designer bags

Over the weekend I was hanging out with my best friend Liza and out of the blue she told me that she was going to buy something that she swore to herself she would never do...I paused for a bit wondering what she was talking about and whether it was illegal or not..after she interrupted my contemplation she told me that she was going to buy a designer handbag *sigh of relief*. However, this got me thinking about designer handbags because honestly what are DESIGNER handbags these days? What are they worth after the invention of knockoffs? When I was younger I was all about designer handbags because it was trendy to be seen with one but, now that I'm older and wiser, I'm beginning to rethink the whole concept of shelling out big bucks for these handbags. I was first introduced to designer handbags in my freshman year of high school by my friend Vi. We would spend time on the phone talking about the latest LV or Gucci bag obviously we could not afford it ourselves but, our parents could. Despite being a newbie to the craze I was a smart shopper so I would look up articles on how to spot a fake because in my high school having a designer bag was one thing and identifying a fake was another. I would spend hours looking at these articles and now, looking back I realize it was such a waste of time. Anyway, back to the present I decided to go shopping with my best friend for her "designer bag" and on the way there I would spot tons of LV bags carried by women and men of all ages. This is made me realize how widespread designer bags really were now. They are completely accessible to the general population via a knockoff or Ebay. This accessibility of certain designer handbags was definitely an example of the trick down effect that was talked in the haute couture article we read earlier in the quarter. The question in my mind was whether the accessibility of these bags through knockoffs were hurting the credibility of the bag. In my opinion I think it does because nowadays when I see someone carrying Gucci, Chanel, or LV to name a few, I think about the authenticity of the bag. I also think knockoffs have made designer bags more generic like a Jessica McClintock dress for prom( no offense to anyone who wore this to their prom).