"LARPING" FAKE RICH LIFESTYLE-EXPOSED

[00:00:01]Everyone, welcome or welcome back to my channel. It is your favorite luxury handbag vlogger, Michelle. Now, I don't always talk about luxury or push luxury.

[00:00:12]I just happen to be a lover of fashion, a lover of handbags. Oh, yes, and I used to work for Louis Vuitton, so I can give you all this insider information. The first burning question anybody asks is, is this bag worth it? Now, if you're purchasing from a retail boutique, because I work there, I'm going to say, "Yeah, you know, what are your priorities?" If it's worth it to you, it is. But do you have all your other priorities in order? Like your housing, your gas, your insurance, just things like that. But today's video, we are going to talk about the fake rich and the illusion of luxury. So, apparently the Gen Z'ers have this term called larping. I started to see this video all over the place, larping this this term, and I was like, "What is that?" And it means live-action role-playing. So, now you see all these teenagers and kids in their 20s, yes, that young, pretending to be rich to flex on TikTok for the views. We like to peer into the lives of the ultra-rich. Who remembers that show, Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous from the '80s? I was so fascinated to watch these beautiful homes and luxuries that I guess us normies don't have. But one thing I remember is that you didn't see those homes splattered with logos.

[00:01:35]In the '90s, we had the show MTV Cribs, where they would go into musicians' homes, and sometimes, yes, you would see these logos. 20 years later to find that some of these sets were rented to give the viewer the illusion that these musicians and rappers live this luxurious, logo-filled lifestyle. So, now come 2020 was really when it hit, when everyone was home. In all that, I'm trying to figure out when flexing luxury goods became a thing, and I can't think of anything else besides the TikTok revolution. Some people may say it's COVID because that's when people were spending money on luxury goods instead of taking trips. So, it's a culmination of everything. Now, I am from the generation when fashion was fashion. We had our fashion of the '80s, the '90s, the early 2000s, where logos were prevalent, but it didn't make your whole outfit, and people didn't lust for logos as much as they do now. And that's when a luxury, it was really reserved for the elite. Now, I don't mean that to say that no one else can have it. It was just kind of like known knowledge that these are things you don't buy until maybe you are well into your dental career and have already established your home, your career, your children, sent your children to college, and now you're ready to buy that Louis Vuitton piece as a symbol of congratulations to yourself.

[00:03:10]It was never looked at like I'm going to flex on my friends with my Louis Vuitton head to toe. Everybody wanted to get their hands on the same bag, pochette métis. Everybody wanted to have a symbol to fit in with their friends. Now, what this did was make fashion homogeneous, luxury fashion homogeneous. There's no individual style. Now, here's where it gets interesting. About a year ago, I took to the streets, the streets of Rodeo Drive, Beverly Hills. I don't know why it's called Rodeo when it's spelled Rodeo Drive, but anyhow, the place is bustling with LARPers, young people pretending to be rich. Now, a lot of these young people when I approach them claim to know the difference between a real and a fake bag. And in this interview, it actually exposed that they didn't know the difference. And in some cases, like didn't know at all. When I had approached them, they were almost pretending to be like, "Oh, yes, I own Louis Vuitton." But furthermore, some of them even came to admit, "Yeah, I own fake stuff. Don't tell my friends." And I would carry one because at the end, you see the difference between the two.

[00:04:24]Why are you spending thousands of dollars to impress people that you don't even know or maybe don't even like. Now, what's interesting is, of course, in the comments, everybody thinks they know and they would able to be tell, "I would never wear that. I would never do that.

[00:04:36]It's about integrity. How dare you fool people?" So, one study from the National University of Singapore, where many of the crazy rich Asians reside. Remember that movie? They found that it's both lower income and extremely high- income individuals that are most likely to buy counterfeits. Now, I also did a video about this article finding that there are pockets of society, society ladies, called the rep ladies. And this was a game of purchasing the best super fake as possible. Now, here's what happens.

[00:05:11]The common assumption is that if you are lower to middle class, which is who the luxury brands target, if you're carrying a real real Chanel or Louis Vuitton, someone might accuse you that, "Oh, you can't afford that. It must be fake."

[00:05:25]Now, if you're in the higher echelon of class and you have some real bags, you carry a fake, people are just going to assume all of her bags are real. Now, here's the third secret. If you're wealthy, wealthy, got it like that, most of those people don't even care. You don't see Jeff Bezos hanging about his Ferragamo belt or his Ferragamo shoes or his Louis Vuitton or his Hermes because at that level it doesn't matter. So, why at the lower income and the middle income level are you so stressed over what people think about your accessories? Now, here is what the dupe economy, the super fakes really exposed.

[00:06:08]I'm not here to talk about who is judging you on your clothes, but this is what it really exposed is that there are so many extremely good replicas. This is not just with handbags. It's with Rolex watches. It's with Nike tennis shoes.

[00:06:24]And what people are finding is that some of these factories, like Rolex and Nike, that outsource parts to other factories in China, some of those factories can easily copy the pattern, the mold.

[00:06:41]There's 3D printing now that can copy anything. Computers are so advanced. So, now companies like Rolex are outsourcing their parts to other manufacturers. What is stopping that other manufacturer from creating a whole new Rolex? Now, there's also a case where Hermes employees had created a fake ring and they were creating their Hermes bags on the side.

[00:07:06]Same material, same suppliers, same tools, just making them off on the side.

[00:07:13]Now, I'm not here to debate whether this is right or wrong. What has happened is that it has exposed that we can actually get quality goods for a decent price and not have to pay $2,000 for a tennis shoe. That doesn't make a quality difference. We can actually get high quality crocodile leather Hermes bags for maybe $2,000 as opposed to $10,000.

[00:07:41]And by the way, why are brands like Chanel so Chanel's current collection is not using exotic leathers. Everything in their collection is embossed, meaning it's cow leather with a snake skin print with a crocodile embossed etching to make it look like crocodile. So even the luxury brands have cheapened their own brand. I don't know if they're they're claiming they're being nicer to exotic animals, but they are now using embossed instead of real leather and crocodile.

[00:08:14]This is just the way that fashion is going. Fast fashion has pushed the consumers taste and attention span to be this small. So you always need the new thing and always need the new thing. And if you're dependent on social media and your friends approval for your own self-worth, of course you're going to keep buying the new bag. You're going to keep buying the new shoes and the new thing so you always look expensive rather than actually being wealthy. Now, I actually asked my best friend cuz she keeps asking me to find her a Chanel flap and I finally just asked her, why do you need it? I've asked her a few times where she doesn't have an answer.

[00:08:53]And then I just gave her the answer. Is it to fit in with your attorney friends?

[00:08:56]And she said, yes. I said, okay, well then at least you know that. I'm not going to judge just so you can think about that and is that going to be enough? Is that going to be enough to fulfill this desire to fit in? But now what has been exposed is that smithier brands and luxury brands quality-wise don't have a huge difference. In fact, most of these luxury goods are being made in rapid speed. Almost in the same quantity as your coach bags are made. We cannot say that spending the money or the logo or the label is going to get you better quality than something that you didn't pay the logo for. It's like these brands know. They already know that you're not going to have this one bag for life and they need a hook to get you to keep coming back every single month. So, why should they put the effort and the money and the quality into the bag when the consumer doesn't really know the difference or is not looking for that same quality difference that the consumer in the '80s or '90s or early 2000s might have been looking for at the time. The consumer is now driven by different decisions, and that decision is the need to fit in. Now, amidst all this, when the luxury hype started to die down, you know, everything, every trend, every fad has its backlash. Now, there are brands like Quince, for example, and I love their pieces. They actually advertise on their website the cost of their items and how they stand up next to some of these higher-label brands. Quince has some very popular and very beautiful Italian woven leather bags. No doubt, when you put them next to Bottega Veneta, there is clearly a difference. But, if you are a smart consumer, if you are just out there in the world starting your corporate wardrobe for your job, you don't need to run out and get the Bottega. Nobody is judging you but yourself, honestly. Now, personally, I do wish fashion went back to the early 2000s where finding unique pieces was fashion. Putting together things in a creative way was fashion. Who remembers everybody wearing cut-off denim jeans started by Mariah Carey, but it was never a particular brand. The '90s and early 2000s was all about a particular look and pulling that look together and make it individual and creative and making it yours. It wasn't about having the same bag and bracelet and even car as everyone else. It's almost like a novelty Halloween costume. Like, I went to Spencer's. And but my luxury influencer outfit. Now I just read a very touching comment on one of my videos. She wrote that she used to feel bad that she couldn't afford LV. That was like, thank you for sharing. I understand. I was there recently in my life. And when I peeled all that back of like actually being able to afford the thing, like giving your money to a corporation is not the flex that I once thought it was. So it's better for me to spend my money wisely and I help you guys, help my viewers spend your money wisely. Look for quality over quantity, over flash, over logo. The spend is not the flex.

[00:12:14]And lastly, don't pay for that feeling that okay, I was able to do it so I don't feel bad because it's a black hole that you're just going to have to keep filling and filling with the next because luxury now is as trendy as ever.

[00:12:31]Next video I will review the new Louis Vuitton men's collection because yes, admittedly, it is fabulous. Do you have to run out and get it? Ah.

[00:12:42]Hey, if you've got the money lying around, there are some pieces that are great. I am going to watch from afar. If you enjoyed this video, don't forget to hit that like and subscribe button. And also a reminder that I go live every Wednesday with my vintage finds, vintage the quality of bags that I love. And for all of my updates, be sure to subscribe to the handbag.exchange. The link is going to be right here and in the description. I will let you know when I drop new videos, when I go live, or special things that I find in the market, values, deals, vintage hauls that I want to share with you guys.

[00:13:20]Thank you so much for joining. Talk to you later. Bye. [music] >> Bye bye.

[00:13:28]Bye bye.