I hate imitation bags

[breakinglight11]

I was wandering around a shopping center today while waiting for my car to get finished with its service appointment, and I came across a store selling a ton of bags imitating couture lines. The tacky prints obviously meant to look like the signature patterns of high-end retailers like Burberry, Louis Vuitton, and Fendi. I really dislike low-end bags that imitate the look of haute couture designs. Now it's not that I think ridiculously expensive obviously branded status bags are so superior to any other nice bag. Those are all about the statement that the label makes you cooler, or announces to the world how rich, powerful, and chic you are. Bullshit. Style comes from looks, know-how, and quality, not two enormous interlocking C's over quilted leather on display for everyone to notice. Give me a handsome, well-made genuine leather bag over an ostentatious sack in a gaudy signature print any day-- I despise the Coach carpet bag, or the hideous LV patterm, and the knockoffs thereof look even worse. Cheap imitations are trying to give the illusion of the status conferred, not trying to be quality and stylish accessories in their own right. There are perfectly gorgeous, tasteful, well-made, stylish, high-end bags out there that do not make you pay out the nose because of their obvious label. Now if somebody gave me a simple, elegant leather Prada handbag I would certainly not turn it down, but just because there's a trendy label doesn't make it a chic piece, and I certainly don't believe I need to spend hundreds or thousands of dollars to find it. Truly stylish people only need flattering, well-chosen clothes and accessories, not labels, to make them appear to their best advantage. Don't buy an imitation just because you think it will make you cool. Buy a quality bag that you like and compliments your style, and you will look so much more chic than with your not-quite-Fendi or Cha-not. :-P 

Comments

[katiescarlett29.livejournal.com]

SO AGREED

Also, there's this particular designer who makes these godawful quilted handbags in a variety of colors that clash, and in really busy prints like paisley, and the fabric looks like if you cut the bag in the right places, you might actually find yourself holding a miniature quilt. I am SO confused by these bags, I see them everywhere, and since they're so UGLY I can't imagine people buying them for their own sake, so I figure they must be buying it because it's a designer item. I just can't fathom the worldview that applauds spending ludicrous amounts of money on ugly things. (Which is nearly the same worldview that applauds finding cheap knockoffs of the same ugly things.)

I've seen so much bad fashion in New York this summer, I feel like I should have been keeping a photo diary of tastelessness.

[acousticshadow2.livejournal.com]

I couldn't agree with you more. I have a particular fondness for well crafted leather handbags. I particularly like Prada styling and leather work. I also can't afford the price tag and thus only garner new purses from thrift stores and yard sales.

I think when it comes down to "designer" names I think that the name only is valuable when it reflects quality. Coach bags tend to annoy me purely because there is little "quality" and more gimmick and ridiculous price.

I actually wish I could find a leatherworker who would do custom work. It would be awesome to design my own purse.

[v-cat.livejournal.com]

I'd go one step further. Quality is all well and good, and for practical purposes like carrying books etc. a well-made leather bag is best. But when it comes to bags-as-fashion accessories, style, I believe, is king. It is about the design rather than the designer, or even quality. Fashions change rapidly, and most people who care about following such things change their purses often enough to keep up that quality is kind of a waste. Then there is the animal rights angle, that while I am by no means a red-paint slinging radical and love good leather, still worries me somewhat.

[marigumi.livejournal.com]

I don't have a strong opinion on this, but look at the ad that Livejournal decided to put on this post:
http://img822.imageshack.us/img822/3144/ironyv.jpg

hehe

[nennivian.livejournal.com]

Did the same thing to mine. :P
Only mine is for a different source of handbags. They are very careful to draw attention to the "Authentic" part, but that's just to draw attention away from the "UGLY" part.