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TUESDAYApril 24, 2007LIVING 8
The guilt is too genuine when the fashion is oh-so-fake
U PON RETURNINGfrom a trip toChina, my sistershared many sto-ries, pictures and,
of course, luxurious presents ofBalenciaga bags and Lacostepolos that were of the less-than-authentic variety.
In Shanghai, there was anopen-air market (apparently itlater got shut down) that pro-vided acres and acres of close-to-the-real thing high-endclothes and accessories. Beforeshe departed for Asia, I beggedher to get me some goods.When I actually saw the gifts, Iwas excited, but a huge burdenof guilt filled my sartorialpsyche.
That aside, I decided to takethe pair of “Gucci” horsebitloafers for a test run in SanFrancisco. I wanted to walkthrough the financial districtand play the role of a frenzied,yet swanky, stockbroker yellingprofanities into his Blackberry.
The shoes felt a little snugwhen I tried them on, but I justthought I needed to break themin. That may have been the big-gest mistake I’ve made in myentire fashion life.
At the end of the day, afterwalking many blocks in the city,I was in excruciating pain.When I removed the shoes, I as-
sessed the damage: numerousbleeding blisters on my toes,heels and soles of my feet.
I felt like the couture godswere punishing me. It’s like Ihad betrayed my real luxurygoods by having an illicit affairwith these second-rate shoes.
With guilt still lingering inmy head, I needed help. Ilearned of a group that servesas a watchdog to help stop allthis madness. The InternationalAnticounterfeiting Coalitioncombats the piracy of not onlyluxury goods, but also autos,food, book publishing, software,entertainment and pharmaceu-ticals. According to the coali-tion, there’s an estimated $600million in sales annually ofcounterfeit products.
That’s a lot of blistered feet.From my experience with
what I now call my “Fucci”loafers, I have converted to the
religion of Anti-fake Fash-ionism. The whole ordeal re-minds me the “Sex and theCity” episode when Carrie waslooking at a trunk full of fakeFendi purses and they weregazing up at her with the eyes ofgimp-legged orphaned puppies.In my case, it was a pair ofshoes.
In addition to my bloody in-cident, I am regularly seeingother acts of fashion fraud:plastic-bedazzled Chanel brace-lets, Coach purses with a subtle‘G’ instead of a ‘C’ and worst ofall, a gaudy Louis Vuitton mahjong set that can be found onthe corner of tacky and taste-less in the town of Kitschville.
All these items do have adash of humor in them, but sadto say, some people actually buythem to look more stylish —and it does the exact opposite.
Are these faux luxury goodsreally worth it? Or are we justtrying to amp up our images toimpress those around us?
As I stand on my runwaysoapbox and cast stones at theatrocity of fake designer goods,I can sense many a readerrolling their eyes at my dis-course. I can certainly under-stand your scoffing because I dofind some pricetags on au-thentic brand names quite ex-pensive, and I know I can’t
afford them.Sometimes I do splurge on
an uber-expensive item, butthat’s just because I have saveda hearty amount of pennies inmy piggy bank. Then I balancethat out with an $8 bargain atthe vintage store.
When it comes down to it,you are just paying for the re-spected brand name. And morethan that, you’re paying for apiece of art. That said, you can’tbuy style so there’s no justifica-tion for buying an insultingknock off.
I understand that somepeople can’t get enough of thefake stuff. They can do whatthey want. If they want to feellike an A-list celeb via a coun-terfeit item, then by all meansthey should do so.
But non-pretentious ad-mirers of fashion appreciate thevalue of a good piece ofclothing, and if they can’t affordit, they deal with it. Unfortu-nately, I had to learn the hardway.
I always find good alterna-tives (not fakes) to these items.They may not emit the fashionpower of an Hermes Birkin bag,but at least I won’t have thatfraudulent cloud looming overme when I use them.
No matter how well they aremade or how uncanny the re-semblance is, buying a fake islike having a relationship with amannequin instead of a realperson. These “street corner”items have no soul. You mayhave a fashionable and flashyappearance, but you’re notfooling anyone.
You can contact Dino-Ray Ramosat [email protected] orcall (925) 416-4856. If you want tofind out how to spot a fake or take astance on your own runwaysoapbox, visit www.insidebaya-rea.com/fashion.
Dino-Ray RamosDRESSED
A REAL (OR FAKE) LUXURY: Actress Scarlett Johansson modelsa new Louis Vuitton purse, one of many brands copied by the
fashion counterfeiting underworld.
