Not for me. You’re a cutie pie! I always imagined you a little, well, more stauncher. Is that the right word? I hope you get my meaning anyway. 
Love the pics, Nzinga, but you always freak me out when I see you standing… 
Where to start? I like bags, but have no $ for them. Daughter is a Coach whore, but she’s got a grandmother who happen to live near a Coach outlet. I end up with Kohl’s stuff, usually. (and I wear Crocs at work–no top holes, but they do have side holes; they’re a nice conservative gray).
I think there are people who buy handbags just to make a statement. IF they have the funds to do so, I see no real big deal about it, except that I may tend to think of them as less than deep, because fashion is such a fickle taskmaster. Most of us end up in the practical, quality camp for good reasons (as in certain amount of income plus bills to pay).
Let’s put it this way: if I ever get money to blow, it won’t be on handbags. But if I get more money, I’d spend it on more expensive bags that are classic and well made (ie expensive). I don’t see the appeal of buying a $3000 lime green bag because doing so doesn’t appeal to me. I’m perfectly happy accepting that someone else feels differently (honestly, I envy them their financial resources).
Renting bags strikes me as odd–I can see renting a beaded evening bag for a formal night (heck, even jewelry is “rented” for the Oscars and such), but a day to day leather bag that will get abused and knocked around? I don’t get that. Are there late fees? Do you have to pay for depreciation on the bag? If you end up wanting to keep it, does your rental of it count toward your purchase price? 
Re the expense of the bags: quality (if I remember correctly-read an article about this a while back) is in the details-- the strength of the thread and the number of stitches used to sew seams and straps, the inner lining fabric weight and heft; the quality of the leather; the zipper feet etc. It all adds up to an item that can survive being smooshed in a Metra train door or not. Just like suitcases–the really good ones last a lifetime.
All that said, what with knockoffs and the like, sometimes that Gucci bag is not a Gucci bag at all. To pay good money for a piece of shit lookalike is stupid, IMO. To me that says the purchaser needs that boost of having the “in” bag. YMMV.
Holy Cannoli! I had no idea that this would run to several pages! Sorry I was an absentee OP!
<-------Buckling down to read responses…
Well, it’s not so much that (though a little yes) as the idea that the expensive status symbol needs to be rented so that a person can have the illusion of actually owning one. As if having this item is proof of some sort of quality of what? ability to earn material wealth?
I’m not sure. But you’re right, if a person is in love with an item for itself be it a purse, or a Rembrandt, we aren’t automatically cognizant of their reasons.
On the other hand, (as I’m sure others have stated way better than I can, I’m late to my own party), a Gucci isn’t exactly a Rembrandt.
bolding and hijack mine.
Not after Jan 2009, when we all get forced into the digital age! 
does a little hip shakin’ dance
I was fishin’ for complements and I got some. Just like I like it. Thanks.
CanvasShoes, I think that a lot of the time, folks that rent stuff aren’t trying to pretend that they own it. Most folks will brightly inform you, “Thanks! Isn’t it gorgeous? I rented it for this occasion, don’t you think it goes just perfectly with my dress?” or whatever.
I think, most times it isn’t even a question that something is rented…like others in this thread have explained, tuxedos, limos…things like that are assumed to be rented, but people enjoy them anyways.
Okay dokay then. For the most part, all you dopers on the “renting is an okay/good thing” side have changed my mind.
FTR, it was not the purses or their costs themselves, but the rental thing that mildly bugged me (those of you debating my supposed “such outrage” on this, I assure you as my heading stated, this was very mild more of a “huh?” peeve).
Second, I still disagree that a fancy purse is on the same par with an expensive electronic gadget or vehicle, those both DO something useful, and for a much longer time than a purse which will get worn with time etc and is mostly only for looks.
Third, whoever posted the remark about shoes totally nailed me right there. Now, I wouldn’t rent shoes, but I would (and have) pay a good bit (probably up to the $500 mark, and maybe a bit above) for ones I loved.
For the husband who wondered why we need so many shoes…to go with all of our outfits…DUH!
But, “holding my stuff and looking pretty” *is * DOING something useful.
I have no use for or interest in fancy electronic gadgets. A blackberry looks as much like a leash to me as a Gucci bag looks like a waste to you. A Corrolla and a Lexus will both get you where you’re going, and you don’t NEED more than that, so why would anyone choose the Lexus?
Missed the edit window.
“Just for looks” isn’t actually a *bad * thing. If two objects perform the same function, but one of them is more aesthetically pleasing, that’s every bit as valid a reason to choose it as one of them is cheaper. Valuing aesthetics over money doesn’t make a person shallow, any more than valuing money over aesthetics makes a person cheap. It’s just different priorities.
Blech, I’m with you on the Lexus, BMW, etc thing. I’m a classic car girl myself (restoring a 1969 Buick Riv my dad gave me for HS graduation/Xmas in 19coughcough77cough). No, no you’re right, holding stuff looking pretty IS doing something.
I just forgot, I haven’t looked pretty in forever.
I always have to laugh at this kind of stuff. People think they look like hot shit carrying an expensive Vuitton or Gucci or whatever designer bag around, but when I see a person with such a bag I automatically think:
-That’s an ugly bag (most of them are really goddamn ugly designs)
-That person is shallow and materialistic
-That person is a sheep for stooping to what the media determines to be “in”.
I’m proud of this $40 purse I just bought off of Etsy, completely original design handmade all from scrap materials: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v654/MachTurtle/Purse.jpg
I can’t understand why people would not rather want original, well-made items from small independent designers for much cheaper, instead of an ugly, plasticky handbag that reeks of vanity and carves deep holes in your pockets.
Lady, your bag has a moose on it.
If it makes you happy, then good on you. But it makes me giggle. And wonder if you wear it with your sweatshirt with the “hang in there!” kitten on it.
Hey, you don’t judge the depth of my character or lack thereof based on my Gucci bag, I don’t judge your social skills or lack thereof based on your moose purse.
ETA:
Sorry to disappoint, but I don’t have one of those shirts (and never will). Those aren’t exactly original…
I liked the purse because it was cute, creative and unusual. Pretty much the opposite of the carbon-copy designer bags you see everywhere.
Creativity and originality equate to poor social skills? How’s that work?
Well, you tell me how my choice of purse is an indication of how shallow a person I am.
That purse, on its own, looks dorky to me, although I always maintain that accessories depend on the person wearing them. Maybe you’re one of those people who can pull it off. (FTR, I love etsy and handmade bags - I have quite a few that my aunt made for me. I’m not decrying handmade bags. I just think it’s stupid to judge someone’s personality based on their bag alone, don’t you?)
Am I being whooshed? Did someone really just go off on a rant about lame, ugly bags and then link to a brown corduroy moose purse as an example of a bag that is not totally ugly?
Yeah, this is a whoosh. I think I’m going to bed.
I’m no longer buying pants without pockets and I’m going to buy me a wallet and be done with this forever…
I don’t really like Gucci et al, but the moose bag is not my thing either. Should I be frightened? 
You know, sometimes, it is the people that tell the media what is “in”.
I am never surprised to find street styles that I see young girls coming up with, turn up on the runway a year or two later.
Now, without commenting on your actual bag, I do have to ask…if you laugh at others for getting ‘trendy’ bags, and you take special care to make sure you express your creativity and individuality in your own purse choices…how far does this extend?
Is your t.v. set shaped like a moose? Does your car have antlers? Is your phone a whimsical unicorn horn? Because if not, then I find it hypocritical to judge people as sheep because they choose handbags that aren’t moose-worthy, when you don’t actually moose out in other areas.
OF COURSE people are judging you on your bag. (Maybe not all people, for sure some of them.)
If they like it, it’ll raise your status in their opinion.
If they don’t like it, the reverse.
Otherwise we’d all just be carrying our junk around in croker sacks, wouldn’t we. (Croaker sacks? Kroger sacks?)