I’m adding two more of my cents to make it four (read my last blog post for reference) because there was a “Walmart Birkin bag “—the “Wirkin,” causing a lot of conversation. The $80 Hermès Birkin dupe ship has sailed (at least away from Walmart for now–the bag is currently unavailable), so I am a little late to the commentary. Nonetheless, there is so much to reflect on about this. For those unaware, a quick 200 billion dollar Hermès crash course. The Hermès Birkin and Kelly bag–society’s coveted “crème de la crème” of handbags—starts at a price point of the low five figures (and climbs way up from there) and is exclusively accessible–you are not just about to walk in a store and buy one real quick (though I do see you can purchase pre-owned at places like Bloomingdales). Monsieur Dumas says it’s a long process, “You go to a store, you get an appointment, you meet a salesperson, you talk about what you want. It’s not available. You’ll have to wait. They’ll come back to you. It takes a long time. Eventually, it’s going to happen.”
The Hermès Kelly requires 30 distinct cuts of leather, takes 20 hours to complete (four of those hours dedicated solely to creating the handle), and is the most challenging bag to make–relying exclusively on artisans’ training and muscle memory for every bag, no manuals or cheat sheets. I do love a good craftsmanship narrative! Remember my blog post on SIKA? I love that every piece is handmade in Ghana (West Africa).
I can’t even begin to break down fashion theory, class stratification, or the sociology of consumerism in the intellectual and eloquent way someone like Dr. Tressie McMillan Cottom, but personally, and simply put, I don’t do dupes. And I have no desire to give dupe energy. Unless, of course, I have absolutely no idea that it is a dupe, in which case I have a little grace since it is an organic love at first sight, not an arranged marriage. But I would not knowingly flaunt a dupe (especially a hardcore one like this Wirkin).
Suppose you can’t afford the authenticity of one brand (which, despite what anyone says, is really quite alright). Would it not make better sense to indulge in the affordable authenticity of another brand? Yes, I know people express their entitlement to luxury. But to me, luxury is not a uniform, it does not look only one way, and it is definitely not thoughtlessly following a viral fashion trend or dressing for the acceptance of others. Jesica Elise, author of the fashion theory newsletter, A Sunday Journal, raised a good question, “If everyone deserves a little luxury, what happened to buying designer red lipstick?”
We’ve all heard the term label h#@ before! I’m so glad being enslaved to brands for status clout is not my stilo. DJ play Lecrae’s “Say I won’t” but skip to about 1:13 into the song to Andy Mineo’s part— “I rock name brand, I rock no brand.” A two-hundred-dollar handbag or a two thousand-dollar handbag- either way, if it is authentic to itself and to my style and budget, I’m going to rock the heck out of it unbothered. Because luxury is also freedom–being unbothered by people’s useless ill-opinions (especially those who can’t even drive in your lane but are perping like they can).
Dr. McMillan Cottom explained it like this in one of her IG posts, “We stop being a person from a town or a member of a church; we start thinking of ourselves relative to what we can afford to buy. Consumption becomes quite literally who we are. So when we critique the things that people buy, they do not think you are critiquing preferences, they think you are critiquing who they are as a human being. …the idea of consumption transcends, not just our personal identity, taste and preferences, but becomes our political identity… Putting a Birkin bag in Walmart is always political whether the people who are purchasing knows it or not. In fact, the consumer not thinking that the purchase is political is part of the purchase’s power. If you go to Walmart and you think you are buying a Birkin just because you like the shape of it or just because you like the look of it, and you’ve not only never thought about the politics but when challenged with the idea that maybe it has some political context, you get viscerally angry, then the good has worked on you the way it was designed to work, the way it is intended to work which was for you to sublimate your political interest to a consumer good in a way that erases your class identity and makes you think that you can buy your way in to or out of a class position that has been fixed…”
She also said something about no one being concerned about men and their fake Rolexes and was like, “Eww, men buy fake Rolexes!?! Why buy a fake Rolex when you can buy a real Talley and Twine?”
Please turn with me to Ecclesiastes chapter 1, verse 9. I’ll be reading from the King James Version:
The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.”
Which is a perfect segue into Miranda Priestly’s “cerulean monologue” from one of my favorite movies, The Devil Wears Prada,” when Anne Hathaway, aka Andrea, snickers at the two cerulean belts being presented to Miranda as “so different” and everyone looks her way and she tries to fix the moment by saying that she was still “learning about this stuff” and Miranda read her for filth, “This stuff. Oooh, ok, I see, you think this has nothing to do with you. You go to your closet and select, I don’t know, that lumpy blue sweater, for instance, because you’re trying to tell the world that you take yourself too seriously to care about what you put on your back. But, what you don’t know is that sweater is not just blue, it’s not turquoise, it’s not lapis. It’s actually cerulean. And, you’re also blithely unaware to the fact that in 2002 Oscar de la Renta did a collection of cerulean gowns, and then I think it was Yves Saint Laurent, wasn’t it, who showed cerulean military jackets… And then cerulean quickly showed up in the collections of eight different designers, and then it, uh, filtered down through the department stores and then trickled on down into some tragic Casual Corner where you, no doubt, fished it out of some clearance bin. However, that blue represents millions of dollars and countless jobs, and it’s sort of comical how you think that you’ve made a choice that exempts you from the fashion industry when in fact, you’re wearing a sweater that was selected for you by the people in this room, from a pile of stuff.” Gosh, Meryl Streep killed this role! And no, I will never stop quoting Miranda Priestly!
Ha, besides a good craftsmanship story, I also love a good monologue! But I also caught a few strays from Miranda’s read. I used to work at (and shop at because hello, discount) Casual Corner, aka Petite Sophisticate. Many of us probably have been unaware at some point, to some degree, that at least a small portion of our consumption are things trickled down from the “people in the room” that Miranda was speaking of. Many of the “people in the room” extract style inspiration from an already-created wheel. Florals for spring? Groundbreaking. How many folks were running back to bell-bottom britches after seeing Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl performance? Cue KDot (again), they tried to rig the game, but you can’t fake influence.
Somewhere along my late twenties, early thirties, pre-motherhood, I was totally into Louboutins and bandage Herve dresses. I owned several pairs of red bottoms, including the ridiculously high platforms. I have always loved heels; I love walking in them and thought the CLs were fabulous. The red bottoms looked so good to me! But then I grew older and had a couple of babies, and what I wanted to convey with my fashion choices changed. My Louboutins? Cue Beyoncé’s Summer Renaissance, “them #$%*% are in storage” (i.e., I sold mine to consignment). I still have a limited collection of Louboutins, but I don’t wear them often. We are evolutionary beings, including our styles and interests. So there’s that.
Remember when I blogged about a belt you can replace your GUCCI one with back in 2019? Still, nix me on the Gucci belt. And let’s clarify; this is not because I can’t afford one (Lord knows that black women exhibiting and intellectualizing luxury have been triggering for so many lately, but that’s another way on another day). I just personally still don’t like the belt. And like I said six years ago (check the receipts), no matter what claim to status is ascribed to it, I find it ridiculous to spend hundreds of dollars on something that I don’t even think is fabulous in exchange for perception. Now, if you do genuinely love that belt—no shade.
The question is always, why are you buying what you are buying? I remember several years back, Brian questioned why I had never purchased a Chanel bag. I had not thought much about it, but it was only because I hadn’t had the desire to yet. And just because you can buy some things doesn’t mean you should (or even want to, in my case). What’s that scripture in I Corinthians about everything being permissible but not everything being beneficial? I did, however, purchase a quilted Virgil Abloh Off-White handbag (with beautiful hardware). Because one thing I will do (if you haven’t noticed) is make it my business to support a good black business. (I do have a Chanel fragrance that I love to wear).
I remember I was having a conversation with someone about cars. I can’t remember what started the conversation. Still, I remember them saying something along the lines of suggesting that I should aspire to get a Mercedes Benz next. I remember thinking, hmm, no thank you. I have an Audi (and had the same Audi at the time of that conversation). Previous to my Audi, I had a Nissan. While driving my Nissan, one car caught my eye one day, and it has since become my forever dream car, the Audi A7. In my opinion, it is, and remains, the most beautiful car ever designed (argue with yourself, it is not up for debate). So, naturally, when it was time to move on from my Nissan, I headed to the Audi dealership. Still, Brian encouraged me to consider all of my options. So I did. I test-drove car after car after car, including a couple of Benzes. I’ll say that out of all the cars I had tested, I was most under-impressed by Benz. For me, they left too much to be desired. I’m a driver (the get out of my way please kind of driver) who drives long distances regularly, so I was not willing to compromise on certain aspects of the engineering of my driving experience, especially at that price point. I realized that buying a Benz would not be for me (key words being for and me). Especially after test-driving the Beamers! Still, all my heart and eyes were focused on Audi. So then Brian told me to test drive one of Audi’s supercharged SUVs. No lie, I had not even fully merged onto the highway when I said, “This is it!” My A7 had moved down to number 2 on the list just that quickly. We pulled back into the dealership, and I bought it. I never thought about the Benz giving better status signals (especially since it drove like it did and was actually cheaper than the car I decided to purchase). I know I was not about to be one of those people buying a Benz for the emblem, not because it had coveted features or coveted engineering, but because I want the perception of a coveted life.
I saw a post on IG captioned, “Fashionistas are clamoring to get their hands on a “Walmart Birkin.” And I thought, yikes! The last bag I was “clamoring” to get was a Telfar because I needed a new “work bag,” and the medium-sized signature shopping bag, the one Beyoncé was referring to as “imported” is perfect! The Telfar bag is not a Birkin dupe, but it is nicknamed the Bushwick Birkin. According to Telfar Clemens, “What makes the bag really different is that it is a status bag and the status has nothing to do with price. That is a new category, as far as I’m concerned.” Mr. Clemens, as far as I’m concerned, the status of my new bag is fabulous.
Amazon also got in on the action. Several weeks ago, Jewelry designer Anne Sisterone was on IG, “back from Kabo,” comparing her “authentic” Hermès Kelly bag, saying she had ordered a mini Kelly on Amazon for $40, questioning why the “Walmart Wirkin” was shut down, “There is no difference. The hardware is gorgeous. It opens just the same; the interior is beautiful. The feet are the same feet that are under my Hermes Kelly. …and to make things even more crazy for $40, the stitching here, I looked at it up closely, is the same stitching… ….the stitching is perfection. So why is Walmart being shut down when on Amazon you can get a Kelly for $40?”
She returned to IG a few weeks later to update her followers because “thousands and thousands” had asked for the link to that $40 Amazon bag, but by then, the Amazon Birkin dupe ship had also sailed. She referred to securing luxury dupes as a luxury revolution. Yeah, Anne, it doesn’t seem so revolutionary to me. Back in the 90s, there were Coogi and Coach dupes all over the place. Remember, there’s nothing new under the sun. On a more ethical note, Madame Sisterone, would you not have any bother if Monsieur Dumas was enthusiastically boasting a conclusive indifference of a dupe to one of your nineteen thousand dollar necklaces or thirty-six thousand dollar stud earrings?
The summation of it all is that you can’t buy class, in the adjective or noun form. You should also examine your resolve for attempting to pump fake into the latter when “clamoring over dupes.” Especially when there are arguably more flattering, fabulous, authentic, and affordable alternatives. In my Miranda Priestly voice, with a look of disgrace, are you also blithely unaware to the fact that it was Oscar de la Renta that said, “Being well-dressed hasn’t much to do with having good clothes. It’s a question of good balance and good common sense.” And then I think it was Yves Saint Laurent, wasn’t it, who said, “Without elegance of the heart, there is no elegance.”
One of the commenters under Sisterone’s post replied, “A wealthy person can carry dupes, and everyone will assume it’s real. A commoner like me will carry a dupe, and everyone will know it’s a dupe. Hell, I can carry the real thing, and people will assume it’s a dupe. That’s why I just stay in my price range altogether.” Pin this one, Anne.
Now, for the conclusion of the matter, turn with me to Psalm chapter 49, verse 17. I’ll continue reading from the King James Version:
For when he dieth, he shall carry nothing away: his glory shall not descend after him.
And that’s all I have to reflect on about that.
Do you do dupes?
(And totally unrelated, what’s your favorite T.V. monologue?)
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