Blog 5: What A Showoff

While reading the Conclusion section of Fashion as an Institutionalized System in the book Fashion-ology by Yuniya Kawamura put what I thought of what fashion was, and turned it upside down. What I thought of fashion when I was younger; I thought of it as something so frou-frou and too strange for me to understand completely. Granted I was very much a tomboy at the time (14 years old) and had little to no interest in fashion. The author states, “the motivation to attain it based in the desire to make a slight difference with others because luxury items provide a sense of superiority as an image and added values are attached to them” (Kawamura 55). I agree with Kawamura because it happens all the time, even though we know that there are several girls on campus that have the same purse, there is still is this fascination that if you have this certain bag, that you are automatically placed at a higher status compared to the average college girl. You know what I’m talking about, those girls that have the Louis Vuitton Never Full GMs. Once we see that, it means that that girl is rich, important, and high-class, because that purse is expensive, popular, and they only use the best materials when constructing the purse.  Fashion does that, it creates the in and the out of season.

Source: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivyLUi7lkH-TRHxv34ca5LyoFZlCdkIliE2WZlk-sWoB4lCCcF_5NyxECwzdhj28t2Kh3yCU56Hl2hT6tpuijN4FkCPu_tznhmhTurwg-cclYHNVxajuJxQD1on8fAPNfvQttrPaDM9A8/s320/Handbag+comic.jpg

Blogger Constantious Charalambous of everyday-economist.com explains the obsession of women purchasing fake designer bags in So You Want To Buy A Fake Louis Vuitton?  He states, “this need can be broken down into two factors: taste and showing off” (Charalambous 1).  And that in order for lower classes to be accepted by the upper class, they buy a fake designer bag to show that they can be included in this high class group of people. The value placed on this designer bag is so high that if they were caught with a fake, they would be in utter embarrassment.

Be Green Challenge Update:

Not going to lie, this was really difficult, but I feel good. I have looked into buying secondhand clothing, and All Things Right & Relevant in East Davis has some pretty good sweaters to add to my closet. I think that it has been a telling challenge to show that I can go without purchasing something new for a month. I have been looking in my closet and I am happy with what I have, and even donated old clothes that I do not fit into anymore. It has been a great experience, and I will think twice when it comes to compulsive buying, now I understand what it means to save my money for things that I actually need.

- Krizia