<p>So does this mean when my husband takes delivery of his $6000 bicycle FRAME…I can go out and buy a new purse? I’d rather have a Burberry jacket.</p>
<p>Racing bike prices can be insane. I once saw a 10-12 year old kid crash his expensive triathlon bike into a pickup truck…he got banged up pretty bad. The parents ran to him and they started screaming and crying because the bike’s wheel got bent…I think they stepped over the kid to get to check the bike’s condition after the crash…the kid was a mess too.</p>
<p>One of my coworkers is an active poster at a purse forum. I lurked once and was amazed at both the prices and the process. Part of this is the chase of the bag, having a connection, being on a waiting list, sometimes hiding it from a spouse. There is a lot of description of packaging, texture, scent.
I recently shared an elevator with two men discussing performance tires with the same degree of precision. I’m sure there are internet forums for that too.
To answer the question, my girls don’t know brands at all, shop at places like Target and Old Navy, like a lot of people. </p>
<p>There are forums for most anything. There’s a forum for motor oil enthusiasts where guys argue about conventional engine oil vs. ‘elitist’ synthetic oil.</p>
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<p>Did you know that Shinola has now become a luxury brand? Check this out: <a href=“http://www.shinola.com/shop/leather/womens-leather/leather-type/bags.html”>http://www.shinola.com/shop/leather/womens-leather/leather-type/bags.html</a>
Cheaper than Chanel, but still…</p>
<p>^^^I’ve heard of Chanel…but never heard of Shinola!</p>
<p>Kind of like Acne … Going on name alone, I prefer Shinola to Acne. </p>
<p>I’m 20. I might be able recognize a brand-name handbag if I saw one since my mom is into these things. If I didn’t notice, she would definitely point it out for me :p</p>
<p>My family do not know brands (of bags) at all and shop at places like Target, Walmart, Ross, or TJ Max. My nieces and my SILs know brands better than we do even though they are not wealthier than us (so I guess having a daughter may have something to do with this.) Actually, when DS was still growing up, he did not enjoy shopping at all. (We did notice that he seems to care a little bit about his dress in the past couple of years - Do young men these days like their shirts very “snuggle” so that they could show off their muscle? (They do exercise in the gym more regularly than our generation.) It seems it is not comfortably tight to us (parents) but we keep our mouth shut, without making any unsolicited comment here.)</p>
<p>I do not think my S’s GF has “expensive taste” as some speculated here. I heard the gifts they exchanged on special occasions cost 20-40 dollars only. (We know it because we still paid DS’s credit card bill as he has no income yet. Also, DS brought home one of the gifts from her - a wallet.)</p>
<p>We recently took those Starline hop-on hop-off buses near Beverly Hill and Holly Wood. (because we did not want to drive in such an area where it is difficult to park our car.) The bus driver, who seems to double the role of a tour guide, mentioned some expensive tastes of celebrities there for the “entertainment” purpose of the tourists on the bus. He said an LV bag would cost 3000 dollars.</p>
<p>We were jokingly saying that it is like a poor tour guide talking to a bunch of not so rich tourists about the lives of really rich people. (I did see a single tourist holding a bag which seems to have an LV bag in it. She seems to be a tourist from the Europe - by her accent when she asked the bus driver a question.)</p>
<p>If someone had a $10,000 wristwatch instead of a Timex would that mean they’d be more punctual getting to meetings?</p>
<p>Off-topic, but Shinola was an old brand of shoe polish. A common expression for an ignorant person used to be “He doesn’t know s%@t from Shinola.” Indeed, this point was featured in the beginning of Steve Martin’s movie “The Jerk.”</p>
<p>Now somebody bought the old Shinola brand name, and is making watches, bicycles, and leather goods in Detroit. It makes me smile each time I see it.</p>
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<p>Funny! This reminds me of something with regard to my younger daughter. In the recent past, a well known watch manufacturer selected my D for a national campaign where they identify “Rising Stars.” She was one of the first two they selected. She was given money, a professional photo shoot, and performed at an event honoring her. The other “prize” was a very expensive diamond watch. You’d think she’d wear it, right? But nope, she is not into such things. Instead, she bought an inexpensive watch at American Apparel that she wears regularly. Go figure!</p>
<p>DS mentioned that people in Southern Ca dress differently than people in NE. He guesses it is because of the difference in weather.</p>
<p>Absolutely! People in LA wear their furs when the temps drop below 50. People in NE wait for -50. ;)</p>
<p>Ponders aloud. If somebody doesn’t know every label, year, color, style, etc, does that mean he has “gaps” in his knowledge? Because, of course, there is a fixed set of knowledge every person should have, right? And it should be the same no matter who you are, where you live, your circumstances, or your goals. The world itself never changes either. Oh, and the person who has determined this knows absolutely everything himself and is omniscient, correct?</p>
<p>"Do young men these days like their shirts very “snuggle” so that they could show off their muscle? (They do exercise in the gym more regularly than our generation.) "</p>
<p>Mcat, you tend to ask questions as if everyone in a certain demographic group moves in unison. I imagine that like anything else, SOME young men like their shirts snugger to show off their muscles, and OTHER young men like their shirts to be a normal or baggier fit. There is not one uniform culture that you need to identify. </p>
<p>Just like - for the topic of this thread - there are SOME young women who are into designer handbags, and OTHER young women who aren’t. What’s relevant is the individual woman, not “young women as a whole.”</p>
<p>“I do not think my S’s GF has “expensive taste” as some speculated here. I heard the gifts they exchanged on special occasions cost 20-40 dollars only. (We know it because we still paid DS’s credit card bill as he has no income yet. Also, DS brought home one of the gifts from her - a wallet.)”</p>
<p>I think you may be under the misapprehension that if someone has “expensive tastes,” that everything they do must be expensive. Even people who have expensive tastes don’t buy EVERYTHING designer / expensive. </p>
<p>I have some clothing, handbags and jewelry that you might categorize as expensive, but my most recent clothing purchase was two pairs of sweatpants from a pile at Sam’s Club because I needed sweatpants I could put on over my gym clothes when it’s cold out. It’s entirely possible this young woman has expensive tastes – AND was perfectly happy to exchange modest gifts with your son. My birthday was yesterday, and my kids each gave me a book - probably less than $15 apiece, and I’m happy as can be with that. </p>
<p>Where do your fears come from? Are you afraid you won’t “measure up” in someone’s eyes if you don’t know about these things, or cannot afford them? People of substance won’t judge you on what you can / can’t afford. </p>
<p>Happy belated birthday, Pizzagirl!</p>
<p>Happy post-birthday, PG. :)</p>
<p>“So does this mean when my husband takes delivery of his $6000 bicycle FRAME…I can go out and buy a new purse? I’d rather have a Burberry jacket.”</p>
<p>Thumper, that would cover both a small Chanel purse and a nice Burberry trench! ;)</p>
<p>"Ponders aloud. If somebody doesn’t know every label, year, color, style, etc, does that mean he has “gaps” in his knowledge? "</p>
<p>Yes, but so what? We all have gaps in our knowledge about certain things. Presumably we fill in the gaps for the things we care about and we don’t bother with the things we don’t care about. </p>
<p>I mean, take me and professional sports. I was at a gathering earlier this year and someone said the name Jay Cutler and I said - who’s that? - and was practically roasted on a spit because apparently he’s the QB of the Chicago Bears and I “should” know that. Well, I didn’t, and I don’t really care because it’s not important to me. But ask me to name a Beatles song where the time signature changes and that’s like falling off a log to me (We Can Work It Out, meter change from 4/4 to 3/4 waltz right after the words “fussing and fighting, my friends”). That’s not something the average person knows OR cares about, but I’m all over it!! </p>
<p>Point is - we all have things that we care about, and things that we don’t. I trust that people who wish to engage more in knowing about brands of clothing, designers, etc. will do so – and those who don’t, won’t, and it’s all good. </p>