Is “Luxury” a Four-Letter Word? Or is Luxury Overused?

Okay. Before I begin this blog post, let me clue you in on my holding back on posts for a while.

I wanted to write a post about Gun Control and why it is needed—but I’m still very angry over the fact that the republicans refuse to do anything about it—especially since they falsely claim to be “pro-life”.

This is Kid Rock. He is a “has been” sort-of musician but mostly a moron.  He got angry at Bud Light for supporting trans/gay/gender neutral persons. He got his special arms and shot the beer cans. I’m guessing that big gun takes the place of his teeny pee-pee.  And he is one of the reasons that guns need to be controlled!

Then I was mulling over a post regarding women’s rights being taken away. However, I’m still angry over the fact that republicans—especially overweight, unattractive white men and a few women, refuse to recognize women’s rights—especially since they falsely claim to be “pro-life” when they are merely pro-fetus. Once the baby makes the grand entrance into earth, they want nothing to do with the child.

This is a photo from AP.  Women are voicing their opinions and marching for the rights of all us women.   Why would some overweight, balding, fake Christian man try to take our rights away?  TBH, I’ll bet their mothers are wishing they aborted those filthy old fat white men.

Then I was mulling over a post regarding banned books. This is atrocious along with the other posts I was thinking of writing.  The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank? What the heck???  The Giver?  Bridge to Terabithia?  Dr. Effing Seuss?  Madeline and the Gypsies?  Let us not even think about the naked statue of David that even the Pope realizes is art. I’m very angry over this.  Reading is a pleasure. It is educational and informative. I can’t even on this….

The reason for this ban is “supposedly” due to the fact there’s a passage in the book regarding young people comparing their bodies. I read this book. I’m not buying into that reason. I truly believe that these fake Christian, Conservatives and right wingers hate Jews and don’t believe in the Holocaust. Please buy this book if you have not read it. It is astounding and incredibly sad.

Seriously.  I’m still too angry to collect cohesive thoughts on these subjects. And as an aside, if you don’t agree with me, please stop following my blog.  Or…write your own blog.

Yes darling. If you don’t like my thoughts than take YOUR thoughts and prayers elsewhere. Don’t let the door hit you in the backside!

Now that that’s out of the way, I present to you today’s blog post.  I got the idea from an email I received.

The email was from Repetto Paris.  If you are a regular or irregular reader of my thoughts and opinions, you are well-aware of my love and adoration of Repetto ballet flats.  I’ve been purchasing for about 16 years now and often treat myself to a pair when in Paris.

A few pairs of my old Repetto ballet flats. The black ones are the first ones I ever purchased.

The last pair purchased was on our November 2021 visit and I purchased an adorable metallic pair which I wear regularly.  I (*cough* I mean my husband) paid about $270 USD for them. At the time, I thought the price increase was a bit much as I’ve gotten them for less money quite some time ago.

My most recent pair purchased in 2021. Who knew these basic ballet flats are now a luxury, overpriced brand.

However, I almost dropped my cell phone when I saw the new price of the Repetto Ballet flats.  They are now $410 per pair.  Oh yeah. The vegan i.e. plastic version is $390.  I have now put a stop to my feet’s relationship with the brand.

And now, my shoes are $410.  I didn’t showcase the white leather ones that are now $440 USD.

Even at $270-ish, that was bringing my boiling point up but the shoes are well-constructed, I still have the first pair I’ve ever bought and I love the way they look on my feet.  At $410 though—it’s time to put a stop to this.

Yup. I almost didn’t buy these shoes due to the price.  I guess I’m a frontrunner of luxury shoes!

Don’t get me wrong.  I love good quality—but at a price that I can afford.

These wedge shoes were purchased in 2008 at DSW.  They are nowhere near luxury shoes. I had them repaired last week for a total price of $15.00 I love these shoes and will wear them forever!

And this is where the term “luxury”  has basically destroyed retail.  Once again, I blame the idiotic influencers splayed across social media from YouTube to Instagram to Facebook and the horrific TikTok.

They, with their ridiculously over-excitedness of word usage, and usually incorrectly  whilst exclaiming breathlessly and loudly “OH. MY. GOD!!!!”   “LITCH-RUH-LEE” (which only British can pronounce the word this way—otherwise it should be pronounced “lit-uh-ruhl-lee”) “THE GREATEST” “SO CHIC”  “THIS IS THE BEST”!!  And they say all this as they are unboxing product for the VERY FIRST TIME EVER!!!  HTF can you say that after looking at a product for two seconds?

“OMG!! This  (insert luxury brand here) mascara/foundation/blush/bronzer is the BEST EVER! LITCHRUHLLY THE BEST! OMG!”

Anyway, I’m veering off course.  I get the distinct feeling that the Repetto brand is now in the process of narcissistically rebranding as “luxury”.  And the brand isn’t luxury. It’s a brand that originally made ballet shoes for ballerinas and still does.  But the other side of the brand is the infamous ballet flats, tote and handbags and clothing.  And while they company turns out excellent quality, I wouldn’t call them a luxury brand.

Repetto split sole ballet shoes. The irony? These are inexpensive. But the ballet flat “shoe” is now luxury-priced” Go figure.

Luxury is overused.  Charlotte Tilbury pontificates being a luxury brand, yet the brand collaborates with, quite possibly, the most vulgar and over-filtered influencer of all time, Mikayla Nogueira  This influencer trash talks, curses regularly, talks about intimacy with her fiancé and yet, this so-called luxury brand pays this person.

This is Mikayla, the influencer with millions of followers. That is not her real face. She uses facetune and photoshop to change her face. The photo on the right?  She photoshopped her entire head to look shrunken. Every other word out of her mouth begins with “f”, ends in “k” and the two middle letters are “u” “c”.  And luxury brands pay this foul-mouthed woman. Those luxury brands are trashier than she is.

Charlotte—you lost credibility with me—your brand is akin to drug store and I shan’t be making future purchases.

Oops! Mikayla filtered her face again. Here she is with Charlotte. To be honest, if someone filters their face after using your makeup–that isn’t saying much about the product. Charlotte Tilbury. Your products are worse than drug-store brands.

Ralph Lauren as a luxury brand?  No. Although he has a very impressive shop/restaurant on Blvd. St. Germain, his clothing comes across as too much of a costume—as though someone is trying too hard to look “wealthy” and it isn’t making the cut. Other than his button-down shirts for men, I’m not impressed with the quality of the clothing—and the prices are ridiculous. These clothes are mass-produced.  Why so expensive?

Ralph Lauren (and it isn’t Law-REN. It’s Lauren) luxury. I’ll give him credit for being somewhat diverse–where’s an old man? Like you Ralph. But honestly, if I ran across a group of men dressed like this I would side eye and realize they ARE trying too hard. This is way too costumesque. But–it’s luxury and people feel the need to buy into it!

Head to Nordstrom or Neiman’s where you’ll find Tory Burch. This is another “luxury” labeled brand and product are wayyyyyyyy overpriced.  When I worked at Nordstrom, Burch was more of a bridge brand—on the fence of luxury but not quite there. Now the brand has basically graduated to luxury prices and just not worth it.

On the left, the Tory Burch KNOCK OFF of the Hermes Kelly bag. And suburban women think Tory Burch is luxury. It isn’t.  Why does she get a pass for a knock off when others don’t?  Hermes is a TRUE luxury brand that basically none of us can afford.  Tory Burch is a FAKE luxury brand. Don’t forget that!

The handbags are cheaply constructed. The shoes as well. And trust me, I have a few pair that I purchased on my deep Nordstrom discount and regret buying.  The Miller Sandals feel like plastic and stretch out to kingdom come.  Real luxury brands shouldn’t do that.

I think the most horrific price increases are from the brand Louis Vuitton.  And here’s where I can come off as a tad hypocritical.  I happen to love the monogram bags. I love the aesthetic of the canvas and vachetta leather. I love the designs of the bags. I love that the monogram bags are, for me, neutral so they will go with any outfit.  The larger bags travel well and surprisingly even the medium sized bags hold a plethora of items.

My first LV bag on the left. The Neverfull MM. Gifted to me by my husband in 2018 for my birthday.  It has since almost doubled in price in five years. Next to it is a vintage LV Bucket GM I got pre-owned for $200.

My first “new” LV bag was given to me five years ago on my birthday from my husband.  My second new bag was purchased the year the metallic Repetto ballet flats were bought. November ’21.  All others have been purchased pre-loved and pre-owned.

My Petit Noe purchased in Paris 2021.  I can no longer afford these bags. LV has become as unattainable for me as Hermes.  That’s why I love vintage. 

There is no way I’m paying upwards of $2,000 for a purse/pocketbook/bag/tote/whatever-you-want-to-call-it.    I just got my third bag back from LV repair. A Saumur 30 that was purchased for $240.  All Vachetta and hardware were replaced and they cleaned the bag for me.  Overall, with the cost of repair and the original cost, it was less than any new bag the brand has to offer.

My Saumur 30. It’s a 30-year old bag that I purchased from a seller in Japan for $240.  Even with the price of Vachetta replacement, the total is still less costly than any bag the brand now sells.  

Louis Vuitton has always been known as a luxury brand   but always maintained a few items that were within affordable range for the working person; and presently, all the brand’s offerings are officially out of my affordably bubble.  The same with Chanel, Dior and others.

Pictured is the Chanel small bag. It retails for $9,600 and is currently sold out. Sorry, even if I won Mega Millions tomorrow, I wouldn’t spend that kind of money on a bag. I would buy a vintage LV bag from my favorite seller in Japan!

And about 15 years ago, I could have purchased a pair of Chanel ballet flats for about $500 but back then the price was ridiculously high for me.  Today a pair of lambskin Chanel Ballet flats cost $925 and upwards.   It’s insanity.

Do I regret not purchasing these when they were “only” $500?  No! I don’t. Presently selling for $925 and upwards, I’m wondering just who has that kind of money to spend on such a simple pair of shoes.

Coach a luxury brand?  Well—influencers are calling the brand luxury. While I refer to the brand as “great quality” but not “luxury”.  I have a few vintage Coach bags and all of them cost less than $75.  When Oona was in high school through college, she worked at Coach and loved working there.  I still have a bag that was deeply discounted with her employee status and I love it. It’s a patent tote that I still use and has never failed me.

This Coach tote has been with me since Oona gifted it for me when she was working there.  I LOVE this but consider Coach more of a pragmatic and useful brand rather than luxury. Methinks the word “luxury” is overused.

I don’t know when this “luxury” business will stop increasing their prices.  My take is they have become wise to the influencers and the average consumer and want to elevate their consumer from “customer” to “client”.  But at some point, I think it’ll backfire because ultimately the clients will be “new” money (however they get that money is sometimes questionable) and lottery winners. I just can’t picture old monied WASPS running to spend $5,000 on a Dior tote bag.

I’m sure Jackie was gifted a ton of Dior and luxury stuff. But this photo is a study of how a luxury outfit can be purchased for a less expensive price. Seek and ye shall find. It’s a basic two-piece ensemble and I love it. 

For me, I have enough LV vintage pre-owned bags. I have one more that I would like to have sent to LV repair for Vachetta replacement and I had better do so before there’s yet another price increase. Yeah. The repair for the brand increased their prices too.

Morally and ethically, I can’t throw money out the window anymore. 

I’m just happy my favorite brand of sandals, Rondini, hasn’t gone down the road of luxury.  Less expensive than any luxury or luxury wannabe brand, the sandals are custom-made to fit each customer and the quality is stellar.

These. I cleaned and conditioned all my Rondini sandals this weekend. Every pair of these cost less than Tory Burch sandals, Coach Sandals or any other “luxury” brand. I’ll love this brand until I can’t walk anymore!

What are your thoughts?  Do you have any brands that aren’t luxury but are excellent in quality and price?  Please share!