, excellent leather and materials, gorgeous colours and a no-fuss online site. The bags are a big pricey, but not much considering the quality and limited edition of the products they sell (150 pieces for each design), and that you can buy mass-produced plastic bags (now conveniently renamed faux-leather) from chain retailers at half the price.
MOTL's website is very basic, not specially stylish, and has a few blind spots (an empty blog, and not developed links) but it is very easy to navigate and gets you where you want without hassle. You will find a little story of the brand and the designer, the conditions of sale, and the list of stockist in Australia (none in WA yet), and the online shop.
The online shop doesn't need of registration (unless you really want) and can pay by credit card or Paypal, and deliver your purchase by Registered Post without extra charge; your order will arrive in a couple of working days to major destinations within Australia. So very convenient!
The website store offers a photographic listing of the bags on sale. You can click-in and see different photos of the bag of your choice, although I found them a bit poor in size and in variety. They truly need an online zoom system -as the one you can find, for example, at Nordstrom's or Macy's- to see the details of the leather and materials, a photo of the inner lining, and, most importantly, a photo of the bag on a mannequin or woman figure to see its fall, shape and approximate size. Otherwise, you are just guessing. They provide a description in writing of the bag, but that is never as clear as a photo on a woman shape. You don't want to take your measurements tape to figure out the size of the bag you are buying, or imagine in your head how long the bag falls or the shape when empty, when it takes you a second to figure that out by looking at a photo.
I missed an automatically-generated email informing me that my order had gone through and was being processed. I had to contact their customer service to get that confirmation. That is not good enough. At the same time, they processed my order immediately and was sent immediately, too.
Now, the big question is, did the bag I got matched what I have imagined via the website? The answer is not exactly. The colour purple was almost identical, but I was disappointed that the bag has no structure. Thus, when you use the cross-body belt it hangs down awkwardly, and I had to place it around the handles hooks. On the other hand, it has no individual flap so you cannot have it semi-open to put your hand inside and grab whatever you need from inside. However, you cannot see that in the website because the bag is photographed just standing and puffed from inside, not semi-full. They need to improve their website photo system, so you get what you see. The bag is beautiful and very good-quality, a kind of stylish work-briefcase for ladies, still very trendy and youthful. I have had tons of compliments on it from the teens to old ladies. UPDATE April 2013
The online shop and the whole website of the brand has been suspended, and there is no way to find what has happened to very innovative brand. Their Facebook page is still operative, but it hasn't been updated since September 2012.
UPDATE JANUARY 2015
Their website was brought back to life last year. However, no items are added to the selection of bags already there. The pieces out of stock are not being brought back, he blog is not updated, and it seems that a dying site.
It is a pity. They have awesome quality leather bags, and I get compliments on my purple bag almost every day from both men and women. The bag has proven to be very good quality, perfect for work. Always stylish and unique.
