In today’s world, fame and glamour seem easily attainable. Living among celebrities is more of a perception than a reality. When it comes to “keeping up with the Joneses,” many fall short. Those who have expensive taste, but lack income must satisfy themselves somehow. To buy knock-offs or not to buy knock-offs, that is the question?
Popular magazines plaster their pages with the celebrity outfits you copied last night. It’s these same publications that you study in hopes of finding something just as fabulous to cure tomorrow’s fashion fix. The prescribed $300 J.Crew smoking slippers snap you out of those glossy pages and back to reality. You’ve never spent that much on an entire outfit, let alone a pair of shoes. Almost robotically, you consult one of your favorite discount e-stores such as GoJane.com or UrbanOG.com. Sites like these offer frugal remedies for the fashion obsessed yet financially challenged. You find high-end look alikes that ship to your doorstep within three to five business days. Problem solved.
Ma’am you are a knock-off discount shopping queen. Now I’ve probably offended you, but what I am saying is true. Don’t feel ashamed. You are one of many. Why not fake it ’til you make it? Shelling out that much money on frivolous things with a college student’s budget is insane.
Some claim they don’t shop at online stores like GoJane and UrbanOG. The same people swear by Steve Madden and fill their closets with Forever21. Don’t be fooled, 90 percent of Forever21’s fashions imitate something seen on a high end designer’s runway. Forever21 doesn’t make trends. Forever21 is built to publicize trends to people just like you and me.
Steve Madden makes wonderful lasting shoes, but I hope you don’t believe that those $149 wedge sneakers were all his own. Of course not, they were a knock-off of an $800 pair of shoes by Isabel Marant. These high end designer sneaks graced the runway last season. Similar ones grace the shoe section of UrbanOG.com for $25.
When it comes to buying a knock-off I still believe you get what you pay for. Usually the more you pay for an item, the better the quality. Make sure you check the stitch work or soles for discrepancies. If you can tell it’s cheap, then nine times out of ten someone else can. If you want to remain discreet about your purchase, don’t tell everyone the price and where you got it. Also, be smart and leave signature items to the professionals, such as key athletic sneakers, signature designer heels, and distinct labels. Everything else is fair game. Don’t knock it until you try it.