As a bag lover, I fall in love with bags frequently. I often see bags that catch my eye immediately, but it is rare that I fall in love as quickly and as hard as I did with the Louis Vuitton Onthego tote bag. Last summer I became absolutely hell-bent on obtaining an Onthego, and it still pangs my heart to remember when I came home from Paris last summer empty handed. I had traveled there expecting to purchase one, and I was devastated when I found out the bag was sold out in every store in all of Europe. I even contemplated paying?double the price?to buy one on the resale market, but your comments talked me out of that really quickly (thank you, by the way!).

I had my heart set on purchasing an Onthego in the khaki color, which is a pretty white and tan on one side and green on the other. Sadly for me, that color scheme was limited edition and unless I wanted to revisit the idea of spending double the value of the bag on the resale market, I was fresh out of luck. Financially and mentally I just couldn?t bring myself to spend that, so I decided to purchase the reverse monogram Onthego. To say that I have fallen in love with this bag would be an understatement.

Let?s dive right in, shall we?

Aesthetics

You are either going to loathe this bag or love it, and clearly I fall into the latter category. The most obvious design feature of this handbag is the oversized monogram pattern, which LV has aptly named the ?Monogram Giant? canvas. Although the reverse canvas monogram wasn?t my first choice with the Onthego, I have become unexpectedly smitten with it and am ultimately glad this ended up in my collection instead of the khaki color I was originally lusting over. I have admired the reverse monogram canvas since it was released, but I wasn?t sure it would work in my wardrobe. I was so wrong, because the reverse monogram has become my favorite LV canvas and has seamlessly become a staple in my closet. It works with any neutral article of clothing and can make even the plainest of outfits look interesting.

Another aesthetic detail I love on the Onthego is that the design uses both the Monogram Giant and Monogram Reverse for the panels of the handbag. The juxtaposition of the different monogram color on the handles is my favorite part of the bag, it makes the reverse monogram pop against the classic monogram. The mini monogram on the handles against the giant monogram on the bag?s body is another tongue in cheek detail of the Onthego, which only adds to my obsession of this bag.

Usability + Functionality

The Onthego is a big tote, and as such, it is super functional for me and my lifestyle. If you need a big bag and carry a lot with you on a day to day basis, this bag is for you. The Onthego would also be an excellent travel bag, particularly for long flights or road trips. The coated canvas is very lightweight, so the bag doesn?t get weighed down even when it?s full.

I own the GM size of the Onthego, which is quite spacious with measurements of 16.14L x 13.39H?x 7.48W inches. Louis Vuitton recently introduced the Onthego tote in a MM size, with smaller measurements to its GM sister bag (13.4L x 10.2H x 5.1W inches). The MM size wasn?t available for purchase when I got my GM, but as your resident huge bag lover, I would have gone for the GM size anyway.

For my personal purse size preference, the large nature of the GM Onthego tote feels just right. I can fit everything I could ever want to carry inside, I lovingly refer to this bag as my Mary Poppins bag. Because of the lightweight nature of Louis Vuitton?s coated canvas, my bag is never weighed down.