The questions you NEED to ask yourself before investing in a designer piece

Is it a FAD?

By that I mean will you purchase the item and be embarrassed wearing it years from now because it’s “outdated?” With the past years trends of logo T-shirts and super tiny sunglasses, I give you my word, another year and those trends will be completely forgotten about. Also there is nothing worse than everyone wearing the death out of a trend, I can go shopping on a Thursday late night and see at least 30 C&M and Gucci T-shirts. There’s certain exceptions of this logo – eg. bag logos and monograms that have been around for decades, but I feel in general the two trends I’ve mentioned have been worn to death and aren’t honestly that good, I mean it’s a logo shirt… not something to go crazy over…

Would you want this item if it wasn’t a trend item?

So many people including myself always fawn after the new IT bag because it’s been popular amongst celebrities and they soon sell out and become a trend. I think trends and fad’s are completely different things, I think a fad is any of the embroidered Dionysus bag, featuring weird colour blocking and embroidery of bee’s and lips in some cases, however I see the plain canvas Dionysus bag as a trend item and something that is a good investment into your wardrobe as it will not date as badly as its embroidered brother.

Have you tried the high street dupe?

I think its important especially when spending a lot of your hard earned cash on something very expensive, is to try the high street dupe, if you love the high street dupe and it works well with your wardrobe then definitely make the investment. In this day and age of fast fashion, you are able to buy dupes of designer “IT” bags quicker than ever, so by the time you have given your high street version a work out, you won’t have missed out on the real deal from the designer.

Is the item your purchasing really worth the money?

The value of something and the cost/price of it are two completely different things economically speaking. The value is the desirability of the item, generally speaking the desirability of the item will ultimately make you more or less likely to part with your money no matter if the cost is higher than what it’s worth, we spend our money on materialistic items based on whether we value it enough to make the purchase, value is seen as intrinsic but is also dependent on individual preferences. The cost/price of the item is the amount of money required to purchase this item. We all spend smartly when we make big purchases like cars and houses, so why not designer items? They aren’t essential which is where a persons value of the item comes into play, designers would have no money if people didn’t find their items desirablem or value them. When you find something particularly desirable you then make the connection  that this item is somewhat essential to you, although in reality it isn’t. I will give you an example of this from my own personal experience, I don’t like to purchase designer clothing (I usually buy bags, shoes and accessories), because A) The amazing items tend to be non basic which will make them date B) Their basics I see as so inflated that it’s not worth my money and C) I am not comfortable spending almost $1800 on a light jumper just because it’s LV and it also looks like I could purchase something similar from Zara. So when I was looking at the cost of my new LV star trail boots vs a light red jumper they had on the floor in their store, I definitely saw more value/worth in the boots I purchased vs the jumper which I didn’t see the same value in. However, this can change depending if see something that will be just as classic years from now, like my Balmain blazer, I felt comfortable purchasing that blazer because it will look just as fashion forward now as it will in the future. I think money spent on the right items, that you see are worth your money is the smartest way to shop.

Can you afford it?

This is a hard point, because there are a lot of people who simply have so many other financial responsibilities who would see a purchase of a $3000- bag as shocking because it’s not essential for basic survival. A lot of people these days with the cost of living simply cannot afford to purchase these items, there are a lot of people who are also only earning just enough to live. In any situation, you should never, ever put yourself into debt over a designer item. If you really want something definitely save for it, because once you have finished saving and finally purchase the item it makes you appreciate how long you’ve saved and worked for it, which also makes you look after it a lot better, it also gives you the time to think about your new possible purchase. A lot of what we buy is impulsive, we think we absolutely need this item and purchase it then and there for fear if you leave, and come back, it will be gone. Worst case scenario is that you might have to wait for new stock, even if that is not a possibility, you can always find any new designer item 6 months to a year later on Ebay for a fraction of the cost (this is one of my favourite things to do).

Will the item hold its value?

In most cases it won’t. Chanel, cartier and Hermes are some of the few designers where their classics designs can actually make you a profit on your purchase, however this is not going to give you a profit over the short term, we are looking at more of a long term growth profit of 5-10 years. When looking to purchase your designer item, have a look online for the second hand version, I like to use ebay and vestiaire collective and look at the retail price and resale value. Knowing this can sometimes deter you from making your purchase because it is now a popular thing to buy designer with the intention to resell and then put whatever you have received on your sale towards your new designer purchase, I think this is done mainly by bloggers who flaunt a FAD bags until they’re unpopular. I however like to purchase the item, with the intention to use and keep/collect in my wardrobe for years to come (a nice way of saying I’m a hoarder) ha!

I know this post is very long, however I think it’s important to go over all aspects of spending potentially a lot of money on an item. I live by this method and whenever I’m looking to purchase a item I think about every single point I have written about. Don’t get me wrong, yes, I have made impulse designer buys and 9 times out of 10 I have regretted these purchases. If there is anything you should take from this post, is that you should be CRITICAL with the designer items you choose to buy, this is your hard earned cash that you have worked hard for, so don’t waste it!

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