Rent an Expensive Handbag (very mild RO)

The BBQ Pit
101

[QUOTE=NightRabbit]
The argument about buying expensive handbags because they’re of higher quality and stand up to abuse/wear and tear falls apart as soon as you begin to buy them often. If you’re buying them because they last, why do you need eight of them? or ten of them? It boggles the mind. Buy one and, 10 years later when it wears out, buy another. Oh, but wait, it’s all about the style and the fashion, isn’t it? It isn’t about quality and sturdiness at all, is it?

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Well, I identified myself as having several, so I’ll bite. It’s about quality AND style.

Let me see-

  • The cute little Chanel is a very formal, small bag, that I only carry on special occasions, mostly because you can’t fit much into it! It’s black because that color usually goes with my “formal” outfits.

  • The Louis Vuitton is the standard brown and beige, I use it when I am casual in jeans or wearing earth tones.

  • One Coach is bright red, so I don’t use it often (but it’s a big hit at Xmas and Valentine’s Day), the other is brown but dull and I haven’t carried it in a long time.

  • The Dooney & Burke, as stated earlier, is a riotously colorful patchwork of plaids, very summery and bright. I like to use it in spring & summer especially.

  • The Prada is a nicer black leather bag, roomy but the straps make it a bit awkward. I still use it quite a bit, though.
    As you may have noticed, I have lots of purses! :slight_smile: Probably 2 dozen, at least, from tote bags to clutches. Most are very inexpensive. I like having a funky, cool bag sometimes (like the olive drab canvas army-type bag I just got from HRC when I set in my check), and I also like to match an outfit when I can.

Different colors, different styles, different looks. What’s the big deal?

102

[QUOTE=faithfool]
Eh, I’m one of those who go all out if I spend more than 5 bucks for a purse, but I’m completely behind those that don’t see this as any different than any other pursuit of pet luxury items. You like ren stuff? Go for it. Howzabout Star Trek figurines? Same deal. Therefore, more costly fashion choices would fall under the same category.

I say that those who enjoy should partake of services like this if it’s their kettle of fish. I think it’s a wonderful idea that if you’d like to have something really nice for only a little while, renting is the way to do it. Hell, back in the day when I played more softball than I actually slept, it would’ve been a great and wonderful thing to have access to accessories that I otherwise would never be able to justify or afford.
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I’ll go along with this. Purses ain’t my bag, and I don’t understand it, but I would happily spend $4K on a loaded Alienware. For my sweetie, it’s currently a $200 all in one remote control (don’t get me started). It all accomplishes the same thing; it makes you feel really good.

103

[QUOTE=DianaG]
My favorite people to avoid are the ones who think that anyone who disagrees with them is either an idiot or a liar, and the ones who confuse poverty with nobility. I find people in the first group to be lacking in imagination, and people in the second to be kind of a buzzkill.
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I don’t believe I espoused either of those things. I just pointed out where the “quality” explanation becomes false. And spending money on nice things is fine; spending money on cookie-cutter status symbols is, IMHO, the height of shallow silliness.

104

[QUOTE=EJsGirl]
Well, I identified myself as having several, so I’ll bite. It’s about quality AND style.

Let me see-

  • The cute little Chanel is a very formal, small bag, that I only carry on special occasions, mostly because you can’t fit much into it! It’s black because that color usually goes with my “formal” outfits.

  • The Louis Vuitton is the standard brown and beige, I use it when I am casual in jeans or wearing earth tones.

  • One Coach is bright red, so I don’t use it often (but it’s a big hit at Xmas and Valentine’s Day), the other is brown but dull and I haven’t carried it in a long time.

  • The Dooney & Burke, as stated earlier, is a riotously colorful patchwork of plaids, very summery and bright. I like to use it in spring & summer especially.

  • The Prada is a nicer black leather bag, roomy but the straps make it a bit awkward. I still use it quite a bit, though.
    As you may have noticed, I have lots of purses! :slight_smile: Probably 2 dozen, at least, from tote bags to clutches. Most are very inexpensive. I like having a funky, cool bag sometimes (like the olive drab canvas army-type bag I just got from HRC when I set in my check), and I also like to match an outfit when I can.

Different colors, different styles, different looks. What’s the big deal?
[/QUOTE]

OK, well, I mean, if you want to spend hundreds of dollars on a red bag you wear on only two holidays a year, that’s fine for you, but I’ll never consider that NOT throwing money away. Why do you need a red COACH bag for holidays? Why can’t you have a regular bag for holidays? Ditto for the others. I just don’t get the obsession with labels.

105

It’s been a while since we’ve had a good 'ol fashion-related smackdown. I’m glad to see that this time around more thoughtful opinions are prevailing. Better yet, this time I can throw in my 2 cents.

I used to be the type of person who didn’t give a shit about clothes. I thought that wearing expensive clothes was kinda shallow, and that spending so much money to look good was wasteful. I saw no reason to spend that much money, and thought people who bought Coach bags and expensive suits were slightly shallow. I didn’t condemn them as people, but I did have a negative opinion regarding their attire.

I forget exactly how and when, but I gradually started to appreciate looking good. Not only that, but perhaps, I thought, it’s not shallow to wear good clothing? What if looking confident/sexy/stylish/what-have-you serves as a visible showing of a confident/sexy/stylish-what-have-you personality? Or, maybe one doesn’t have such a personality but is trying to. What’s wrong with that?

I think another factor in my change of opinion had to do with my long reflections on sexuality. I think a lot of people who dress bad are a type of modern-day Gnostics. They think that the body is trivial, worthless, shallow; only the mind matters and matter should be paid no mind. Well, that’s horseshit IMO. People who think clothes and looking good doesn’t matter also seem to be socially aloof or socially inept. For everything a time and a place. Life is like an endless waltz with shifting costumes and masks. Looking good has its place, just like wearing PJs and bunny slippers does too.

I guess in summary, there are many reasons for wearing expensive clothing, many of which are valid and many of which may not be. Mindless peer-pressure conformity, a desire to show social superiority, irrational spending behavior: all these things may be present, but that just means one should refrain from overgeneralizing. Expensive clothing and following the latest fashion may be a healthy or unhealthy life choice depending on factors I’ve briefly touched upon.

I’m not going to touch upon your motives for this post, nor the context. All I want to say is that from what I’ve studied there is no such thing as ‘mild insanity’ in the DSM-IV. I understand your point that fads and fashions may be irrational, but irrational behavior by itself is also not a disorder. Your use of the word ‘easily’ makes it sound like legions of luxury clothes-shoppers are mildly insane, whatever that means.

You are SUCH a cocktease, and I’m afraid I like it :o

106

[QUOTE=NightRabbit]
OK, well, I mean, if you want to spend hundreds of dollars on a red bag you wear on only two holidays a year, that’s fine for you, but I’ll never consider that NOT throwing money away. Why do you need a red COACH bag for holidays? Why can’t you have a regular bag for holidays? Ditto for the others. I just don’t get the obsession with labels.
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It’s not an obsession with labels. You missed the part of the post where I talked about the 2 dozen other, no-name bags in my closet.

And at least three were gifts, but that shouldn’t matter. If I see something I like, but then notice some designer name on it, I won’t decide “Oh, never mind, all of a sudden I don’t like it anymore.” I don’t go seeking out certain labels, or any labels, really- I just buy what I think looks good. Believe me, Target and Avon love me one hell of a lot more than 5th Avenue ever will! :smiley:

107

[QUOTE=Obsidian]
One of the things I always think about whenever this subject pops up is how money scales. Most people have a “waste-able” number. Under that number they stop thinking about value, because it’s not enough money to worry about. Under that number you’ll buy something without really looking at the tag, or without caring what the tag says. (I got a dress at Marshals for $20. I didn’t contemplate if I really needed it, or if it was worth $20. At $20 I bought it because it was pretty.) If you have enough money, well, $200 (or $2000) is $20. It’s just not enough money to worry about value. If it’s pretty, you like it, you buy it.

I think when you have loads of money, spending hundreds or thousands isn’t indicating you can’t manage money well, it’s that the money’s pocket change. Too little to even worry about managing.

Obsidian, former EA to some obscenely rich people. I routinely purchased an extra international first class seat (back before they were single-seats) so my boss wouldn’t have a stranger to sit next to. I’m not sure he even grasped just how much money 10 grand was to me. In his circle, that was just SOP.
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Well thank you for weighing in. It’s always nice to get proper perspective on an issue like this.

108

[QUOTE=HazelNutCoffee]
FWIW, I’d totally spend $500 on a medieval-style gown. I’d wear it at home and pretend I was a maiden in a tower, waiting for some lusty peasant to tear me out of my corset.
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Oooh, ooh, pick me! :wink:

109

[QUOTE=Maureen]
I’ll go along with this. Purses ain’t my bag, and I don’t understand it, but I would happily spend $4K on a loaded Alienware. For my sweetie, it’s currently a $200 all in one remote control (don’t get me started). It all accomplishes the same thing; it makes you feel really good.
[/QUOTE]

Exactly! Thank you. For me, I’d gladly save up any and all special occasion monies (like Xmas or birthdays) to be able to buy that one Alice Cooper thing that I can’t live without. At the moment, it’ll be meet and greet / front row tickets once the new tour starts.

So I definitely believe to each their own and unnecessary negative opinions to themselves.

110

[QUOTE=EJsGirl]
It’s not an obsession with labels. You missed the part of the post where I talked about the 2 dozen other, no-name bags in my closet.

And at least three were gifts, but that shouldn’t matter. If I see something I like, but then notice some designer name on it, I won’t decide “Oh, never mind, all of a sudden I don’t like it anymore.” I don’t go seeking out certain labels, or any labels, really- I just buy what I think looks good. Believe me, Target and Avon love me one hell of a lot more than 5th Avenue ever will! :smiley:
[/QUOTE]

actually, then we’re probably very much alike! sometimes I buy name labels at thrift stores- I don’t put them back b/c I realize they’re “designer”.

Needing to have the au-courant bag so much that you RENT it, though? get a freakin life :rolleyes: if your life is at all wrapped up in having THE most modern, stylish bag to cart around, you’ve got serious problems. it transcends wanting to look nice. it’s a sickness.

111

Well, I hope like hell that gals are using this company to rent bags for special occasions, similar to ball gown rental. But you may be right that some of them are just silly fashion whores.

“Well, if you have to rent…” :wink:

112

[QUOTE=NightRabbit]
Needing to have the au-courant bag so much that you RENT it, though? get a freakin life :rolleyes: if your life is at all wrapped up in having THE most modern, stylish bag to cart around, you’ve got serious problems. it transcends wanting to look nice. it’s a sickness.
[/QUOTE]

The people you’re describing–do you think you spend far, far more time thinking about them, than what they’d ever spend thinking about you? All kinds of sickness in the world, dahling.

113

[QUOTE=NightRabbit]
sometimes I buy name labels at thrift stores- I don’t put them back b/c I realize they’re “designer”.

[/QUOTE]

Quoted for emphasis. You are judging yourself by your intentions and others by their actions. Are you SURE they are shallow, silly, fashion whores? Or did they get a great deal on a resale bag? Or is it a fake from Canal Street?

Better not to judge based on outsides, yes?

:slight_smile:

114

[QUOTE=nashiitashii]
Oooh, ooh, pick me! :wink:
[/QUOTE]

Peasants and wenches all welcome. :smiley:

115

[QUOTE=NightRabbit]
I live in NYC and I consider expensive handbags a way to tell who to avoid.*.
[/QUOTE]

Wow. So am I the only person in this thread thinking “Thank god this snotty little cunt is avoiding me?”

116

[QUOTE=alice_in_wonderland]
Wow. So am I the only person in this thread thinking “Thank god this snotty little cunt is avoiding me?”
[/QUOTE]

sheepishly raises hand.

117

[QUOTE=DianaG]
My favorite people to avoid are the ones who think that anyone who disagrees with them is either an idiot or a liar, and the ones who confuse poverty with nobility. I find people in the first group to be lacking in imagination, and people in the second to be kind of a buzzkill.
[/QUOTE]

I’m too tired to forumlate a reply, so I’ll let these posts speak for me.

Myself, I don’t speak to people wearing Crocs. I mean, OBVIOUSLY everyone who wears those shoes is a bit off their rocker if they think it’s okay to leave the house in what are essentially ugly bathroom slippers. Their poor sense of aesthetics is an indication of their inability to enjoy the finer things in life, like roast swan intestines glazed in ambrosia and the delicate taste of coffee extracted from the snot of a ferret.

118

Well, if we’re getting into shoes… :smiley:

I, who had previously only worn inexpensive sneakers, bought some Fluevog boots off ebay for about $80 or so. Those boots have been on my feet daily for the five years since, are comfortable as hell, and the only thing I have is scuffing on the left toe, replaced shoelaces twice, and a bit of crumbling off the nice thick soles where my stride rubs them down.

That’s quality. :slight_smile:

If $EXPENSIVE makes you happy and you aren’t mugging small children to pay for the goods, I say go for it.

119

[QUOTE=NightRabbit]
I don’t believe I espoused either of those things. I just pointed out where the “quality” explanation becomes false. And spending money on nice things is fine; spending money on cookie-cutter status symbols is, IMHO, the height of shallow silliness.
[/QUOTE]

Except that it doesn’t. What’s silly about owning several nice bags? Would you only own one suit? One pair of shoes? If you buy your lipstick at Chanel instead of CVS, is it suddenly the only one you need?

People indulge themselves in all sorts of ways, and people have different tastes and priorities. As **HazelNutCoffee ** pointed out, as we speak there are millions of people running around in shoes so ugly they hurt my feelings. And I’ll concede that I’m probably not interested in hanging out with people whose tastes and values are so divergent from mine. But at least I haven’t convinced myself that I’m morally superior to them.

120

Wow.

I had no idea there would be so much depth to this thread. Having what I thought I think laid out by NightRabbit, I’m really really glad I don’t actually think what I thought I think, because then I’d be a total dick.

On the other hand, fuck Crocs.