Is It Real or Fake Luxury?

Everybody desires to look and feel good. Luxury brands give people the feeling of success and wealth, even if it is purely an illusion. I have always had a deep love of clothes and fashion. I remember being four years old and crying for a pair of stirrups stretch pants. I love fashion from one spectrum to the other. I love classic to trendy fast fashion items. I have never been to New York Fashion Week, but it is on my bucket list. Within recent days social media has exploded with merchants from China openly exclaiming that their merchandise is analogous to the items sold in exclusive high-end stores for thousands of dollars. Numerous people defended their proclivity to purchase “knock off” items and felt a sense of vindication for not going into debt for purchasing expensive items. I believe the truth is somewhere in the middle. Like automobiles I think luxury items go through several processes before getting to the final destination. I believe these merchants are not exaggerating about their role in the production process; however, their role is probably not the final destination. I hope there is more than a stamp, label. and beautiful packaging by the official designer to justify the exorbitant price tags. At some point the designer brands need to give voice to the Chinese merchant claims by either totally dismissing them or explaining their roles in the production process. Either way no one will ever look at these brands the same and it will be interesting in the upcoming months if their bottom line will be negatively impacted by tariffs and claims that merchandise is made in China instead of France and Italy. I’m definitely staying tuned.