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Comment by _uy6i | Hacker News Reader

I think there is another element involved - there is the desire not to ripped off. Many luxury goods are aesthetically pleasing, but total rip offs. Take the ridiculous fad of designer shower sandals/slides, an adidas one costs $25-$35 [1] a Gucci one ~$400 [2] but both probably cost about $5. The point I’m making is if you want Gucci slides (for whatever reasons), and you’re galled by the markup, replicas would seem to “solve” your problem (putting aside all other problems it creates).

[1]https://www.adidas.com/us/adilette-comfort-slides/GZ5892.htm...

[2]https://www.gucci.com/us/en/pr/men/shoes-for-men/slides-sand...

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I am just utterly baffled by it all, let’s just say i have a family member who is an out and out snob and very vocal to me about my choice of clothing. This person also considers themselves a fantastic money saver.

I myself, am of an unusual size, just slightly too tall and skinny for off the peg designer stuff in most shops, none of it fits me properly and looks terrible. But i do know shops with off brand stuff that actually fits.

So whenever i buy stuff i like and feel comfortable in, i’m “wasting my money”, but is happy when i pay three times the price for something that doesn’t fit me, is uncomfortable, and can’t actually clean without taking to a dry cleaner so i end up wearing once they seem happy. It drives me up the wall.

I do buy brands i like, eg, converse shoes are oversized compared to all other shoes so i can pick up the largest size in most shops and they fit me, but they aren’t the “right” brand and therefore “a waste of money”. I once spent an entire day trying to find some dress shoes that fit, they cost a fortune, are, tbh, dangerous to wear in real world conditions, and i’ve worn them three times, this, apparently is a good investment. I can’t bloody resell them, wtf?

Not sure what to say besides clothing isn't an investment, but a depreciating asset. Maybe if you're a very public person a good wardrobe would be a business expense.

As long as you are buying reasonable quality and comfortable, I don't think an adult has to explain their choices. ;-)

The thing I don't understand about luxury goods is why people outsource their taste to these massive corporations like LVMH for so much money.

For the price of an off the rack Armani or Prada suit you can have one custom tailored from a really good tailor. For the price of a LV purse, you can have five or more from a solid local artisan. Higher quality (or exactly the same because this is where these large manufacturers often order stuff), full customization, an actual professional to advise you but people choose a soulless megacorp logo instead.

The status conferred through clothing is not determined by anything so objective as fit or so friendly as self-expression. It is determined entirely by the people who see you. If your peers/coworkers/friends happen to think Armani is cooler, anything else would be an eccentricity. (This is why anyone with sense eventually converges on casual clothing.)

I think that’s the difference between fashionable and stylish. There are a lot of fashionable people, and it’s relatively easy to become one. You need to have some aesthetic sense, but 90% of that can be outsourced if you have the money. You simply buy entire outfits from high fashion companies, and make sure they fit you well enough to look good. Do that often enough that your clothes are always up to date, and you’re fashionable.

Stylish, though, is much harder to attain. A truly stylish person can look incredible in clothes they bought at the Goodwill, because they have an aesthetic sense potent enough to create visually pleasing combinations that are actually novel. A good example of someone like this is Tavi Gevinson. If you’re not familiar, she started a fashion blog called The Fashion Rookie at age 11, and she caught the attention of the fashion world by styling inexpensive clothing in novel and interesting ways.

Signaling. If you buy LV therefore you're rich.

The signalling works differently depending on who you are.

In my case, if someone has a LV (or similar) bag/purse etc. I have no interest in interacting with them.

Interestingly, this 'signal' applies whether the bag is real or a cheap knockoff - I don't need to check whether the item is genuine, I assume I want to avoid interaction in both cases.

This is what the subreddit mentioned in the article sort of "discovered"; they spend a lot of time obsessing over the details and subtle variations they can get by working directly with factories and artisans in China. By using a real design as a template they cut out the difficult part of designing the whole concept from scratch and can work from a template but still achieve quality with some minor tailoring.

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veblen_good

The designer ones can also be tailored, though.

I'm probably dating myself by saying that I used to work at Barney's New York when there was only a Barney's New York (the Womens's Store was still being built).

The first stop the salesmen (they were all male) took the customers to after picking out their suits was to the tailor (Attila on my floor) to get them altered for a perfect fit, which was included in the price.

Of course I get your point about cost effectiveness, but the average person dropping a few k on a single item of clothing really doesn't care about that.

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