(Picture Source: http://bagvanity.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/fake-louis-vuitton-bags.jpg)Copied from its use in wine terminology, vintage is a term used now for clothing showing they are new or second-hand, but from a past era. It has become very fashionable to use this term nowadays and vintage fairs are more and more often in Bucharest as well. If I'm not mistaken, there is at least one each week and you can meet the same people more or less with the same merchandize, so this can be good (if you don't have the money on a particular week) and also not so good, when you see the same type of merchandize.
Between the people who have vintage jewelry on sale or vintage clothing, there are also new designers (Romanian ones), who are working hard (or not so hard) to get out there and become someone through what they are producing. You can really find great creations, but also can be disappointed,...but I guess this is a matter of taste and desire...
Today I visited (as usually I do on weekends) another venue of this type and, and this is the reason I am writing now, I was really disappointed by something that happened to me. Fortunately, I know something about luxury and this saved me from committing a mistake.
The story goes like this: I am thinking of buying a type of LV bag for myself, and I noticed that model at the fair. I asked the woman who was in charge of it, if it were a replica or an original one. The bag really looked great and it was packed like an original one would be... and she told me it was a real one. So I grabbed it and started looking at the fine-tunig of its interiors. They were almost the same as the real one, but the zipper looked slightly different (you must have had the original one in your hands to notice the difference!!!), so I asked the woman where she got the merchandize from. She didn't know where they were imported from. This was my first question mark... Then I asked for the price, it was something around 120 Euros... Considering that these bags rarely loose their value, especially if they still are available on the brand's website, I asked the woman again if it was a replica or not. She then said yes, and that for that money I couldn't dream of having a real one (true). Sadly, she added that that bag would cost thousends of Euros, in the attempt to sell it to me. I told her that wasn't true, that it would be 400-500 Euros on the internet (depending on the size). She then answered that those are also fakes. WHAT??? I told her, that's not true, it's that much on the Louis Vuitton site. She then was speechless and I was furious. I just walked away!!! I am still angry thinking that they, who are uneducated concerning what they are selling, are also selling fakes to other uneducated buyers...who then think they are something they will never be. Plus sustaining the counterfeitting industry means less work for us, here in Europe, it means giving up values and traditions for cheap plastic just to show off what those people are not.
Fortunately I also found someone who sells the real deal. They are called
Budoir Vintage and have clothes and bags and shoes and clothes from various very known luxury or fashion brands. The prices go to confirm it. Nevertheless you can find some nice pieces at reasonable prices.
I hope this entry will make you more attentive when buying at these fairs. Being educated in fashion and luxury is a plus. Knowing what you want to buy is a plus. Understanding the quality of a thing is another plus. And knowing the value of your money is the most important thing!
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