But if you compare labels on cars and labels on handbags, they have a very different history. Since almost the very beginning of autos, and modern appliances, they've been labeled - all models, not just the expensive ones. Vintage handbag dealers will almost always open a bag to find the label. In the 1950s, only a very few pricey designer bags had outside labels...then more...eventually all designer bags in the last couple decades...and now many-not-all purses for the masses. So for handbags, yes, outside labels (or bags completely covered by logos or initials) have a history of connoting luxury. And some of us here are much older than others.I can't imagine what the heck the history of the auto business has to do with what I'm talking about now. We're talking about brands today; people alive today, buying things today.
Almost everything is branded these days. A brand communicates a lot of things, whether you want it to, or not. Is it only truly heinous if the brand communicates luxury? I'm good if I'm carrying a $30 Relic bag from Kohls- no need to get skeeved out about a brand being visible to the masses. But if I'm carrying anything that costs more than $200- I'd better damned well keep that shit to myself. Because in that case I'm '
paying to carry someone's name around' or '
paying to advertise' or just outright trying to communicate luxury.
Car brand, handbag brand, watch brand, blue jeans brand...whatever- almost everything has a visible brand on it. Good luck finding things without a brand. I'm not caught up in it enough to cut off tags or take steps to make sure people don't know what I've got...whether it's Levi's or Kors. I buy what I like, what I can afford, what will suit my needs. If other people don't like that- it's thier problem, not mine. If you think I'm paying to advertise- whatever. You're wrong, but I'm sure you don't care about that.
The main point is- I'm not judging you for your choices. Don't judge me for mine. And if you think '
I won't pay to carry someone else's name' isn't a sideways put down- you're kidding yourself, IMO.
I'm not a fan of the all-over-monogram-brand bag styles, no matter who makes them. It's not that I'm saying "I will not carry someone else's initials" - it's because they aren't my taste. I don't care if the initials matched my own- I wouldn't be inclined to buy them, because it's just not a style I lean towards. I might admire one someone else carries. I just wouldn't buy one myself. And if I didn't like it? I wouldn't have to attach a negative to it, to make it acceptable. 'It's not my taste" is a good enough reason.
Has anyone admitted they would yet?I think a lot of people have said they would or wouldn't buy the specific bag in the OP.
I would not buy it because it's not my style. Is it within the realm of possibility for me to buy a $900 bag? It is. It's unlikely - but not out of the question. I'm good with the bags I buy- everything has been under $500. I don't have the kid of life that would = luxury of the
$900 clutch sort. I wouldn't get enough use out of it, even if I loved it. The more expensive bags I have, I use the heck out of. I know they are worth the money if I love them- because they will last forever. The cost of the bag over the lifetime of use doesn't seem out of line, to me.