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Enjoying luxuries, chasing Luxury, and the problem with fakes
By Meg | November 27, 2007
“Keeping up with the Joneses” and generally outdoing one’s neighbors has existed, well, longer than humankind itself. Competition is part of nature, and it’s part of being human. However, add to the mix a world of luxury items, credit cards, and industries whose goal is to tell you why you absolutely must have all that stuff you don’t need, and it’s a recipe for the craziness and massive debt that we see around us today.
Courtorture.com recently had a salon on Luxury and Accessibility, featuring posts on the subject from many different bloggers. I found the posts very interesting, especially The Psychology Behind Affordable Luxury by Budget Babe which explains why luxury brands sell things like $10,000 bags (in short, it’s so you’ll think that the $300 bag is a great bargain considering the supposed value of the name). I’ll let you check out the other posts for yourself, though, and just provide my thoughts on this and related issues.
What is luxury?
To paraphrase the definition from Merriam-Webster, a luxury is something that we don’t need but that has value because it brings comfort or pleasure of some sort. Strictly speaking, you’re probably surrounded by luxuries that people elsewhere in the world can only dream about. In comparison to those around you, though, you may feel like you’re just doing o.k., or even that you’re deprived.
“Need” is relative since it changes as we get accustomed to enjoying a certain life style (at least in our minds). “Luxury” is definitely relative; things tend to be more luxurious the less you need them and the harder they are to get. Sure, we all love treating ourselves to things that bring us pleasure (like cashmere sweaters and a big screen television), but some luxury items are pleasurable primarily because they allow us to show off our status and wealth — like a $10,000 bag.
For the sake of brevity, let’s call the former little-L “luxury items” and the latter big-L “Luxury items” (though, obviously, what is just a simple luxury to one person might be a Luxury to another).
Enjoying the luxuries in life
I’m not against luxury. I could fill a book with the many luxuries that I enjoy: my microwave, a wide assortment of stylish accessories, eating out, air conditioning, a large collection of books, taking college classes just for fun, hot showers, and so on.
I do hold a certain respect for people who live more simply than I do, whether by choice or by necessity. At times, I’m amazed at how well some people make do without the things I take for granted; it reminds me which things are needs and which are luxuries.
The crime I see is not in having luxuries, it’s in not appreciating the luxuries that we do have. The joy of luxuries is not just in having them, it’s in enjoying them with an appreciative attitude.
The danger of Luxury
Chasing Luxury, though, is destructive because keeping up is a never-ending competition. Luxury thrives on hype; it’s the new, the expensive, the disposable. It can suck you dry if you aren’t careful. It sucks millionaires and billionaires dry. That’s because it’s an illusion. By the time you have it, it’s not a Luxury. It’s just worthless stuff.
Affordable Luxury is an oxymoron. Accessible Luxury is an oxymoron.
The problem with fakes
That brings me to fakes. I have several issues with fakes, including legal and economical issues which I’ll no doubt touch on in the future. However, the big issue that I have with fakes is that they are based on this notion that everyone can have Luxury. I don’t want to get into whether or not people I don’t know “deserve” to have nice things, but I will repeat that I am not against luxury. I want most people to have nice things — and I am for “inspired” fashion that isn’t deceptive and that gives credit where credit is due.
However, people who buy fakes just to impress others with their supposed wealth aren’t outsmarting the system, they’re feeding it. On the one hand, they’re fueling the perception that everyone can have Luxury, which in turn fuels the mentality that “if she can have a ___ on her salary, then I should have one, too” (though, yes, there are other factors at work). On the other hand, they’re lowering the value of the real thing since the value of Luxury is based on its exclusiveness. They’re not just cheating others, they’re cheating themselves.
Some people who buy fakes might think that they’re outsmarting the system because they think that they will help topple the system. After all, if anyone can buy fake Luxury items, and no one can tell the difference, then Luxury will just cease to exist, right? Wrong. Rich people will do just what they’ve always done, they’ll just find more extravagant ways to show off — ways that are much harder to fake.
Why it’s still alright to get that Prada bag — sometimes
I find myself in a rather interesting position because I write about fashion, shopping, and bargains here and over at The Bargain Queen. Some might think that I’m a hypocrite since I do sometimes stress names. So, let me just say, designer names aren’t evil. They can often be a good indication of quality, though not always. I would never recommend an item solely because of the name attached.
I hope that my writing always reflects my belief in spreading luxury, not chasing Luxury. The line between the two can certainly get fuzzy. An expensive Prada bag might come to mind as the perfect example of a Luxury. It depends more on whether the buyer bought it primarily to show off their wealth, or because they genuinely appreciate the design and quality (though, one can certainly buy something for both reasons). I know some people can’t imagine paying thousands or even just hundreds of dollars for a bag, but if someone can genuinely afford a luxury like that, then who am I to say that they’re dumb to spend their money that way.
And no, I don’t think that people who chase Luxury are dumb, either. I just think that it’s a bad practice, but one that we all get caught up in at one time or another.
I will no doubt be posting more on this subject in the upcoming weeks, but in the meantime I’m really curious to see what you have to say on this topic. Please, feel free to leave comments and questions below. I especially welcome disagreement, since that leads to true discussion and I’m sure that there is much more to this topic than what I’ve presented here. Just please keep it polite. I know that this can be a hot topic.
Tags: Fashion, Impressions, Spending Money
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December 8th, 2007 at 4:58 am
This is an excellent topic, and you have discussed it wonderfully. I think it would be good to explore the difference between sales, discounts, and fakes. There is a difference between waiting until a Luxury item is within your reach (financially speaking) and purchasing a knock-off that looks like a top brand item.
Most of my “nicer” clothes come from when the fashion changes (or newer items arrive) and the store puts things on sale. I buy INC, Alfani, and Ralph Lauren for the quality of their items (and their fabulous fashion), but I wait until I can afford them on sale; I do not look for cheaper versions of the same things.
December 8th, 2007 at 10:48 pm
Thanks so much Miss Conception! I was almost a bit worried by the sound of crickets chirping in the aether.
I’m definitely a believer in buying quality items (not that everything I buy is of the highest quality), and as you’ve proven, it’s definitely possible to get them for less.
I love clearance racks. I have found some great finds at Ann Taylor. Alas, patience isn’t own of my virtues, though ; )