Bias Cut (3-27-2008)

I’d like to give a big Welcome back to you and your new sunburn and (or tan). Isn’t it nice not to have to awkwardly explain that your glow is from the tanning bed?
Although I did suffer a bit of a burn (which eventually turns to tan, right?), I managed to enjoy myself while getting a taste of Argentinian culture, which might have included more than a little bit of wine. However, despite being the eternal optimist, I did manage to find a thing or two that annoyed me over the course of spring vacation (I know, shocking).
Well, to cut to the chase … the epidemic of fake bags/accessories did not skip over South America. Don’t worry, this is not going to be an attack on any specific Cornellians who may have spent spring break bargain shopping on Canal Street. Though this is a problem relevant in our own community, this week’s inspiration has come from the girl had bought a horrible fake Chanel bag online at some rando electronic club in Palermo and the girl at my hotel pool flashing a monogrammed bag that had an “EE” instead of the authentic Fendi “FF” symbol.
So let’s take a moment to thank all those wonderful and hospitable
Argentineans for taking the brunt of this weeks topic; no Cornellians were involved — although a few too many partake in the whole fake bag trend.
Has anyone been asked or heard the question directed at someone, “Do you like my new Gucci bag?” I have often heard such a question and I consider it odd. Mostly because the bag in question is usually made with a large series of “G”s copying the Coach print, with identical size and choice of fabric. It baffles me how this bag, which is so important to them that they had to buy a fake one, is unidentifiable by it’s company trademarks. So yes, you did buy a fake bag, pretended it was real and got busted because you were so bad at playing James Bond you gave away the wrong designer.
The big giveaway of Louis Vuitton counterfeit bags is that usually the monograms don’t match up at the bottom seems, or the “LV”s are discolored to a weird light green. Also, if they have tons of split “LV”s sewn together with another cut off “LV,” its a fake.
Prada fakes usually are misspelled with an “O” (I hope you all know that) and usually it appears as if the black nylon fabric was glued together by someone in Kindergarten. Hermes bags usually have the shape and hardware but lack the golden leathering underneath the flap. And Goyard bags are definitely real if they have been hand-painted with stripes or initials. But if they don’t have them, and maybe are missing a “D” in the name — well I guess you didn’t get as a good of a fake as you thought.
Not all fakes are easy to tell anymore. It’s actually kind of ridiculous how good they can be, but they don’t come cheap. Some fakes go from hundreds up to thousands of dollars. They’re even making fake cars now a days.
So what’s the motivation? I have heard the excuse that “I bought it because I like the style but I don’t want to pay the price tag!”
Well in that scenario, you’re posing. Really your just taking away the hard efforts of Dooney and Bourke, marketing execs and design geniuses with that wonderful “XO” monogram to create a desirable quality good.
And for those of you who buy fakes and proudly admit that “this bag was 20 dollars at the alley market in Beijing,” you’re taking away from somebody else, who might have put all that time and hard-earned money into their bag — like the daughter on Family Guy, making ends meet as a hard-working waitress (and maybe faking being a mother too) just to earn herself a new pretty pretty Prada bag.
So when in a cheap and fake situation, say no.
And for those of you sporting these not-so-cute fauxs — Canal Street called, they want their bag back.