Inside Jj’s Closet
For some, owning the collection itself gives them joy. For others, it's the hunt. For Jean Jensen (Jj), it's inspiration, "If you love something, who is stopping you from getting it?"
While feet swell and waistlines waiver, a purse always fits. So, it's no wonder that women gravitate to designer handbags. They offer a versatile visual representation of success.
In the current social construct, "If you have a VIP purse," Jj acknowledges, "you receive VIP treatment." Yet, that is not what drives her to collect luxury designer handbags. Jj's reasons are more personal.
In 2011, Angelina Jolie was photographed on a lush Cambodian river, barefoot, in casual clothes, accompanied by her Louis Vuitton. Jj had already bought the smaller Piano version of this Monogrammed Cabas in 2006. For Jj, this was the bag that started it all.
Born Lojean Valles, Jj grew up in the Philippines, under circumstances where obtaining high design wasn't even a dream. "That was not my world," Jj says. In her family, as the middle child, hand-me-downs were a way of life. She disliked wearing her older sister's clothes, but when her mom brought home a new purse, Jj couldn't wait to call it her own.
"I never thought I would be a collector," Jj says, looking as impeccably put together as the luxury handbags lining the walls around her. "[But] I've always loved bags."
At the height of her first career, Jj was the Assistant Dean of the College of Education at a Jesuit University in the Philippines and was being groomed to become Dean. At the same time, however, her personal life was in shambles. To escape an abusive marriage, she took leave in 2002 and visited a friend in America. She arrived with one suitcase and started life anew.
Armed with her Ph.D. in Ancient Languages, she attended a Houston job fair and received three teaching offers. Now instead of college students, her pupils were to be middle schoolers. It was a difficult transition but provided a means to support herself. In time she rebuilt her life and remarried.
In 2006, on a trip to New York with her sister, Jj carried a fake Louis Vuitton she had bought from a friend. She was naive of the fashion world and the egregious fashion faux pas she was committing. Snobbish New York shop keepers made her aware of her sin though, she says, "I felt so small." Feeling as fraudulent as her bag, she made her sister hold it while she went into Macy's and bought her first authentic Louis Vuitton. "It's a trophy," Jj says, "I wanted to prove to my past that I was okay."
She purchased her second bag back home in Houston just a few months later. Fascinated with the perfection of the stitching, in love with the feel and smell of the fine leather, Jj began to study at length the intricate process required to make luxury handbags. Her husband tells her she has undoubtedly earned a second Ph.D. in "Bagology."
Jj also learned how to build her own collection while avoiding the higher cost of new retail bags. She believes “if one has a will, no matter the circumstances, there is always a way." She bought second-hand and from online resale sites like Malleries.
By 2018, she had amassed a following on Facebook and enough Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Gucci, Burberry, and Prada designer bags that she could use a different one every day for more than three months.
"It was obsessive," Jj admits, but the collection brought her joy in a way she believes only collectors can relate. She says just looking at it is relaxing and drives away her stress. She equates it to admiring art, the beauty engulfs her, and she can forget the world and its worries. "It's like heaven to me."
After hundreds of thousands of dollars and a decade of work to educate herself and curate her collection, Jj found something that makes her feel even better—sharing her expertise with others who want to acquire a bit of high fashion on a budget.
It started with a "Garage Sale" from her private collection through Facebook. The experience led to a business idea. These days you can usually find Jj in Old Town Spring working at her shop, sharing her passion with other "bagaholics."
Jj's Closet started as a way to trim down her private collection. Now, however, the business buys gently used luxury designer and branded handbags from clients, so as Jj says, "they can find new adventures on the arms of someone else."
Not all of Jj’s collection is for sale, though. "You can't get rid of the collector in you," Jj shrugs. There is no denying that Louis Vuitton remains her first love, followed by Chanel. Nor does she deny her penchant for structured bags in black or red, as illustrated by the most recent addition to her private collection, a Chanel Classic Flap Jumbo in caviar leather. Cradling it, she inhales deeply, then sighs with a soft smile, "There is nothing like it."
Dan’s Guitars Tell Their Tales
Every guitar in Dan Kiblinger’s collection has a story to tell. Dan is the owner of Dan’s Guitars and Music in Cleveland, Texas. With over 35 years in the music industry, Dan is known for his expertise at restoring and repairing guitars and has done work for rock and country artists as well as other collectors. His personal collection of vintage guitars on any given day consists of around 45 to 75 pieces. Some of these end up for sale in the shop, and others are for display only. His oldest is an iconic 1938 Gibson hand-carved L-5 that he’s had for over thirty years.
In addition to Gibson, other iconic names in his collection include Fender, Gretsch, and Rickenbacker. He says each maker, and each individual guitar, has its own idiosyncrasies. “Every guitar has a personality. Appearance, wear, and feel are important, although the more the guitar is played, the better the sound. The strings vibrate until they find their sweet spot.” He said iconic guitars can last for generations, and that they are kept young by being played.
Dan opened his first vintage guitar business in 1987 in North Houston. Airline Vintage Guitar was known to rock musicians throughout the country as a go-to source for guitar sales and repair. His reputation for creating and restoring valuable guitars has been passed down through several generations of guitar musicians, who continue to maintain their connection with him.
His abilities have enabled him to preserve treasures that might otherwise have been lost. Restoring and repairing damage wrought by recent floods has become a specialty, and he’s salvaged a surprising number of valuable guitars that were damaged during hurricanes, including Harvey and Katrina. “I have a guitar that was discovered under water after Hurricane Katrina that was in many pieces. After letting it cure and dry out for a year, I worked on sanding it down, leveraging all the pieces together, and then actually playing it to ensure the sound quality. It sounds great!”
His current store is an active sales and repair shop as well as a museum of sorts. Housed in a 1912 building on the main highway in Cleveland, the shop building is as vintage as one of Dan’s guitars, complete with a 1956 Chevy out front, which makes the shop easy to spot from the street. Dan says the building used to be some sort of store, and rumor has it that Elvis stopped there way back in the day. “If that’s true, it’s pretty cool. We keep it old. Keep that vibe. We don’t want to renovate, it’s perfect the way it is.”
His collection has become a must-see for guitar aficionados and tourist buses traveling between Houston and Beaumont, who would rather take the scenic route than brave the traffic along Interstate 10. “People literally walk in for the first time and say, ‘Wow!’” He said some people make the shop a stop on their vacations. They’ll spend a couple of hours in the little building, among all the vintage guitars and memorabilia, and they’ll listen to Dan tell the stories behind the guitars.
Dan displays his own instruments as well as those of his friends. Jeff Spike Wong, a well-known music industry veteran who lives in The Woodlands, has more than 20 guitars from his own substantial collection on display at the shop. Dan and Jeff each own Gibson Byrdland guitars, a unique instrument that has become synonymous with rocker Ted Nugent. Dan says there aren’t many in existence, and that they’re a bit odd, with a shorter scale and a more narrow neck. This renders them useless to most players, says Dan, “but the right person will say, ‘This is the most amazing thing I’ve ever picked up.’"
Another guitar that's on display is a 1962 Fender Strat that belonged to blues artist Joey Long, whose career spanned from the 1950’s through the nineties. Dan says the story goes that the guitar’s headstock–the top of the neck where all the strings end–was broken around 1970, so Long asked his friend Billy Gibbons for help in repairing it. (Gibbons is the legendary guitarist and lead vocalist for ZZ Top.) Dan says Gibbons knew a guy in Houston’s Montrose who could “rub some mojo on it” and the guitar was transformed into the beautiful piece that sits in Dan’s shop today.
After Long’s death, his family lost track of the guitar. Dan says it was finally returned to Long’s son, Jimmy, after Jimmy posted about the guitar on Facebook. “The owner ended up messaging him, gave him his phone number and told him he could have the guitar, that it didn’t mean as much to him as it would mean to Jimmy to get it back,” says Dan. It’s not for sale for any amount of money, but it’s out for people to enjoy, says Dan. Maybe somebody will come forward with another story about it, another layer in the history of the guitar.
Dan has known so many guitarists and others in the music industry over the years, that every few weeks a familiar face will drop by, and it may take a few minutes for him to recognize the old acquaintance, but then they may end up talking for hours. What connects them is their love for these legendary guitars and the stories they hold.
By 2018, she had amassed a following on Facebook and enough Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Gucci, Burberry, and Prada designer bags that she could use a different one every day for more than three months.