The real ones
It is convenient living in the seat of leatherware, silver hardware accessories and handcrafted bags like Hermès, Ferragamo and Fendi where an order for a handbag can be placed at your heart’s whim without long-distance calls, insurance woes and suffering through a long wait of up to two years, as is the case with the Birkin and Kelly bags, to finally get it on the third year while “standing in line” because you’re number 1,000. A worse fate is seeing the object of your desire on someone else’s arms.
My son-in-law Noel has been trying to convince his doctor-wife that jewelry is a better buy than the Kelly bag. If you talk to Liaa, she’ll say both. But this season her preference is a bag bought when Noel isn’t looking. She thinks he won’t know the difference anyway. Uh-uh. With her “fame” and with his keen eye for financing, Noel was aware of what brand of bag she was holding as soon as she bought it, and the price soon after. Wearing the real stuff gives everyone more confidence… and sometimes the older looking the better. It means your cashmere sweaters, your suitcase, your dresses were purchased a long time ago before our lesser sisters got hold of them as stylish! Provenance helps if you want to sell your vintage items. That’s how some museums were built with Jackie Kennedy and the Duchess of Windsor’s belongings on sale! We’re not them, but we’re distinctly us.
A smart piece of advice to think about is what I tell my children: “You can have a few items, but quality ones, and not fakes. The day you wear a genuine article everyone will believe it’s fake. Spend more but go for quality that lasts generations and not quantity.”
On the other hand, who can blame fashionistas? Fashion has become affordable with copies that look so very real that it’s a temptation to buy imitations. Try a “Louie Vuitton” with your genuine Cartier watch. Use “Hermes” with your Paloma Picasso ring. I wonder how many women would scrutinize your bag or your jewelry to check its authenticity… it would be financially gratifying to have gotten away with that. Still, for me, I’d rather use an original, less expensive Segue or Benetton or Lancel than a copy. Anything that’s genuine and not pretentious.
On the subject of imitation, there are also fake Chanel jackets at $200 but, as fashion experts would say, could that copy ever replace a Chanel original made up of 22 separate panels, each lined with silk and a chain inside the hem and gold links stitched to the hem? Funny, but I can tell you with a straight face my costurera Vasion could sew that stitch in place perfectly well. Filipino craftsmanship is superb; it’s training and materials we need.
Andrea, my son-in-law, is in the business of accessories for Sisley, Benetton and Segue. He deconstructs bags, turns them inside out, examines the lining to check whether it’s a cardboard backing or metal, counts the bag’s stitches; and Mai-Mai has become like him to attain top quality in their brands. She also makes bags with her own hands to use as samples. She has to continuously discover handmade techniques and test the zipper’s durability to learn the difference between cheaply constructed and the most expensive bags.
Mai-Mai’s been very lucky in her purchases. Once, a woman hadn’t picked up her Birkin on the 30th, the appointed date. It had been more than a week’s wait for the store. Being a favorite client, Mai walked by for updates to be told she could now have a Birkin. Only it was burnt orange, not blue. After waiting for months, burnt orange would do. Being what it is in quality, its color was acceptable, since it was somewhat neutral.
For husbands of successful doctors and handbag architects, a Birkin calf-leather starts at $6,000 to $15,800 for a Birkin croco. If you multiply that by P45, that’s roughly P270,000. Divided by 365 days a year (I’ve became that conscious about investments since election expenses. Now I’m doing it with purchases!) and that means a daily saving of P740 to buy for Christmas if you began saving in January. Sounds cheaper… right? If calculated on daily wear and tear. Who wouldn’t like an Andrew Gn, a Thailander whose overcoats sell for $8,000 or P360,000, beautifully embroidered with a mink collar? But would I consider buying that after seeing and breathing poverty in the barangays? No. I’d rather wear my clothes in layers to keep me warm and adapt piña embroideries in Parañaque. That’s why I treasure my cashmere sweaters that have hugged me, cuddled me, warmed my cheeks for five summers even at an expensive rate purchased in Belgium.
Faux mink… even skunk tails decorate T-shirts, sweaters, shoes, coats, dresses, chairs and what-have-you… Imitation? Yes, because mink coats can be targeted and blemished by environmentalists. Hold it, though: I owned mine before their organizations came to be active protesters, but I wouldn’t sell them. Mai and Pin have wide shoulders and, with their physiques, it’s great to wear mink that’s now in the dressing room with memories of me. Surely every woman of advanced age has had one in her youth, maybe as an heirloom piece. I remember Rica Gonzales’ mom and Chito Madrigal Collantes and Tita Pil Tuason Manzano and Tita Liding Oledan owned mink coats and mink jackets for their cold-weather trips.
Fakes, anyone? Save up to buy the real stuff. You’ll treasure them more, especially when the prices rise high up or when you reach your target… after your daily savings!
