Most Overpriced Designer? #1

[tigerrouge]

there's a Balmain thread in the Shop till you drop ...
people seem to be pretty pleased by their purchases ...

I think if you spent that much money on something so hyped at the moment, you'd have a hard time admitting that it was all for nothing, both to yourself and to others. To spend that much money on those items, you have to make an big emotional investment as well as a financial one, so I'd be surprised to hear anyone describe their purchases with a steady head.

 

[-Veda-]

You're right. I heard they also whisper the words "Buy me. You need me. You're not this season without me." So some of that price tag is their commission too remember.

Yes, it's like time will be suspended and you'll be stuck in a warped dimension without those YSL booties and Chanel day dress...and if you buy a knock-off you'll only experience some of each season's joys...I firmly believe that so I buy!

 

[honeycombchild]

The gnomes got you good and proper. Good and proper.

 

[fashionista-ta]

^ Those guys really do their jobs. If Theyskens had had gnomes, he'd still be at Rochas ...

 

[Spike413]

Roberto Cavalli

Because honestly, that ish is so ugly they should be paying me to wear it.

What you're talking about isn't really overpricing clothing though. You're basically just saying you'd never pay Cavalli's prices because you find the clothes unappealing.

I don't know that that's really the best criteria for declaring a designer overpriced, since it's based entirely on taste.

 

[KhaoticKharma]

What you're talking about isn't really overpricing clothing though. You're basically just saying you'd never pay Cavalli's prices because you find the clothes unappealing.

I don't know that that's really the best criteria for declaring a designer overpriced, since it's based entirely on taste.

It was a joke.... sarcasm just doesn't translate over the internet well, I suppose.



Being 100% serious, I think Proenza Schouler is very unreasonably priced.

 

[StoneSkipper]

I'd say Salvatore Ferragamo.

 

[Fashionturnip]

I have a friend who got the denim balmain military jacket....and bc it cost so much it is LITERALLY all he (yes he) wears when he is out. everyone fawns over it like its the second coming, and some of his friends like jodie harsh (you might recognise the name if your from UK) try it on and its now her facebook pic. Hilarious and tragic.

 

[fashionista-ta]

^ Now see ... if the jacket is literally ALL he's wearing, and what people notice is the jacket ... I call that worth it

 

[Alejandro]

btw i was just reading bazaar and this balmain jacket is $19,000 (also the spaghetti strap camisole worn underneath is $5,100) ......for glued-on crystals. although of course with the jacket you do get the gnomes too, and the aw09 gnomes are an upgraded version!

style.com

thewebster

 

[-Veda-]

Balmain is not only over priced but over rated (says I). The House of Balmain in its day was a house of class, refinement and classic silhouettes...images of Vivien Leigh come to mind (as she was a loyal client) but these new collections are just awful and tacky in their flashiness. They won't age well AT ALL (I'm sure I'll eat these words in 15 years)

The hiccup that was the revival of Halston comes to mind as over priced as well as most LVMH affiliated brands that are more label and trend than quality design house of unique pieces

 

[BerlinRocks]

^ Now see ... if the jacket is literally ALL he's wearing, and what people notice is the jacket ... I call that worth it

I personally call that "worth to change my social circle" ........

I think if you spent that much money on something so hyped at the moment, you'd have a hard time admitting that it was all for nothing, both to yourself and to others. To spend that much money on those items, you have to make an big emotional investment as well as a financial one, so I'd be surprised to hear anyone describe their purchases with a steady head.

I probably wanted to move all the subject of Balmain forward overhere ...........
which isn't really working ! I must say.

 

[-Veda-]

Well, it's because Balmain is so amazingly high priced. Really jaw dropping prices you must admit it's shocking for a... bedazzled tank top

 

[mikeijames]

Balmain is not only over priced but over rated (says I). The House of Balmain in its day was a house of class, refinement and classic silhouettes...images of Vivien Leigh come to mind (as she was a loyal client) but these new collections are just awful and tacky in their flashiness. They won't age well AT ALL (I'm sure I'll eat these words in 15 years)

it's funny, but the same criticisms got leveled against balenciaga and yves saint laurent -- although one could substitute "flashy" with "cerebral" and "sexy," respectively -- during the early seasons of their new designers' tenure. only time will tell how these designs will pan out. within a couple of seasons, i'm not sure many designers could create the exposure and the buzz around this dusty house while actually SELLING clothes. it's one thing to go through the intellectual exercise of designing and putting on a catwalk presentation, but it's another thing altogether to create a collection that sells as quickly as balmain has. if you put a house on the market at $600k and it sells within ten hours, you don't say it's over-priced -- i don't care what shape the house is in.

The hiccup that was the revival of Halston comes to mind as over priced as well as most LVMH affiliated brands that are more label and trend than quality design house of unique pieces

all of fashion is label: to think of it as any different is a delusion. a round piece of acrylic doesn't suddenly "cost" more because the double c logo gets melted into it.

 

[Squizree]

I think that most high fashion labels do have a quality difference in their clothes, but I dont think in any way that the quality difference suits the amount of cash they're charging.

Nowadays when you buy a designer piece you're more likely buying the name, not the fashion.

 

[papa_levante]

Nowadays when you buy a designer piece you're more likely buying the name, not the fashion.

I don't know if it has always been that way or not, but I wholeheartedly agree. Does it always have to be, "Who are you wearing?" Grr.

I second Proenza Schouler. Blah.

 

[fashionista-ta]

^ There are those people ... but there are also a lot of us who admire the artful high/low mix ... or even the artful low/low mix

I frankly think there's something quite wrong with people who add or subtract value based on the label sewn inside a garment. Either it's great or it isn't. Either you have good judgment or you don't. I was once in Nordstrom's Collectors department, and the SA admired my coat and asked whose it was. When I said Odille from Anthropologie (and my tone was yes, didn't I find something great for a great price!), she sniffed Oh! and turned on her heel

OK, babe, so approximately 1.25 seconds ago you loved it, and now you don't? Could it be that you are disappointed that I'm a savvy customer who may not be sending your commissions through the roof today, or what is the problem here?

 

[Squizree]

^ haha good test. I hate those kinds of store assistants, they're so stuck up and know nothing.

 

[KhaoticKharma]

I think another important factor is just how relative "worth" and "quality" to different people; to me, Anthropologie is expensive. Is it worth it though? Given the fact that it'll be worn numerous times, yes. Same with Sperry Top-Siders; $80 is a lot for a pair of shoes to me, but I'll wear them to the point where they basically average out to a few cents per wear.

I have a hard time believing that, regardless of how "quality" it is, a Proenza Schouler evening dress that cost $2,000 is going to average out well.

 

[mikeijames]

^ There are those people ... but there are also a lot of us who admire the artful high/low mix ... or even the artful low/low mix

I frankly think there's something quite wrong with people who add or subtract value based on the label sewn inside a garment. Either it's great or it isn't. Either you have good judgment or you don't. I was once in Nordstrom's Collectors department, and the SA admired my coat and asked whose it was. When I said Odille from Anthropologie (and my tone was yes, didn't I find something great for a great price!), she sniffed Oh! and turned on her heel

OK, babe, so approximately 1.25 seconds ago you loved it, and now you don't? Could it be that you are disappointed that I'm a savvy customer who may not be sending your commissions through the roof today, or what is the problem here?

i cannot agree more. style choices -- good or bad -- should have nothing to do with the label. however, that label clouds the judgement on both sides of the aisle. you have people scoff at wearing last season's jimmy choos who live in fleabag apartments with no furniture because they can't afford it. on the other hand, you have those who belittle you for wearing jimmy choos at all even though they just dropped several thousand for a no-name artist's piece for their living room. it works both ways and i believe it signals insecurity on the part of the person who judges.