Related Recs

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Consumerism is a fine art

Phuket, the land of fake designers. Within the last two days, I followed my family as they followed complete strangers into secret back rooms that were far away from public eye. (My mother would not listen to my lectures of stranger danger, ironically). Within the last 48 hours, I firmly believe we were taken into over 30 back rooms. Now, within these rooms were fake designer products as far as the eye could see. Bags, shoes, wallets, glasses—you name it, they had it. I will admit, some of the duplicates were VERY similar, almost indistinguishable. Other products offered us a bit of a laugh at their quality. I cannot tell you the fear that surged through me as we followed complete strangers (who we had a very palpable language barrier with) and watched in cold horror as they closed the door behind us, locking us in small cramped room with nothing but faux-leather and metal coated plastic. Funny enough to me, some of the store men even offered us an exclusive look at their “triple-A quality” products, which were products made of ‘real leather’ and were a higher price range than the previous designer products that are marketed on the streets. The store men called these products ‘genuine fakes’). After a few more detours to be shown these ‘genuine fake’ products, I started to warm up to the idea and even had fun in bantering with the store men and negotiating prices, but what I had the most fun in was people watching. People from all over the world, Ireland, Scotland, America, China (the few accents that I could pick up on), we were all united in chasing an image of wealth. Those who had cellular data would immediately google the offical designer website of whatever product peaked their interest, and quickly snubbed the product if they could either: a. Not find the ‘original’ the fake was meant to replicate on the website, thereby concluding that it was not based off a ‘real’ designer product in the first place and was therefor not worthy of their time; or b. If the product they were holding in their hand had a slight imperfection or was not a complete mirror image of the original (either the trim was the wrong colour, the hardware was the not the right hue (as ever slightly as it was), or the product did not have the right amount of distinguishable patterned shapes (as if any stranger passing you by would have time to count how many stripes a fake YSL bag has on its opening flap)). The ‘genuine fake’ products were great quality, flaw or not. But, it was an image that united the nations. Wanting to look as if they had bought the real $15,000 Gucci bag rather than the $150 knock off. How quickly people were ready to turn their nose on a bag because it was not an exact replica upon VERY close inspection or an apparent misdemeanour of an interior detail, as if those strangers you pass by on your way to work would have time to analyse and scrutinise. So, that got me thinking: Who is the target audience of our perceived image of wealth? I bought my friend a bag—Coach to be specific—because she had always wanted a Coach bag but did not want to pay the price of a real bag. Okay, sure, totally understandable. But I had my research cut out for me, because her boyfriend could not know she had a dupe as he despises fakes. A very obscure take in my opinion. She got the bag of her dreams and saved $600 dollars, AND it’s pretty decent quality. Again, in my opinion, that is a win. Now, I bought a bag. It had no branding on its exterior and I had no idea who or what it was supposed to be a copy of, but I thoroughly liked the look of it and was about to buy it for a good price, until my cousin came up to me and declared that “it did not look like the original Gucci bag.” And for some reason, that made me falter on my decision to buy the bag. A weird sense of shame that people would know that it was not an original washed over me, and the anxiety that it made me feel as if I was already walking down my local shopping district trying to read strangers’ facial expression and see if they could tell my bag was a fake. I bought the bag anyways, flaw and all, because I liked it. My cousin then made a point to bring over another stranger (who told us she was from China) to assess my bag, who also confirmed that I “wasted my money” because it doesn’t exactly resemble the original. My take from this whole experience is: We as a society are truly divided by culture and language, class and gender, but many of us really are united in the fact that we chase the appearance of wealth, intentionally or not. Anyways, TLDR; Why are you pretending to have the real thing when its not, if you like it and find it for cheaper, get it and own it. If you end up buying the real thing instead, good for you. People judge you anyways, might as well save yourself some cash if you can. Strangers will most likely not be able to tell if its real or not anyways.

@jilly

Jan 19, 2025

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Givenchy by Ricardo Tisci Pandora Purse

I personally am such a big fan of Givenchy as a whole throughout the years, but I specifically love when Ricardo Tisci was in the house. The way he played with essential shapes and made them into staples was something I really loved and what I find very hard to do for a lot of designers. I recently went to Woodbury Commons and found that they had a good selection of brand new Ricardo pieces and found the purse of my dreams, the Pandora Bag. I got the black one with a wrinkled leather design. I think this design is so iconic because it looks almost deconstructed but is so chic, fierce, and easily pairable with almost any outfit.

@memphy

Apr 16, 2024

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Cheap Purses

As one ages, (or like as the procreative urge intensifies,) the need for multiple purses becomes increasingly important. I don’t know exactly why, but it does. I once thought, like many things when I was younger, that I wasn’t a purse girl and I never would be. I thought you were a shoe girl or a purse girl. I didn’t realize you don’t have a choice, as you age, a line doesn’t get drawn… there's only one model… a woman who likes and needs both shoes AND purses. This seems callous but it's absolutely connected.One needs an expensive, well made purse that sits on a shelf in a cloth bag  AND a shit crap fun inexpensive purse you can put down on the sidewalk, on a bar stool and wipe down with a clorox wipe. The urge for nice and bad, existing simultaneously, is a feminine urge that has to be indulged… I don’t know the consequences of repressing this instinct but I assume its really horrible. We must have wrappers, Pret a Manger napkins, absolute, actual garbage in bowling ball bag-ass looking purse. EVEN BETTER than a shitty purse is an exquisite purse from the past in a coveted model-like a car. TRULY I NEVER KNEW I’D BE LIKE THIS. We must have expensive shampoo and cheap soap.A pricey candle and a pack of hanes underwear An heirloom lamp and something hastily bought from Wayfair. Its just the way it is. You must balance the high and low. This balance is essential to glamor and glamor is one of the only things left we can aspire to. True glamor is the victory over poverty and the foibles of wealthIn conclusion: that's why it's important to have expensive and cheap bags to chronically rotate in your closet.

@ruby

May 12, 2022

Top Recs from @naomi-fry

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Jean Rhys novels

I’d read “Wide Sargasso Sea” many years ago but I wasn’t familiar with Jean Rhys’s other novels until my friend Emily Gould urged me to read them, so I’m passing on this rec to you. “Good Morning, Midnight,” “After Leaving Mr. Mackenzie,” “Quartet,” and “Voyage in the Dark” were all written between the two world wars, and are all slim books about a Rhys-like protagonist: a woman alone who drinks too much and is always in verging-on-desperate straits, between Paris and London. Really amazing if depressing.

@naomi-fry

May 20, 2021

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Pineapple snack

This is a very basic but very powerful idea that I stole from my husband’s brain. If you get a pineapple at the store and cut it into not-very-big chunks, and then you put them in a bowl covered in saran wrap in the fridge, every time you open the fridge to get something you can stick your fingers in there and grab a perfectly cold, delicious, and sweet chunk of pineapple to shove in your mouth. It’s very refreshing! And I imagine will seem even more so as spring ends and the heat of summer begins!

@naomi-fry

May 20, 2021

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Hannah Goldfield’s New Yorker restaurant reviews

Hannah is a good friend of mine and also my colleague at the New Yorker: she writes the Tables for Two column in the magazine every week. She has such a knack for describing food that everything of hers that I read, I immediately want to start eating!!! Highly recommended.

@naomi-fry

May 20, 2021