You Know You've Gone to the Dark Side When...

Well, not really the dark side as in something evil because I am talking about fashion here and nothing is ever truly evil in fashion (except those times when you're trying on jeans and swimsuits). What I am talking about is moving upwards on the price point threshold where the "dark side" becomes a place where your reality is so warped by the higher price tags you've been paying anything below or even slightly higher than your new price point threshold seems like a bargain (when in reality is not.) I've had this discussion with some of you before. It's when you've been buying $30 - $60 jeans for years and suddenly decide to buy the $150 dollar jeans. Because you're willing to pay this new price point, the $220 pair of jeans no longer seem expensive and has become part of your shopping universe for future purchases. It was quite an epiphany when I realized this personal evolution when I found myself considering items I would have never considered had I not decided to splurge on my last item (much to my husband's happiness.) It's a death spiral really considering where the level of my monetary income is at but it's an experience that I believe most girls go through as we grow older. I've had this experience with jeans and other clothing, shoes, and most certainly handbags. In fact, I believe it is even more pronounced with my handbag purchases.

My most expensive purse to date is a large black Tod's purse that had cost around $450. The leather was beautiful and the hardware was quite simple which made me love it more. I honestly felt like I heard "angel" music when I saw it in the store. Since this purchase, there have been many more purse purchases but none had exceeded this price point (though all were just as exciting.) That is, until I saw the Fendi Spy bag in a magazine while I was getting my hair done (beautiful pix of this hair experience kindly provided by yihaw.blogspot.com.) The one shown was a dark emerald green and that was exactly the one I wanted. Why not brown or black because those colors would go with more things? My reasoning is that it is a very unique bag with unique features and only a special color like emerald green would highlight those features best. And for those special features, this bag retails for around $2100 -- YES, $2100. I thought about this bag for months and saw the Fendi ad for it in every magazine I read. I even started planning for how I would finance this purchase (because I didn't want hubby to have a heart attack). Then the day came when I went to the Fendi store to check out the bag in person...to see and touch the leather and try it on for size. And to my dismay, the bag was too BIG for me. It looked good hung over my shoulder but looked ridiculous hanging off my arm due to its size. The salesman was telling me that that was the trend now -- to hang these big ass bags off your arms and I actually considered it (escalation of commitment I suppose) until the deal breaker: all stores have completely sold out of the emerald green bags and that color is no longer being produced. He suggested that Niemans or Saks may have one left but I'll have to search for it. They did have brown, black, and some new wine color but not THE emerald green. So I walked away, not without some pouting of course, but I walked away and have never looked back. Now, however, bags retailing for $1000 don't seem expensive to me and actually seem like a deal which I guess goes to show that I've definitely gone to the dark side...


Or not! I found this bag on eBay that had the shape of the Spy bag and the essence of the green...Looks good hanging off the arm and it's only $29.99 from a girl selling from Cerritos of all places! Maybe I can return from the dark side.