Labels

[Lena]

so are also the Italians, the belgians, the germans and -of course- the americans B)

 

[leyla m.]

Originally posted by Lena@Nov 30th, 2003 - 10:32 pm
so are also the Italians, the belgians, the germans and -of course- the americans B)

bien dit LENA

 

[Kimkhuu]

In my opinion, for someone that cares enough to follow fashion, labels are SO NOT in. But if I look around me when I walk in the street, most people that look "COOL" (or think they look cool B) ) have logos flashing on their jeans (Guess, Tommy Hilfiger....), their shirts (Phat Farm, Nike, Adidas....) and their shoes (Nike, Adidas, Diesel, Puma....). I must admit that most of my cloths (and almost 95 % of the population) don't have in their wardrobe pieces ranging from designers like Christian Dior, Chanel, Louis Vuitton..... .....to Gucci with non visible logos. People usually stick to hip brand stores (where prices range from 40$ to maximum 120$). Those stores usually carry HUGE logos on most of their pieces. And most people actually like that.

I used to LOVE flashy logos to show that I paid "a lot" for something. But, I have started changing my mind on this because I started thinking I looked ridiculous (imagine a girl with a dark blue Nike cap, a Guess skirt, a Tommy Hilfiger top, Diesel running shoes, a Triple 5 Soul bag ) !!!

We all know that wearing labels is not really pretty, but for more "normal" people, it is REALLY cool.

 

[ignitioned32]

Originally posted by Lena@Nov 30th, 2003 - 1:09 am
the new thing is that if you wear a visible label, you are 'out' fortezza...
even if this is Dior..

obvious label worship is so much on decline, but i guess the trendiest (hidden) label now must be E2, Lanvin, miu miu and Marni.
Even Balenciaga is considered banal..

personally i dont have money to waste to labels. only when i find them in vintage sales or bazaars..

Totally, Lena!

Esp. if it has a logo print all over on it or the look is sure-fire repeat around the four fashion capitals on earth.

 

[mikeijames]

Originally posted by Lena@Nov 30th, 2003 - 12:47 pm
i think they dont support Baleenciaga because french somehow hate Gucci and the Italian fashion industry in general, could also be because of the labels over exposure that became a banality , but dont take my word for this scott

i agree to a certain extent about balenciaga. the campaign to grow the balenciaga name has aggresively overwhelmed both the editorial pages and the fashion hit lists ("look cameron diaz with a motorcycle bag", "oh my god, sarah jessica parker takes a walk in balenciaga cargos") but i still believe that ghesquiere has the most unique vision in fashion right now and i think that many fashionistas still long for their one piece of something balenciaga...but the days of lines outside of the parisian balenciaga boutique are gone

 

[mikeijames]

however, on labels in general...no one can deny the feeling of putting on something designer whether in label or in spirit...while there are several women who admittedly care very little for the particular label, there are very few women who can shrug off looking absolutely fashionable, stylish, and individual....and sometimes labels can short-cut that process.

 

[Lena]

labels can provide a certain upper class 'buzz' for the middle class consumer, which i find quite pathetic to be honest with you, I pitty the poor secretary that saves for six months in order to squeeze in a waiting list for the new 'it' bag, makes me sad when women overload their credit cards for the fake lustre of those 'lux' items

fact is that real 'upper' class people do not care at all for wearing 'lux' labels, on the contrary they avoid them while looking out for the 'unusual' or the 'unique' that nobody else owns.

 

[PrinceOfCats]

Really? Where I come from the upper-class tend not to care what they wear: they're rich, they know they're rich, they've been rich for about 500 years who gives a damn about anyone else?

Tweed jackets and hunting caps are big on the agenda.

 

[Lena]

we are saying the same thing dear Prince..

the other day i was invited to a party for the christian name of a kid of a very wealthy family.. guess what, mum was wearing plain old Marks & Spencer, it seemed very normal to her -and to me as well.

 

[PrinceOfCats]

Ay, indeed great minds think alike!

If you're rich and always have been I suppose you don't feel the need to tell everybody.

 

[Lena]

you bet.. to be more precise, you feel a need to 'hide' who you are behind low profile looks, not to say you actually long for a security guards free, tight budget shopping spree at ..lets say Zara or H&M

 

[leyla m.]

Originally posted by Lena@Dec 1st, 2003 - 11:01 pm
we are saying the same thing dear Prince..

the other day i was invited to a party for the christian name of a kid of a very wealthy family.. guess what, mum was wearing plain old Marks & Spencer, it seemed very normal to her -and to me as well.

so true.
living in a place where the majority is wealthy i must also defedn the other side of the story.
here, just because they HAVE got the money, the women are so relaxed that as you said they DO wear everything (zara et al) but also throw on their furs and carry their birkins like there is no tomorrow.

the ones who wear labels (in my town) are the (uhem, cough cough) prostitutes and gold diggers (head to toe DIOR for example) who try by all means to fit in. the truth though IS: they stand out and are the ones people stare at.

 

[Lena]

Originally posted by leyla m.@Dec 2nd, 2003 - 1:26 am

the ones who wear labels (in my town) are the (uhem, cough cough) prostitutes and gold diggers (head to toe DIOR for example) who try by all means to fit in. the truth though IS: they stand out and are the ones people stare at.

so very true leyla

same here and of course low low class high profile localpop singers or the usual society ducks..

those kind of lux buyers go by waves towards a gucci, a cavalli, a balenciaga, a dior, an ysl while their countryside cousins save fanatically their eurocents for a d&g and of cource for anything versace... thats label reality where i live.

no wonder i have such a distate for lux labels

 

[tott]

This is such an interesting discussion...

Shopping, or rather the choices we make while shopping, is a way to define ourselves as we are or want to be. What we choose to buy depends on what kind of person we see ourselves as or want to be seen as by others, to put it simply.

We litterally buy a personality nowadays as opposed to a couple of hundred years back when our lives and stations in life were pretty much determined from cradle to grave depending on what kind of family we were born into.

Oh well, I don't have the energy to write a full essay...

Edit: I used to study to become a psychologist for 2,5 years; social psychology was one of my main interests...

 

[Lena]

absolutely tott, right on spot

i'm a sociology drop out, so i know exactly what you mean and you are so right.
social studies & psychology are so much explaining the phenomenon of fashion and our need to choose, to express and of course to belong.

 

[Spacemiu]

most of tehr ich people I know eitehr dount have any interst in looking good and dress in poor quality name brand just leik every oen els or dress is high quality anme brands just liek everybody els.

so I think its not about money or not people will wear what they whant to achive how they whant to feel, ist tehre chouice they can do whatever tehya whanta nd il do what i whant.

 

[Scott]

Alot of this has alot to do with our social culture. Its always been like this. Status through what we wear and what we own has always been a fixation for others criticize,ridicule or applaud and compliment. The label obsession is just another step for the wearer. I buy this for the name,I'm automatically very stylish and everyone will love me. Its very sad that a tag on a back of a t'shirt causes so much friction in our social climate these days. Like all those snipey heiarchists during our school years treating people like dirt because they didn't wear TH or CK everyday. Its quite emotionally scarring and sad.

 

[mikeijames]

i hear what you guys are saying about the rich not flocking to the labels however i would like to remind everyone that in searching through any rich woman's closet one would not find the labels absent. there is a particular kind of rich woman that absolutely rejects labels, but most rich women have a variety of high and low end fashion pieces. i doubt any woman in my town would attend a black tie dinner party in banana republic...but by that same token, i don't think any woman in my town would be caught dead in an identifiable piece of dolce and gabbana...

most women with means shop giving no regard to the labels, but the places they shop tend to carry a lot of labels. i've seen women spend ten thousand dollars at escada without missing a step and then turn around and buy a tote from l.l. bean and drive off in a lincoln.

 

[ignitioned32]

You guys are sooo right!

Here the social climbers (new money) and wanna-be fashionistas (who apparently don't know much about fashion) look hilarious. All perdictable Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Prada and Cavalli and some local Philippines designers looks are always seen on them. Think Suzanne Saperstein in her VF editorial. Tacky and Gaudy are two adjectives to describe 'em, too.

But some rich women (old money) dress in simple - but desinger lables - and look great. They do these because they wanna look great and don't need to prove anything to people.

 

[ignitioned32]

.. and just to answer the very first question asked, I'm not a victim of labels.

I can't afford designer labels (I'm a student ), but even though I could I wouldn't go all out on every brand. I would prefer buying a few pices from less known labels, such Margiela and Yamamoto and mixing them with some vintage and thirft-store finds.