Somedays I TRY my friends, I TRY, to be the kind of person who is more than happy with $150 Balenciaga gladiator sandal knock-offs. Yes, they are everywhere now—you can find a good copy from Dolce Vita or Mystique and they are very cute. I had one in hand today and I thought “they look JUST like them. Won’t I be happy with these?” And the answer, my friends, is NO.

SIGH.

It’s so hard when you’re a fashion victim. Fashionista. Whatever. I’ve been both at many times in my life, and the heart of the matter is, if I buy the $695 Balenciaga camouflague gladiators, every time I wear them, I will feel a secret thrill, a smugness, and a confidence, that says “I’m wearing THE SANDALS OF THE SEASON lalalala…” And if I buy the cheapo knockoffs, I will just feel lame. (By the way, the knockoffs are just in basic colors of black, brown or beige. They don’t come in the special gladiator blue-and-green that’s made only by Balenciaga. At least, not yet. I’m sure that knockoff is on its way to the stores now.)

I can’t change who I am, and I don’t think a lot of my fashionbrethren would disagree with me. We are the label-lovahs and we derive self-esteem from such stupid things as the red-soles on our shoes. (Red-soles are Louboutins, of course. But I didn’t have to tell you that, did I?)

Part of me is happy with my latest purchases: a lot of practical, I’ll-wear-them-all-the-time drapey jersey tops from Jigsaw (tops were $68 each and a silk crinkle ankle-length skirt was $150) and I bough this insane See by Chloe silk shift dress ($350) in yellow with a fiiiyyyerce jungle pattern (homage to Christian who just won Project Runway). But another part just got invited to the Lanvin, Dries Van Noten, and Balenciaga trunk shows at Barneys. You know, where you order the clothes for next season (in this case, for fall) and spend thousands of dollars on like, a shirt. And I know I’ll be there sipping champagne and oohing over the samples with all the other Beverly Hills biatches.

But another part of me does love Forever 21. I just bought a great knockoff of a Mike & Chris sweat-shirt top for $19. Can’t beat that!

xoxo
Mel