Missed the edit window- Edit- I just looked more closely at the bag Piper was photographed with. The pattern (as well as I can see it) seems right, and the leather is the right color on both the bag and the straps. It doesn’t appear “obviously fake” at first inspection. The patterns on the exterior of LV bags, running vertically- the circular shape with the “inside the circle” shape below, repeating; the “opposite stars” shapes, repeating; the LV logo with another star shape, repeating.
It still looks fake to me. Compare with the authentic Louis Vuitton pattern.
Now, as EJsGirl says, you can also get actual black market goods or extremely convincing fakes very easily in NYC as well. In fact, just try to walk down Canal St. without a young Chinese girl coming up to you and muttering “Louis, Louis, Chanel, Coach…”
I’m not saying it’s particularly likely that Sarah Palin was dragged into a 5x5 room in the back of a shop in Chinatown to look at the illegal purses lining the walls, but the bag does look fake to me and there are certainly plenty of quasi-fakes being sold on street corners in Midtown as well.
On the other hand, today’s New York Times has pictures of Palin and notes the brands she wears as Valentino, Tahari, and Cole Haan. Small wonder, then, where that $150,000 went. Doesn’t take long to burn through that when you’re dressing yourself in Valentino every day.
And since it has been noted that the sum covered her children as well, I suppose it is possible that a shopper sprung for a fancy bag for Piper.
I always wondered what the lyrics to that song were…
Get out of my head, prr!
we gotta go now yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah
hangs head in shame I have a fancy pants limited edition Louis Vuitton wallet and for a good part of my high school years, I spent my time obsessively learning how to tell a fake Louis from a real one.
A couple of things worth noting:
[ul]
[li]LV bags are made from one piece of leather (well, the print-having, main part, I mean). It seems to look like Piper’s bag cuts the print off, implying to me the leather itself has been cut.[/li][li] The bag has those little. . . feet things. It’s my understanding that only the LV luggage has that. [/li][li] If I am remembering correctly- LV never cuts off the “LV” logo mid print (like at the bottom of Piper’s bag). [/li][li] That’s not an actual LV style- it’s a cross between two (the Speedy and the Montorgueil).[/li][li]The discoloration of the trim leather is actually normal- the trim on those LV will always darken with age. This, of course, doesn’t mean it’s real though. [/li][/ul]
If- by some shocking revelation- it turns out to be real, who cares? I’ve seen real LV bags at the Goodwill before (for $5-- I think they thought it was fake), have friends that got Grandma’s old one when they got hot again, etc. and so forth. Just because the kid has an expensive purse, doesn’t mean they paid a better part of grand for it- it may very well be a hand me down or thrift store find.
And if it’s fake, who cares? A little girl wanted to be dressed up like Mommy, so mommy bought her a grown up looking purse.
What I can’t understand is why LV hasn’t come out and stated whether or not the bag is real- it’d be fairly easy for them to ID one way or the other.
My wife’s 70’s style bowling ball bag has those little feet things. It also shares the form factor of the Louis Vitton bag, but not the cost.
So, Diosa, you’re a shallow dumbass for not buying a 70s era bowling ball bag instead!
And more importantly, she wasn’t saying that LV is the only company to use those feet things. She’s saying that within the LV line, only their luggage has those feet things (so the backpack purses and whatnot don’t have them).
Not at all. I expect she just has a better sense of purse-fashion than I.
Because intellectual property theft is illegal and unethical.
But again, where’s the line? After LV had phenomenal success with their multi colored Murakami line, Dooney and Bourke (much lower end, but still “designer” bags) immediately started mass producing a line that had multi colored DBs all over- all in the same colors and positioning as the LV bags. Was DB violating the intellectual property of LV? If so, why has LV not sued? Why didn’t Louis Vuitton sue when Guess then did the exact same thing?
If we concede that DB is ok in the above scenario, where then do we cross into “not ok”? Which one of these is the line where it’s ok?
Further, is the line just at a particular logo or print? Can no one else make something that looks at all like this because Pucci did it first?
What about the general shape? I have a fake Fendi Spy Bag (that’s a real one-they come in about 1000 patterns and colors, but all have that shape) that I picked up in the Fashion District of LA for $20. My fake looks a lot like this. (I bought the bag because I love all the pockets, not because it’s a fake Fendi.)
Anyway, so my point is: where is the line between “inspired by” and “intellectual theft”?
When someone puts an “LV” on a fake bag. If Piper’s bag is fake, then it is a deliberate rip-off, not an “inspired by” bag without logos on it.
So, it’s ok for me to have the same style, colors, and little graphic doo dads, but switch the “LV” for “SD” or whatever else I want? In other words, if everything else is the same, but the LV, it’s ok?
Nope. People can and do get sued for such things all the time. Ferrari is notorious about going after anyone and anything which vaguely resembles their trademarks (this not only includes replica cars, but also clothing which might “too closely” match officially licensed merchandise). Freakin’ Harley Davidson considered getting a patent/trademark on the exhaust sound of their bikes, simply so they could go after people who made bikes which “sounded like” theirs.
That LV hasn’t sued in the cases you mentioned doesn’t make it legal, nor is it outside the realm of possibility that there isn’t some kind of connection between the companies which isn’t readily apparent. Maybe they get their items from the same designers. Maybe they’re owned by the same corporations. Maybe they licensed it from LV. I don’t know. Perhaps LV figures that the folks buying the knock-offs wouldn’t be able to afford the real thing, so its not hurting their bottom line (probably true of a lot of the people buying the knock offs). That still doesn’t change the illegality of the matter.
Trent Renzor of Nine Inch Nails is on record telling people to “steal his music” (that which was released on his previous label, that is), yet were I to link to a website which enabled you to download the music, the mods would smack me down for doing so. Because, even though we have his permission, its still a violation of intellectual property law to do so!
I’m a chick, I’m allowed to say such things about a ten-year-old girl.
I’m not a tax lawyer, but…
She could sell the clothing at a charity auction and pocket the tax deduction.
For example:
Income: $150,000 clothes
Deduct: $200,000 proceeds from auction
Apply extra $50,000 to other income, reducing tax liability.
Profit!
In my opinion, “The use of campaign funds for items which most Americans would consider to be strictly personal reasons, in my view, erodes public confidence and erodes it significantly.” Those are John McCain’s words, c. 1993.
What I can’t figure out is how she spent $150,000 on clothing - it seems like a lot. How much does an outfit cost anyway? Apparently some fashion experts are puzzled as well. There’s also the matter of the FCC records not jiving with store-level records in 2 cases.
I’m not sure what’s going on, but it’s odd that the guy who laid down much of the cash for these items is GOP robocaller and generous landlord to Norm Coleman (R- MN), Jeff Larson.
I’m not upset. I’m not suspicious. I am puzzled.
If they’re going to spend that much money on her, I want to see her in a nice black leather skirt. Knee-length, classy and super sexy. She obviously likes leather, from pictures I’ve seen of her in jackets and boots. And who doesn’t want to see that hot librarian looking woman swap her tight cotton skirt for a leather one?
(Don’t bother linking to the badly shopped photo of her head on the porn model’s leather miniskirted body- I saw that picture the day McCain picked her as VP choice. Photoshop jobs will not do- I want to see the real thing in a real leather skirt!)
From that blog:
Translation: It’s ok if money was embezzled from the donors, we’re not going to investigate it.
Oooh, I hope this gets as much play as the original story, so they’re embarrassed into investigating the matter. I’d poke both eyes out with red hot pokers before I’d give one penny to a Republican, but if I were a donor, this would upset me even more than the shopping spree.
Looks like clothes weren’t the only things being laundered.