Luxury or Frugality
July 28, 2008
Posted by CindyC in : Opinions & Thoughts , trackback
During a weekend get together, some friends and I got into an interesting discussion. It started out simple enough with us talking about summer movies. Amazingly, I had actually seen a few before they came out on DVD. In any case, we were talking about Sex and the City (SATC) when one friend said, “You must be totally excited about these rent-a-designer-handbag websites.” It took me a second to realize she was referring to “Louise”, the wanna be fashionista in the movie, and her economical entry into high fashion that involved renting Louis Vitton handbags online.
Huh? I admit, once upon a time, I had the same obsession as those glamorous ladies in SATC (except I wasn’t so glamorous). But that was long ago, before a mortgage, family and a clearer shopping conscience. So I was a bit confused by her comment.
“Well, doesn’t it warm your heart that fashionistas are embracing the idea of community and recycling?” I must have had a doubtful scowl on my face since my friend defensively responded, “Does it really matter that these people are renting and reusing bags to satisfy their own vanity as long as they are reusing and not buying another handbag? How is that any different or worse than buying at consignment stores? Aren’t you a pragmatist?”
I suppose she has a point. I often tell my friends that the motivation doesn’t concern me too much as long as people are cleaning up their act. I also believe that you don’t have to make significant changes in your lifestyle to start making a difference, as long as you make changes and stick to them. But does renting (rather than buying) expensive handbags actually counts as a change? After all, does anyone (other than Carrie Bradshaw and company) really need a Hermes Birkin bag, especially considering the cost can probably feed some impoverish village for a year?
Maybe I’ve become less pragmatic and more skeptical but I don’t buy this idea as a change for the better.
CindyC at Organicpicks
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Comments»
You know I have mixed feelings about this too. On the one hand, before I became more “eco-conscious” I was a purse whore. Nothing nearly as extravagant as a Birkin bag, but I own a Coach purse and a Kate Spade (both bought with gift certificates and a minimal amount of cash.)
So I understand the appeal of a designer purse. Also, while I was a non-consumer we went to the Murakami art exhibit here, and I developed a new found appreciation for those Louis Vuitton purses he designed, and I have to say, at that moment, in the art gallery, I wanted one of those purses very, very badly.
If we look at purses as art, as indeed the Murakami designed Vuittons are, it is hard to censure those who want to “rent” a piece of that art for a little while.
If I could rent a Warhol for a week at a reasonable price, I might be tempted to do so. What’s the difference between pop art on canvas and pop art on a purse?
The other thing is that there are plenty of people who might feel the need to rent a purse or jewelry or what have you for a specific occasion. If a woman wants to rent a Chanel purse for her wedding and honeymoon, far be it from me to chastise her. In the end, I would RATHER you rent rather than buy.
But, I also worry that women aren’t necessarily renting purses because they see their purses as works of art. I know for me, my Kate Spade and Coach purses were both status symbols. And seen in that light, it seems ridiculous to spend so much money to rent a status symbol.
So I guess I have qualms about the purse renting, but at the end of the day, though I myself would not choose to rent a Chanel purse, I don’t think purse renting is a terrible thing. And I would rather that someone rent a purse for a week than buy said purse.
I totally understand where you’re coming from. It does seem like high-end purse renting is a bit of greenwashing - diluting the overall message. I suppose, in absolute terms, it’s not an all together bad thing. Every last bit does have an impact. But, I’d hate for someone to get the feeling that this high-end over-consuming lifestyle was even remotely sustainable.
arduous: somehow I can’t imagine you being a purse whore
Hah! Believe it, baby!
Don’t forget I live in LA, where having the right purse can be a HUGE deal.
I’m with you — I heard about this a while back and though I must have heard wrong! I think it’s really sad that people care so much about status.
I see both sides of this. This wasn’t started to be “green.” It was started for people who really couldn’t afford to buy $2000 purses for each season of the year but wanted them anyway. So any attempt to green it is really an afterthought. But…I would much rather see people buy or rent 1 well made expensive purse that will probably hold up for a decade plus than 100 cheap Target pleather bags that will fall apart 10 minutes after you leave the store and end up in a landfill. There aren’t too many Birkins or Vuittons clogging up the dump.
Oh, I don’t know Cindy. You seem pretty glamorous to me!
I’ve never heard of this before and, what Needle says about it not intended to be green, does hold true. I guess I’d rather see people rent than buy and I’d rather see people buy quality than crap but I don’t think we need to be slaves to fashion. I’m assuming alot of these purses are in for a season or two and then not so in. Maybe that’s not that case as I’m not much of one to follow fashion . . . writes see who’s made her Target purse last for 3 years now. I see another 1 or 2 in its future as well.
I am glad I am so past the fashion thing. I have 2 old smaller coach bags(the full heavier leather sort) that have lasted for years. Currently, my daily bag is a stone mountain leather that cost $40 on sale and is used almost everyday- for 3 years now. The idea of renting fashionable bags makes me think of the song from Gigi -”I’m so glad I’m not young anymore.”
I think the point of fashionable bags is that the people who want them do not buy 1- but buy several(many?) every year. Like fashionable shoes(although at least the bags don’t look like they hurt you as well as your bank balance)
Thanks Green Bean for even thinking that I MIGHT be glamorous!
I do agree that expensive purses (generally better made but not always) do not end up in the landfill and can always find a new home. And people tend to care for them, which makes them last longer. So in that sense, it’s better than the knock-off bags that fall apart.
Still, I suppress my urge to wonder in LV and Kate Spade stores. Just in case I lose my sanity and spend my kid’s tuition money on a new bag…
LOL I think of my mom and her “purses” for her a purse was to carry anything in that may be ever used in an emergency. I wrenched my back when she told me to bring her her purse one time. Lucky I didn’t get a hernia.