This really reminds me of the normalisation of Van Cleef & Arpels. Not to sound like a pick me but I actually knew of this brand years and years ago as an avid Vogue/ELLE reader and loved the Alhambra collection but obviously £4k+ was well out of my price range. Cut to current day and this brand is as common as a high street chain!? Admittedly a lot are copies but it's become a 'status' symbol like the Cartier Love bracelet and it's just.....idk
Yes!! This is another one!! Years and years ago at work we did a research project on HNWIs and that was the first time I’d even heard of them, and the financial situations for that studied cohort was SO far removed from the people you see on social media wearing it. Even Molly Mae who imo is a key person in popularising them with the huns is currently high income isn’t in the realms of the HNWIs that shop at these brands and can genuinely afford (on every level, like there is no opportunity cost of that money because you have enough money to cover your next 5 generations).
I appreciate there’s a lot of fakes about, but fake or not I feel so deeply uncomfortable with young women feeling like these items are remotely normal for anyone in their life stage to have? Like most influencers are from intergenerational wealth so their income is just for discretionary spending, and don’t get me wrong I’m no Dave Ramsey telling ppl to drive around in styrofoam kebab boxes to save a few quid, but I worry that financial literacy in this country is so poor you’ll have young women financing these purchases at a time of ever increasing interest rates. Even if they’re cash buyers how many of them have a net worth anything close to the realm of what such a purchase would make sense for?
I know ppl have free will but idk, influencer content is so insidious and prays upon people’s insecurities. And yes some people will stretch themselves for a £1k bag and that’s also not gr8 but is still recoverable, as the stakes rise it’s just concerning to see this content growing exponentially in a vacuum of honesty? Like again an age old issue with influencers - and this applies to houses and #renos too - but I do wish the girls creating this content would say look I don’t need to pay for a house deposit or school fees or pension so my salary is just for discretionary spending and excessive consumption lbr. Because there will be women that miss out on ever having these things because they never clocked. These things are not normal, and not needed, like the ultimate luxury is financial security at the end of the day but this never gets discussed, or even an honourable mention. Then again every month it comes out that an influencer or reality star girly was living far beyond their means so maybe they’re
ducked too.
I also can’t help but wonder what’s going to happen in 2/3 years when these items are passé and the preloved market becomes flooded? This is
witchy but I find it so hard to believe all these young women genuinely find these Queen Mother looking bags gorgeous and will wear them beyond this period of posturing. So when the market is flooded with them and the fakes, in the colours they didn’t really want but settled for, is anything beyond the black bags gonna go for anything? The Cartier love bands tanked didn’t they? Idk. It’s a yikes from me.
thecommense.com
but for the 2 x a year I wear a belt...it will do
I’ve gone off my usual body shop one. As a face range I use Clinique, has anyone tried their sun cream?
I don't see any Hermes bags where I live as they're really not the norm around here (I wore my Orans yesterday and was stood in a queue in Boots. I could see in the reflection of the window some girls stood behind me talking about them 
) I can't recall seeing any Hermes (aside from footwear) on my feeds either. So is this where Hermes is taking the brand? Basically down the same route as Chanel?
) but Gen Z don’t care so much? Or are they just too young to be aware of how it looks to have £20k+ worth of jewellery stacked up your arm in your 20s? Personally I’d be cringing for them but maybe I am just a staid millennial 
