I attended a social event over the weekend, and rather than take notice of everyone’s minimal makeup, white leather sneakers or gold jewellery, something else caught my eye.
Nearly every woman in the room exhibited a very obvious designer handbag slung casually over her shoulder or dangling neatly from her arm.
I say ‘very obvious’ to emphasise these were not subtle bags, like you might shop from minimalist (albeit also very popular) labels like The Row or Khaite.
Instead, I’m referring to monogrammed Louis Vuitton canvas and huge metal adornments reading YSL.
I mean – picture FENDI printed in screaming capitals.
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By the time I was home from the day, showered and ruminating in my bed, I couldn’t help but mention my observation casually to another friend who had also joined me at lunch.
“Did you notice nearly everyone today carrying a designer handbag?” I quizzed over text.
My eyebrows were raised when her reply came back the following morning.
“Yeah, but a lot of them were fakes,” she responded.
Hmm.
“How do you know?” I pressed further.
“Some because I’ve been told, others I can just spot,” she said.
Call me ashamedly naïve, but I hadn’t thought to consider the luxury bags housing my friends’ high-end lip-glosses and latest model iPhones could be counterfeit goods.
But really, it shouldn’t be the most shocking fact.
This is particularly true given the rise, prevalence, and relatively easy access to fake handbags.
This is also layered with the mounting pressure for young people to don designer goods.
It only takes a brief scroll through some of Instagram and TikTok’s youngest cohort of influencers to notice the influx of content creators parading luxury labels in almost all of their posts.
