I don’t want a red leather jacket (a miracle!) but when I saw pictures of the Zac Posen for Target stuff, I thought the jacket might be worth looking at.
The only reason I became interested is the name Zac Posen, which connotes luxury. I know for certain that if this same jacket was by Guess or Free People I wouldn’t give it a moment of consideration.
Not only am I a brand whore, evidently, but I also have irrational biases against certain brands. If I saw the cutest shoes in the entire world but they were by Jessica Simpson, there’s no fucking way I’d buy them. Same for shoes by Coach. Coach shoes just kill me. Their logo just seems tragic somehow.
It’s not because the brands are cheap, either. I couldn’t buy anything by Haute Hippie, and that shit is really expensive. I wouldn’t buy jeans by Current-Elliot or True Religiion, and I don’t even know why! I just resent those brands.
Shopping is full of weird subliminal triggers. For me, it can be the sound of the name or the look of an ad that puts me off a whole brand, permanently.
Do you have an irrational brand bias? Or are you above this kind of shit?
I’d like to have sex with Thom Browne too. I watched the video of him describing his daily run around central park twice in a row.
I dont have dignity. I’d buy the jessica simpson shoes.
as for the zac posen target stuff, something in my twisty brain is drawn to it (and other monsters like it) because I feel like it might fit better.
As for non luxury crap? the more i tell myself its vintage the more i like it.
oh but upon rereading these comments- Dooney and Bourke.
blargh.
and I enjoyed Kate’s exegesis.
Another one, I still like Orla Kiely’s prints but I can’t identify with the people who buy her stuff in America (suburban mothers, girls who spend too much time in nail salons, the type who usually like Dooney and Bourke), therefore I can’t bring myself to buy any more of it. One bag and I’m done (the corners are all torn out anyway).
Um, JUICY? Duh. And Tory Burch. And also Louis Vitton. There are more, but juicy is the worst.
Ed Hardy is so awful its not even on my radar.
I forgot about kate spade and Alice & Oliva. Alice & Oliv, because everytime you shell out hundreds for a dress and think you are gonna look so cool at some party, someones little sister is also wearing it. FN Sucks.
Im also over Louboutins. They all look the same.
Hate Tamara Mellon, hate American Apparel, hate Steve Madden, UGH, hate Dooney and Bourke, hate Balmain, hate Paul Mitchell hair products, hate those D Squared twins, and get this…..I hate Rodarte!
FF, I LOVE Malene Birger. I have a leather dress by her that is the fucking shit and also completely Visionary.
l would rather run through my local shop naked, dribbling and screaming than be made to wear Baby Phat, Apple Bottoms, Ed Hardy or the new Halston line.
Other than that, I am more a fabric snob than brand. Cheap feeling, man made, scratchy fabrics are an affront to all my shallow clothing aesthetics
Sometimes, a vintage dress will get through because the print is too beautiful to be denied, other than that, I tend to feel before I look who made it.
Hussein Chalayan can do no wrong in my eyes, he is my idea of clothing heaven.
Haha ! Jessica Simpson shoes have a tacky fatal flaw that always ruins them. They are almost cute too.
I hate Forever 21. Cheap fabric. Awful. The worst is I always imagine the poor little children making them in the factory.
I also wouldn’t wear Skechers, anything just dumb, trashy, they were already mentioned. Used to like H&M. But now I don’t – really cheap feeling fabric. Also I hate looking at a rack with 100 of the same item on them. I can’t shop at Zara because of the music playing in the store. 20 minutes and I am out of there.
What I find really offensive though is Apple Bottom Jeans. My sister and her fat friends all wear them. I imagine they got them on special at a liquor store. Oddly, this woman I work with today is wearing them. She’s an older, asian, mom type which makes it all the funnier . I want to take a picture of her to put on a “Don’t” website but she is a nice person so I won’t.
While I am at it all “Urban wear” is usually fucking ugly.
Brighton, LAMB, those multicolored quilted tote bags, SAS shoes.
I’d like to add Miss Sixty and Fornarina (I like how the speller suggests that I must have meant fornication…) to the selection of utter shit, which Replay and Pepe Jeans escape only thanks to the fact that some of their pieces for men have been rather decent. I absolutely loathe Guess’ pathetic excuses for clothing, but must admit, that my man happens to look damn fine in one of their shirts… French Connection and Mango I’d like to praise for both design and quality. That’s as high my student budget allows me to go, though. Gotta give it up to H&M too, for taking risks and selling crap, that doesn’t look too bad…from far, at least, for what it’s actually worth. Oh and here is a fun fact: There actually are some countries left on this planet that don’t have H&M and I happen to live in one of those.
That’s interesting, because I have a completely irrational bias against Zac Posen, and I have no idea where it came from. On the other hand, I’m a total brand whore for All Saints.
OK, I’m uncool, I have one ancient Dooney bag (back before they were project girl bling) and love it like my ancient Coaches.
But please explain Kate Spade bags and why I’d spend that much for PLAIN FABRIC? Black satin polyester more than $29.99? Girl, please.
Thankful there is no Jessica Simpson brand clothing in either Australia or Bangkok, can imagine it would be awful. Who on Earth let her have her own label? Do people actually buy it? How does it sustain itself? So many questions! I just can’t imagine that her name would sell that much anymore.
I was a brand whore for Margiela when I first started university and my lecturer (who I was in awe of at the time) first told us about him. Spent most of the money I was making from this shit retail job on on-sale Margiela that year (not my proudest moment) but still only managed to end up with only about 4 or 5 items to curate. One particular blogger may have turned me off Margiela lately, doesn’t seem so luxurious or rare anymore. I still treasure the pieces I have though – the only designer items I own! Also, don’t even know if this is worth mentioning, but I use to be a brand whore for Adidas in the late nineties. I didn’t own much of it, but I just remember being quite obsessed for some reason!
Brands I wouldn’t go near in any circumstances include: Ed Hardy, Sass & Bide, BCBG, Baby Phat, Diesel, Miss Sixty, Erin Wasson RVCA, DKNY, G-Star, Tommy Hillfiger, House of Holland, L.A.M.B, Jimmy Choo and Pringle of Scotland. I’m sure there are many more too.
Nadia, I also went through a Adidas phase in the 90s.
Little black dresses with the stripes up the side, and tracksuit tops.
Ossie Clarke, he could do no wrong, a king of fabric and cut.
Dooney & Bourke – I carried a purse a few years ago and a co-worker told me that his teenage daughter had one w/ the same pattern, but smaller. Done!
Victoria’s Secret – b/c their “I love my body” commercial makes me gag and b/c I cannot find an underwire bra from there that will not pop thru the fabric and poke the shit out of me. (yes I hand wash, baby, and am gentle w/ them, they are just crap!)
Coach – b/c everyone, and I mean everyone has one. Puke. You can spot a Coach from a mile away and her pre-teen daughter carries one as well.
____ for Target – I don’t care that you’re a big name and now you are producing for the masses…that’s why I hate you.
Crocs – I won’t even allow my children to wear them. This goes along w/ any shoe that lights up in any way.
Why can’t anyone who claims to love Ossie Clark spell his name right?
Wendy B could help.
Target is interchangeable with Walmart in my mind, and I can’t get past that block. Nordstrom needs to boot the Jessica Simpson line already; the woman is an f-ing cartoon. All jeans from Diesel are apparently appalling. Louis Vuitton is the king of douchebag. The preponderance of those bags looks like the end result of a decades-long social experiment in which the hypothesis “proof that an individual ‘gets’ social cues is more important that not being retarded” was proven correct.
Just want to add my two cents about brands. I saw a really cool Haute Hippie top with a skeleton on the front. I ordered the top and a pair of pants (both on sale) still expensive non-the-less. Paid for my order. Two days later I get an email telling me that both items are out of stock! I wrote to the manager and complained, no apology, NOTHING. Let it go, ordered a sweater at a considerable discount and a tank with a funky skeleton type logo. Well, the order got sent to the wrong address and FedEx and arrived here two days later than it should have. The sweater was nice, but the tank is a piece of garbage. The M is HUGE, it has no lycra so it is very baggy. It was out of shape just trying it on and taking it off! I am so done with this brand. These clothes are definitely for the rich who wear something once then throw it away. $95.00 for a crappy tank not worth it. Also, the attitude at Haute Hippie is chronic, I guess if you are a “poorer” customer they don’t give a crap if they take your money, can’t deliver and disappoint you considerably. Don’t apologize even though it was their fault that they have someone who cannot do their job at inventory. So my money is not wanted. Fine, in this economy I would have thought they needed every penny they can get. In a nutshell, PRETENTIOUS, BADLY MADE CLOTHES, MADE IN PERU BTW, VERY OVERPRICED CLOTHES. I thought Rag and Bone was a ripoff, however, Haute Hippie have them beat.