A woman I know spent $400 for a "real-no fake" "Gucci" on e-Bay! How dumb is that???

When you're beyond needing to "get a lot of looks in France," you're well on the way to having some real options.

The next time you're considering buying some crap to impress other people, think about what your own response would be if you saw someone else with it. Would you think you were looking at a Person of Quality? Would you feel inferior by inference? Of course not. Then why in hell do you think it works the other way around?

People selling stuff play on people's desire to rise above their station and be considered more than they are. The <i>real</i> consumers buy quality - no matter the brand, price, or outlet. And it doesn't have the designer's logo on the outside.

Hey, I put all my gear in a plastic Duane Reade bag. I just know I am tres chic walking through the mall with my bag and my cup of Dunkin' Donut's coffee.

People probably think I am one of the Radziwills.

Ah, Freak Out. Le Freak, c'est chic.

You don't really think that those poor Africans, Latinos, Arabs etc.. are in business for themselves? They are employed by Big Bucks, who either import the fakes or own the factories that manufacture them. The vendors themselves either get a few eurors or $$ an hour or possibly work on commission. Just watch to see who comes by at the end of the day to pick up the remaining merchandise - usually fairly nice, large vehicles, going along the 'trade' route.

We had the same problem on Twin Peaks here in San Francisco about 10 years ago. The Latino vendors, selling phoney logo tee shirts, sweatshirts, etc.. would arrive early in the morning and take up most of the parking spaces and set up their tables along the area where people stand to get a better view.

After many complaints, the police would confiscate the merchandise ( I was a civilian employee at the police station involved), and the very next day, the vendors were back with identical merchandise. Thousands of items were involved and probably 15 vendors. Big Bucks distributor was testing the police and this continued for over a week. So you can imagine the profit involved in this.

Two years ago in NYC over the Christmas Holidays, the vendors had their blankets spread out in all along the crowded sidewalks in front of the store window displays selling counterfeit items and other things. It was impossible to stop and look at the window displays because of the huge number of people and the limited space. I'd say they took up at last l/3 of the sidewalk. We saw numerous cops just walk right by them, without even a glance. This was late in the evening and it was really a mad house.

Now iF any one can tell me where I can get a Chloe knock off, the beautiful brown satchel tote, as seen in the new Vanity Fair (I called Nordstrom - $1600), I just might consider it....

Just for the fun of it, when I am in Paris in December, if I can find it at one of the Choloe stores or Bon Marche, Gallerie Lafayette, etc.. I may do some price comparisons. If you get there first, the model is &quot;Edith&quot; and it is absolutely gorgeous.

Nina

I don't really consider shopping for a costume ripping off a company. If I were on stage and wanted to dress like a rich woman, I would probably use a fake LV bag to get the point across. Same with bling. Do I really need P. Diddy diamond encrusted bling? No, but when dressed as a rapper for a costume party, it is pretty essential.

Which brings us to a more philosophical question: is knock-off buying just a costume farse? Obviously, most people with fakes are hoping they will be mistaken for real. Why? So people think you have money? So people think you seriously value material possessions? Are you just playing a role in hopes of one day assuming it for real?

Homegirl

Years ago I made some purchases at Baccarat when they were in the 10th. Most of it has to be shipped home, but I did carry one small item with me.

The salesperson handed it to me in a lovely thick, red Baccarat shopping bag, which I immediately put into the tote that I was carrying. She seemed surprised and asked why I didn't want to walk down the street with their bag in hand. I told her that I felt much more comfortable on the Metro and walking around, with it in the tote. I know that she had no idea what I was talking about.

I still have that shopping bag, and use it for needlework projects. I have some newer Baccarat bags (the salesman was VERY generous) from last year, but they aren't nearly as nice, nor do they have the same memories of that shopping spree over 21 years ago. That bag is older than my marriage!

My personal feelings about buying fakes - if you can't afford the real thing - buy something of the best quality that you can afford.

Nina

Fake, but oh so true.

I fully agree with Micheline. The prices are criminal. I know from personal experience what it takes to manufacture designer bags in Italy! By the way, you can forget about &quot;Italian craftsmanship&quot; ! The Chinese have set up shop and they have taken over in the sense that they are cheaper to employ. They work night and day in factories scatterd throughout Italy. By the way, you can find PLENTY of FAKES on Ebay! Just compare the photos of &quot;authentic&quot; Prada bags on ebay to the ones on websites of stores who do sell the real thing. Now it is so acceptable for a young person to spend the equivalent of a mortgage payment on a bag! Why not charge as much as a down payment on a house for a bag? As long as there are MARKS who will pay these crazy prices they will continue to go up.

&quot;People selling stuff play on people's desire to rise above their station and be considered more than they are.&quot;

rise above their station??? Alternate universe time . . .

See, now that's a very bourgeois attitude you've expressed there.

Newsflash, Passepartout: people don't talk like that nowadays!

I think that servant name is putting you into the servant mentality!

Where have you been, KSWL? Haven't seen you around lately.

If you are in Paris, DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY ON A FAKE!!!! I can't even believe that someone who is going to Paris or in Paris would ever buy a knock-off. Indulge yourself, think of your deseigner piece as a souvenier from your trip, it will last a lot longer than your eiffel tower keychain and you will use it a lot more often.

I went to Paris last spring and got a gorgeous chanel bag, I do not regret it and I love it to death.

Please just don't buy knockoffs, you are hurting the deseigners and are associating yourself with illegal activities.

I just wanted to point out to the person that said knockoffs are often overruns...maybe there are some brands this is true for, but for the most part, this is a bad misconception. I'm referring to the brands most often faked - Louis Vuitton and Gucci especially.

For these high-end designers, there are NEVER any overruns, NEVER any sales, NEVER any factory seconds. Ever. If an LV bag has even the slightest quality problem, it is destroyed, not sold at a discounted price. And they never, never go on sale. If someone wants the real thing, then they're going to have to pay the going price, period.

I can't imagine why anyone would want a fake. I have a real Louis Vuitton Papillon that I adore. Believe it or not, the &quot;status&quot; of it wasn't my prime motivation for buying it - at my age (25), and with the number of fakes out there, everyone likely assumes it's fake anyhow. I purchased it because I loved how extremely high-quality and durable it is, and how beautiful it is. It brings me daily pleasure. If it were a fake, I wouldn't enjoy it. It'd have the status symbol, but none of the other characteristics that bring me happiness.

And for the record, if you buy a fake and hope to pass it off as real, then you should know that most people who own the REAL thing (just speaking of LV, personally, but I'm sure the same applies with other brands) *can* spot fakes a mile away. True, some are *much* better than others, but I could probably still tell whether one was fake or not, if I could see it up close. The bad ones are the ones you know are fake from across the room. They're so bad that I feel bad for the people carrying them, who so clearly want the status of carrying around an LV, only to not know that many people are silently laughing at the hideously bad knock off.

I wish we could edit posts! I need to correct a statement I made above - in the 1st paragraph, I mentioned Gucci doesn't have overruns/factory seconds. Which isn't correct - Gucci does have outlets.

The brands I was thinking of and should have listed instead are Chanel, Chloe, and Balenciaga.

When you get good at it, you can even post to locked threads.

(Actually, you don't have to be good - you only have to outsmart the primitive Fodor's server script.)

Passepartout's last post serves as an example of why I should read posts that don't seem interesting inititally.

I didn't open this thread for a day or so, but it kept getting topped. I caved to curiosity and ended up with some valuable information about editing posts. I hate it when I post with errors!

Thanks, Passeportout! (Now, where's that thread that will tell me how to post a smiley?)

Maybe you can buy some Diamonique (SP?) jewelry too. Get a breast job, chin job, eyes, cheek implants, butt implants, face lift, some fine knock off polyester clothing and you'll look FAAAABULOUUS dahling!

Lucy, go to http://www.fodors.com/forums/smileys/
for the smileys.


Hi CARRYBEAN, I've been getting last child to boarding school, then back to school myself, started a new job, etc. Busy as a little bee, I am.

I was also getting very frustrated with one of the frequent poster's constant berating and decided to take a vacation from Fodor's. It was delightful, and when i dropped back by, the noxious poster is--poof--gone! I'm not asking where, don't want to jinx it, but all post history has disappeared, too. Weird.

kswl, many thanks!