Too Luxe: Out of Their Minds Edition

Apparently the people at Coach have gone and lost their minds. The above monstrosity (how about some more hardware? I think there's an inch that's free) is being sold for $20,000. $20,000!!!! I've said it before and I'll say it again until someone starts listening to me... People in the market for $20,000 bags DO NOT BUY COACH. Arghh!! And this bag's ugly sister is selling for even more. If I didn't love my new boots so much, I would retract my ode from last week. When will the folly of the overpriced handbag be over? It's ridiculous. What next? A $10,000 Le Sportsac?

Too Luxe: Louis Vuitton Tribute Patchwork Bag

I was looking through this week's Life & Style Weekly and had to do a double-take. I had read about the Louis Vuitton Tribute Patchwork bag many months ago, but had yet to see someone photographed with one. It appears Beyonce owns that most heinous of over-priced, "I just want the world to know I'm rich," status bags. As the article mentions, only 24 were made and thank God for that. I would hardly consider this Marc Jacobs' finest work for Louis Vuitton. In fact, the Tribute Patchwork was referred to as "the Frankenstein monster" by the British press when it first appeared on the runway for the Spring 2007 Ready-to-Wear show. I would say it looks more like a bad arts and crafts challenge from Project Runway than a luxury accessory worth what some people make as an annual salary.

Here is a lesson that should inform all accessory purchases in the age of the $52,000 handbag: Just because something is expensive, doesn't make it elegant or chic.

Photo credit: Life & Style Weekly, 7/30/2007

Too Luxe: Balenciaga Leggings

If you watched the 2007 BET Awards last night, I'm sure you were impressed by Beyonce's performance of "Get Me Bodied". What you might not have realized was that Beyonce performed in Balenciaga's gold leggings which were featured in their Spring 2007 runway collection.

The leggings are made only on request and cost a whopping $100,000! (No, that's not a typo.) They are made of metallic fabric and made quite a splash on the runway. While they are very cutting edge, at $100,000 they are absurdly priced for a trend that will probably not last many more seasons.

Source

Too Luxe: Coach PVC Tote

I'm not sure exactly when it started, but recently designer handbags have gone from a bit expensive to the absolutely absurd when it comes to prices. While I understand that some handbags should be expensive due to the quality of the materials and craftsmanship involved in making them, it has gotten to the point that designers think that slapping a luxury brand name on any old purse makes it reasonable to charge several hundred or over a thousand dollars. Case in point: the Coach PVC tote.

This purse made of PVC (ie. plastic) with leather trim costs $498. The Coach web site lists this as being ideal for the beach or travel and they are right. But why would I spend nearly $500 on a purse that I will put on hot sand and allow to get wet? And it's PVC! How do you justify that kind of price tag for that material? If you love the idea of a PVC tote for summer but don't want to spend $500 for a plastic bag, try this one from Nine West instead.

Tazio Medium Plastic Tote $29.99 (on sale!)

Too Luxe: Marc By Marc Jacobs Dress

If you read my blog regularly, you know I have a bit of a "relationship" with Marc Jacobs. Like Audrey Hepburn had Givenchy and Renee Zellweger has Carolina Herrera, Marc Jacobs is my designer of choice for clothing and accessories. Unfortunately, Marc doesn't know that he's in this relationship with me so perhaps I'm label stalking him? Either way, when I shop his Marc by Marc Jacobs line, I usually love the looks and have trouble deciding among the many things I want, what I can buy and stay within my budget.

I was perusing his new offerings at Net-A-Porter and my eyes were assaulted by the patchwork dress above. Similar to the Tribute Patchwork Bag he designed for Louis Vuitton, this dress looks like someone took a bunch of leftover fabric swatches and decided to sew them together into a dress while coming down off of a really bad high. Hmm.... And if the dress being a visual disaster isn't bad enough, it costs a whopping $1,200! (The usual price point for dresses in his lower-priced line is $400 to $500.) That's a lot of money for a lot of ugly.

You can check out the dress here for comic relief. The back is even worse than the front.

How Luxe is Too Luxe?

We are living in prosperous times and many Americans have money to burn on useless status symbols. This is the only way I can reasonably explain the $230 price tag for two Louis Vuitton resin hair cubes. Other than the possibility of receiving these hair cubes in a cute brown Louis Vuitton box, what makes these ponytail holders so special that they should cost ten times more than these? (And I think $23 is still a little pricey.) As an avid ponytail wearer, I also know how fragile these cubes can be. They snap or lose their elasticity after just a few uses. If you want a reasonably priced (comparatively) Louis Vuitton piece to add to your wardrobe, I would suggest the Wapity Case instead. While this is still overpriced for what you get, at least it can do double duty as an evening bag or cosmetics case.