Have you ever bought a fake “It” bag, designer watch or any other faux luxury item? I have. These are the bogus items I’ve bought or bartered for: fake Gucci strap watch (mid-90s, Canal Street, NYC); fake Rolex (late 90s, Canal Street); faux Chanel chain link purse (early 00, garage sale); a fake Louis Vuitton clutch (clothing swap a few years ago). Oh, and I once unwittingly bought a pair of fake Citizens of Humanity jeans on eBay. Thanks to several anti-counterfeiting campaigns and exposes, including Harper’s Bazaar “Fakes are Never in Fashion,” I’ve learned the error of my ways. I’ll never fake it again.
But what is exactly behind those counterfeit and pirated goods? A new ad campaign, led in part by the International Anticounterfeiting Coalition, that is sweeping this country is tying such items to child labor, drug trafficking, organized crime and terrorism.

The Fake Trade is Bad, Bad News

So why is it bad to buy fake (or counterfeited) goods? Well, according to the International Anticounterfeiting Coalition, fakes can be tied to child labor and exploitation, drug and people trafficking, organized crime and terrorism.

The coalition gives five good reasons why you should never fake it:
1. Counterfeiting is illegal and purchasing counterfeit products supports illegal activity.
2. Counterfeiters do not pay taxes meaning less money for your city’s schools, hospitals, parks and other social programs.
3. Counterfeiters do not pay their employees fair wages or benefits, have poor working conditions, and often use forced child labor.
4. The profits from counterfeiting have been linked to funding organized crime, drug trafficking and terrorist activity.
5. When you purchase a fake, you become part of the cycle of counterfeiting and your money directly support these things you would never want to support.
That takes the fun out of a fabulous faux Marc Jacobs bag, doesn’t it?

Welcome to our Fake World

It’s not just handbags and jewelry that’s being faked. The flourishing counterfeit market includes things like brake pads, airplane parts (um, yikes), electric cords and equipment and pharmaceuticals and health care supplies. Basically, if it’s being made, it’s also being faked. In a sense, the potential danger associated with less visible counterfeited products makes the fake trade a health issue.

Weapons of Mass Consumption

In a brand obsessed, consumption-driven world, is it any surprise that product counterfeiting has skyrocketed in the last two decades? For many, shopping and acquiring has become a religion of sorts. And it’s easy to use shopping as a quick-fix — a quick, viable way to feel good. Since consumerism is so thoroughly integrated into our society, it’s no wonder that people fail to see connect themselves to the consequences of purchasing fakes.

There’s a great essay on the Fashion Lawyer Blog that breaks down the legal and moral implications of counterfeiting. The author wonders if the fake trade could be killed if we, as a society, could reign in our rampant consumerism. I totally agree. What do you think?

The Global Impact

• $600 Billion- estimated annual sales in counterfeit products worldwide
• 10%- estimated percentage of fakes among all goods produced worldwide every year

Source: http://www.fakesareneverinfashion.com/fakes_numbers.asp

Further Reading:

Ethical Style: A Victimless Crime
Business of Fashion: Counterfeit Culture

Lately, I’ve been facing some ethical problems, whether or not to play into the whole fashion machine. I love fashion, I love the human interaction with clothes. It’s a beautiful art, one of the most personal, clothing protects us from the elements, it communicates our values, our culture, our desires. Fashion sets itself apart from the necessity of clothing the way architecture sets itself apart from the cave.

“Nothing [in fashion magazines are] real, it’s all fantasy, photoshop… the clothes aren’t even meant to be worn.”

In a discussion with a fashion editor about my concerns, “Nothing [in fashion magazines are] real, it’s all fantasy, photoshop… the clothes aren’t even meant to be worn.” Yet, more and more clothes that are meant to be worn are modeled by women who are subjected to the same standards as runway models.

When I pass by these billboards with the image (shown above) of a woman whose upper arm is thinner than her lower arm, sunken cheeks, clothes hanging on for dear life. I have to wonder if I should be OK with this. I don’t even shop at H&M anymore, but should that even matter?

The Black Issue is stirring up some controversy, critics call this ‘racism’, though I can’t recall the last time a Vogue with strictly white models caused any controversy in the mainstream media.

“It’s heartbreaking for me now because the agents send the girls out there to castings and nobody wants to see them,” said Ms. [Bethann] Hardison, referring to black models. “And if they do, they’ll call afterward and say, ‘Well, you know, black girls do much better in Europe, or else black girls do much better in New York, or we already have our black girl.’”Title is a quote taken from NYT article (Ignoring Diversity, Runways Fade to White)… Ivan Bart, the senior vice president of IMG Models.

Pic via Pedestrian.tv

If it weren’t for WendyB I’d probably worry in silence… but she encouraged me to let you all know that on May 17, Agathe confirmed me as a friend on Facebook. I’m guessing she’s still alive, and this photo I found in her profile posted by one of her friends on May 4 tells me she didn’t get kidnapped by gypsies.

Ok, posting pictures from her Facebook profile might be a little stalkerish…. I’m sort of very sorry for that.

Back to Agathe, where is she? Why did she suddenly stop blogging? In the last few months Stylebytes have become even better than ever. Her and her husband have been taking loads of beautiful and inspiring photos. She’s been getting tons and tons of comments, features in magazines and newspapers… all of this is just thrilling for a blogger. So why stop?

Negative Comments?
For some time, I’ve noticed in her comments that some people have been giving her a hard time about her weight. That she had some kind of eating disorder, etc. I don’t know Agathe personally, but I’ve been reading her blog daily for about 2 years and I’ve never noticed anything strange about her weight. I think I have more demons surrounding body issues than she does. Whether or not she has issues doesn’t stop negative comments from getting troublesome. Maybe they got out of control?

Hackers
Maybe someone got hold of her blog and email and is holding it for some ransom? Little do they know, unless you are some high powered fashion blog like Manolo’s Shoe Blog, there isn’t a whole lot of money. Well, there is but you pretty much have to give up your analog life, and maybe your first born son. Either way, I’m pretty sure Agathe isn’t about to hand over any of the above. After all, I’ve watched enough suspense thriller movies to know that the first rule about ransoms is to never hand over the money.

The Pig
Maybe little Molvin is sick. Maybe Agathe came home and her husband accidentally … you know… what most people do with pigs, well, not the Jews, the Kosher Jews.

Maye she came home saw the pig was gone, causing obvious problems with her husband, and that’s why she’s not posting. I would seriously break up with Rocky if….

Personal lives can have a huge effect on one’s blog life. When traumatic things happen, it’s hard enough to trudge through the vital functions of life, let alone the extra curricular things like blogging. Some extra curricular things are easier to take up during tough times, like drinking, but again, that inhibits blog time.

Sick of Blogging
Occam’s Razor is the principle states that the explanation of any phenomenon should make as few assumptions as possible, eliminating those that make no difference in the observable predictions of the explanatory hypothesis or theory.

In layman’s terms, the simplest explanation is usually the most likely truth. Blogging is hard. It takes a lot of time. Doing the photographs, doing the research, keeping up with all the other blogs. It takes time. Agathe does Stylebytes purely as a hobby. Maybe she just got a taste of civilian life and is now enjoying her analog evenings. Wow, what a concept. (middle finger pic from Stylebytes Phiary)

Stylebytes was the first fashion blog I read (the second blog only to Pink is The New Blog). If it weren’t for Stylebytes not posting every second of the day I’d probably still be a reader and not a blogger myself. The thing I like about Stylebytes is that it continues to evolve in a genuine way. Rather than resorting to gimmicks (which I may start doing for kicks) she’s shared with us her thoughts about her sense of style. It’s helpful, really to all of us.

Well, here is a few pictures I pulled from her site that stick in my head as points of inspiration in my own personal style. I do hope she comes back, because I’m not sure blogging would be the same without her.

UPDATE: Stylebytes.net has been taken down… here’s a post from Style Bubble about it.

Kids never cease to amaze me. I know, when kids are related to you, they seem to be smarter… today I was amazed by my little niece. A year ago I shared with you how I learned how to walk in high heels, as a girl, you couldn’t turn your back without me digging through the lady of the houses closet looking for high heels… but I really had to make a sincere effort to walk in them gracefully.

Today, my niece Maddy went digging through my luggage and found my patent booties with a 5 inch heel. I was delighted she picked them out of the whole pile and even more amazed when I saw the way she was walking in them.

When did you first start to get fascinated with high heeled shoes?

Ok, I’m going to go out on a limb here.

Yesterday my friend forwarded a Jezebel article about the latest American Apparel cry for attention on YouTube. It made me ask myself… why is American Apparel’s advertising so troublesome? Honestly, I like their advertising… it’s a bit Terry Richardson with less skill, and the typography is nice too. Ok, it’s a bit pervy, and so is the Victoria’s Secret catalog, which is basically America’s poor man’s porn. Part of me wants to be offended. I can wear glasses hang out with the smart looking girls and discuss Gloria Steinem, use words like ‘male gaze’ with some sort of knowledge of what that actually means. I’d really like to.

But I can’t. What is that? I’m not offended. I don’t know why. Objectifying women is horrible. I’ve been objectified, I have objectified. Perhaps my lack of offense is the mark of a much bigger problem with the whole system. It’s complicated. It’s shameful.

But… it’s real.

Perhaps that’s why AA’s advertising works. It’s real drama. There’s the drama that surrounds Dov Charney, the sexual harassment suits, masturbating in front of female reporters (although she fully consented), his hypersexuality and the charge that surrounds each of his photos of young women of a questionable age, all of it is most certainly shameful.

He brings our most guarded secrets and desires and puts it on a billboard. Right or wrong, the tension between sexual weakness-empowerment gets more attention than any other subject, it hits us at the most biological aspect of our being. Maybe it’s the gritty, flawed reality that people find comforting or offensive.

Holy moly, I have to hand it to him, making a t-shirt sexy is not easy. And why is it wrong to use sex to sell? I mean, I know it’s wrong on my gut level, but I don’t actually have a reason… so I typed “why is it wrong to use sex to advertise?” in Google, and this is what I found:

Sex in advertising treats the human body as just another commodity and thus reinforces the dictum that the material world is ‘all there is’. People, in this view, are merely objects, participators in the marketing scheme. They are valued not for their kindness, integrity, competence or character but for how they look through a camera lens alone. This is demeaning in the extreme and a profanation of the dignity of the human person and of all universally held spiritual values.

Maybe that’s another thing wrong with the system… almost all advertisements commodify some aspect of the human experience, whether we are valued for sex or money, for social status. That the world we live in values things. The fact that American Apparel is so blatant about using sex to sell tube socks makes them an easy target for criticism. But why is it more offensive than photoshopped, made-up photos in Cosmo or Guess? or Victoria’s Secret?

Then last but not least, comes the whole issue about what the company is actually about. They make great clothes. American Apparel is the largest garment factory in the United States. They fairly compensate their workers, they even have on site medical clinics and massage therapists for the factory workers. They also have intense production goals and fierce competition. They are not unionized, but then only 1% of LA’s garment workers are unionized, and the unions themselves aren’t exactly perfect either.

Jezebel failed to mention American Apparel’s latest campaign to reform immigration, that with all the accusations and controversies there is continually a second side to the story, that regardless of reputation an questionable appearances, the reality is that American Apparel is revolutionizing the garment industry. But then again, Jezebel has the same kind of witty banter you’d find on Gawker… so what can you say?

I think even I’m more confused now, than I was before… what do you think?

If you have ever noticed someone wearing sweats and a high ponytail looking wonderful, and a person wearing all the right things and looking like an uncomfortable mess, you’ll know that true style comes from the inside. Inner beauty is something anyone can obtain. It’s simple, but not always easy.

I don’t work hard enough. I need to improve my wardrobe. If I was smarter, things would be easier. If I could fit into a size two, I’d be happier. My cheeks are so chubby, I’d be a lot prettier if I had decent cheekbones… etc.

For many years this was the dialog that went on in my head. Learning to be ok with myself, and my inner demons has been a long and complicated struggle. For some reason, I was never good at hiding my internal struggle, it was always embarrassingly obvious to those around. My family, my friends, etc… for a long time I struggled to find my path.

It wasn’t until a few years ago, when a friend of mine noticed how hard I was being on my self. She told me she had a similar problem, and to put of picture of myself as a child on the refrigerator. And told me ‘if you ever think about criticizing yourself, just think of what you would say to a cute little girl.’

I smiled and immediately thanked her for her advice, and went along my way. Then another friend lent me this book (after a crisis revolving around cutting my own hair), by Louise Hay, that talked about positive dialog. Being as smart as I am, I took the hint and read it. All the sudden I realized I talked to myself so harshly.

One of the lessons I’ve learned is that reality is my perception, and that can be changed, if I want to change it.

Now, it’s not as easy as just changing my “internal dialog”… but it’s a start. Merely being open to the idea of change is a bigger step than anything I can think of, because only the times I was willing to change, something came across my path. What happened , was I became willing to look for the good, instead of looking for what needed to be “improved.”

Being nice to myself was a start. I’m not easy on myself a lot, but saying things like “I love and approve of myself”

Now, it’s not as easy as just changing my “internal dialog”… but it’s a start. Merely being open to the idea of change is a bigger step than anything

really helped, it was strange, but in it’s own way it helped. When I started listening to my natural internal dialog, I couldn’t believe how much I DIDN’T approve of myself. I realized that more often than not, I was saying things like “You don’t deserve a good job” “You’ll never find a nice boyfriend” “You live in a dump” “Your car isn’t as good as everyone else’s car” … In reality, none of that was true, it was merely the spin I put on it by comparing myself to other people. Other people I only barely knew, and most of all, I couldn’t see the gifts I had, which were many.

It was amazing, and so weird. So I kept saying nice things… I put little cards around my apartment (they are still there… I still need them) with affirmations. And you know, I also went to therapy, I became open to change and it came. Two years ago, I would have never have started a blog, because I didn’t think I had anything valuable to say, and I certainly didn’t think that there was any value in being obsessed with shoes. I was afraid of what people would think of me… only because I was listening to the bad things I said to myself.

So I guess, the moral of the story is, when I’m nice, the world opens up.

Here are some of the notes I have written around:

I love and approve of myself

Everything I want or need is already within me

Write useful posts

You are beautiful

*Double Bows taken by NicolasT

Maybe tonight instead of watching re-runs of Seinfeld, sit down and watch the Story of Stuff… a 20 min documentary about the consumer economy and it’s impact on the environment and our mental and physical health. Kind of like An Inconvenient Truth, it’s one of those documentaries, that doesn’t shake it’s finger, it just lays out the facts, and gives you a solution or a direction to take.I heard about it a while ago, although I’m not sure if it was Bits & Bobbins or Elizabeth who brought it up (either of them are very likely sources). Either way, I was at work, and couldn’t devote my full attention. Perhaps, I shouldn’t be talking about this, but American consumer culture is seeming to be at the verge of a breaking point. I can’t go one day without hearing someone talking about a recession, or what is going to happen when Americans stop spending. It’s obvious that things have to change, and I know it’s hard to see a solution. Sometimes, I just want to have shiny new things, even when I really can’t afford them, and a lot of times shopping makes me feel better. But then I feel worse, but then I feel better, and then I have to purge my closet, so I feel worse.

All I know, is that it’s delightful to have little reminders like these to keep what’s really important in perspective.

As a species, we’re supposed to grow older. Why do I feel like I’m regressing?

The truth is, I’m coming up on my 33rd birthday. Well, it’s not for six weeks, but it’s also the time between spring and winter. Even if, in San Francisco, it’s pretty much the same foggy season all year ’round, I want my style to evolve in a more refined fashion. I’m evolving. And I’m getting older. I think.

Since I have gotten a bicycle, I’ve been rethinking my style. It’s essential that the clothes fit the lifestyle, I’d like to be somewhat refined, but it’s difficult (for me). Riding a bike, doesn’t mean dressing like a kid, or slob, or even a tomboy. Here are some pointers I’ve discovered lately:

1. Cropped jackets are great. I’ve just been wearing an Olive green parka jacket. It fits close to my body.
2. Leggings, skinny-jeans don’t get caught in the bicycle chain.
3. Short, flared skirts (with leggings or tights underneath) so you can get your leg over the bike.
4. A messenger bag. I’ve been using my Kenneth Cole bag, I bought last year. It’s super soft leather, and it can fit both my bike lock and a pair of heels.
5. I can wear boots on a bike.

Also, I’m starting to wonder how I can create a uniform-type look to minimize my spending and maximizing my style. This is going to be a work in progress, but with my lifestyle in mind,
and some inspiration*, it can be done. And heck, looking my age? We’ll get there some day.

*Thanks to the lovely women who post their outfits online… 1, 2, 3 (a dress i want), 4 and 5 (remixer of the week)