Seeing Double

My sister and I occasionally enjoy mocking people who publish confessions on Twitter. She does it more so because they're admitting them online, I generally laugh because I cannot believe some of the things I'm reading. [I particularly enjoy reading confessions from people I personally know, and I personally know are 100% lying!] But, alas, I'm gonna pay it forward here and make a confession of my own.
I guess I like to think of myself as a quasi-design advocate. I think organizations like Save the Garment Center are really important and protect the integrity of not only hard working people, but of design itself. People always tell me "Oh, the good thing about fashion as an industry is it never dies. People will shop no matter what!" See, that's almost a problem. Quality > quantity. We don't really need to shop as much as we do, but should rather invest in higher quality.

Being a "sell-out" is generally viewed as a bad thing. You ditch your friends? Sell out. You changed who you were for money? Sell out. I think mainstream fashion is just selling out. It's cheap and excessive. It buying into trends that are mostly fleeting rather than discovering your own personal style and building upon it. Clothing isn't disposable, or at least it shouldn't be.

Here comes the part where I admit something. I can go on and on all day about this distaste I have for mainstream "fashion" consumerism. So can anyone who claims to hate sell outs. But you know in the end, you give in a little. And how can't you? At least with fashion, sometimes I have no choice but taking the easy way out. So, here I sit. Telling you that I drooled over the above Burberry twisted leather sandals, $795 price tag and all. I also happen to sit here typing this at my unpaid internship [shhhhh!]. As much as I'd love to fling my money across the pond to Mr. Christopher Bailey, I simply haven't got any to do so!

[Side note: I have no idea if Christopher Bailey designs the shoes at Burberry or not, forgive me if I'm mistaken.]

I instead bought these. My pair is the indentical color as the above. My sister went and bought the same ones, much to my dismay. The cost for mine? $25. I have yet to wear them, shall I blame lack of occasion or guilt?

My guilt lies not in people buying less expensive things- so hear me out. Believe me, I understand designer prices are not exactly affordable. But they charge that much because they are artists. If these other companies want to sell cheaper products, go ahead. But they should design the cheaper products themselves instead of blatantly plagarizing. And no, this is not my opinion. Law suits have been filed, just saying.

One's Diane Von Furstenberg, the other... well I won't name names, but really?

Lust Item:

La Perla 2008 Limited Edition bra.

This is trimmed in 14 carat gold.

Not exactly practical, but painfully gorgeous.

I like my money where I can see it...hanging in my closet.

SJP.

♥ Lini.