Diamonds are not a girl’s best friend. A Birkin is. In response to the fact that high end jewelry lines are, at the moment, in deep financial shit, Fashionista’s Lauren Sherman wondered “why are shoppers more comfortable spending $5,000 on a handbag than a tennis bracelet?” She points out that it may be because savvy shoppers are able to find less costly versions of essentially the same item (i,e. hit the diamond district, not Tiffany’s) but I think it goes beyond that. I may not be slapping down $5,000 on anything at the moment, but, given a choice, I’d definitely go with the bag becase…
1) I actually need a bag. Could I conceivably haul all my stuff to the office in a plastic grocery bag? Yeah, sure. Would I be taken seriously as a professional? Not so much. I guess I could downsize and stick everything in my pockets, but between my phone, and my wallet and my lipstick and the book I’m inevitably toting around, and gloves and a hat in the winter or some sort of sunscreen in the summer and… yeah, it just seems impossible to go without one. At least for me. If my bag were to disappear my day would get way worse fast. Has my day ever been negatively impacted on a practical level by lacking a tennis bracelet? No.
2) Diamonds are forever. Okay, yes, it is nice to have at least one good piece of jewelry. I wear the pearl earrings from my 16th birthday almost every day (nobody has ever noticed them or complimented me on them, but that falls to point number 4 or 5). I assume I’ll still be wearing the every day when I’m about 80. They will, presumably, be no worse for the wear. You can’t say the same about a bag which will, after a year or two of daily use, start to get a little threadbare and require going out and buying a new one.
3) And are you really going to feel okay wearing those diamonds out? These are some things I have heard from female members of my family in relation to jewelry. “What a pretty necklace XXX gave you! Now, let’s go put it away in the safe.” “You know, it’s only for special occasions.” “You can’t wear something like that in the daytime.” Other people might have a freewheeling take on jewelry – but every time I try to wear a sort of nice piece, say, to the supermarket, I wonder whether it’s really right to be wearing it then. It might get stolen. Or people might just think I’m trashy. Or… whatever, that’s never a worry with a bag. I could spend a million dollars on a bag made out of the hide of a Velociraptor and still feel it was totally cool to carry it with me to Costco. Meanwhile, with the exception of major black tie galas, I can’t think of one place I’d feel comfortable wearing a diamond tennis bracelet. I do not have any major black tie galas coming up any time soon.
4) You’re going to have to spend a lot more than $5,000 to make much of an impact with your jewelry. You can easily spend tens of thousands of dollars on, say, a 2 carat engagement ring. A bag? You’re going to be able to get a very, very nice bag for $5,000. Let’s assume that a Birkin is just about the nicest bag you can buy (yes, you could get one hand tailored and you could make it entirely out of gold, but the Birkin is pretty commonly accepted as a top of the line bag). How much does it retail for? Around $8,000. So I can buy a bag that’s in approximately the same price range for around $5,000. How much does a top of the line necklace cost? Well, let’s say its Garrard’s Heart of the Kingdom Ruby Necklace, which costs 14 million dollars. Yeah, my $5,000 necklace isn’t going to be in quite the same class as that.
5) I have no idea how to identify nice jewelry. If my boss walks in one day carrying a Birkin, I will stare at it reverently, and I’ll also assume that we’re all doing our jobs well and aren’t going to be out on the street any time soon. Ditto, a Kelly bag or some of the newer, easily recognizable pieces I’ve seen when I was last window shopping at Bergdorf’s. If my boss walks in wearing something shiny around her neck I’ll have no idea if it’s costume jewelry, or real, or what. Though I will be confused as to why she’s wearing it a 9:00 in the morning (point 3).By: Jennifer Wright
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