The Fake LV Phenomenon

I'm a Bombay girl who grew up around Juhu. Before you start stereotyping me and judging me, I should tell you that this post is essentially to stereotype and judge other women. So you can go right ahead :D

I was at Istanbul airport for a stop over a few weeks ago. Traveling alone, I had nothing to do but stare at everyone who passed me buy. I habitually check women out, so that was how i was passing time. What was glaringly obvious (so much so that I can't even say that i observed the trend or even noticed it) was that EVERY third woman was carrying a Louis Vuitton bag. Now either the whole world has gotten loaded without me noticing while i was worrying about recession, or thanks to the People's Republic of China, we have a slew of fakes. I'm betting on the latter.
On returning home and generally finding the time to facebook stalk my classmates from once-upon-an-era, I noticed that it wasn't just Istanbul. It was all of Bombay too.
Because i had nothing to do for several days but to stare into empty space, i theorized about WHY you would want to carry an LV, original or otherwise. especially since those bags are seriously over priced. I mean, buy yourself a bunch of pretty bags off ASOS. Why just one bag with that HIDEOUS monogram?

I'm going to proceed to make a list of the various kinds of women who would carry one. Fake or otherwise.

1) The Job Profile-r
These are the socialites and actresses and those under media glare who are just expected to flaunt these brands. Some of them get it right. Most of them get it wrong. But they're essentially showing that they'll invest in fashion because it's an important element to their job profile.

2) The Ladies Who Lunch
These are the women who pretend to be friends to meet occasionally at expensive restaurants only to eat miniscule meals just so they can show off how rich their husbands are and how they're buying their wives extremely expensive things to save their marriages. An LV is essential for survival in this scenario. However, one isn't enough. There need to be multiple. The smart ones buy smart knock offs.

3) The College Crowd
I'd say it was the Gossip Girl effect. But if it were then the bags would be better than ugly LVs. However, it's cool to be rich. And owning an LV makes you look rich. This is the category where fakes are most prevalent. I'm sure these women think it ups their fashion quotient but to True Seers, it's a massive FAIL.

4) The Marriage Market
Rich boys look for rich girls. Rich girls carry LVs. Period. Suitcases Also.

5) The Vanity Watchers
This is essentially a subset of the college crowd. These women don't really have a social life. Don't even attend parties or social gatherings with loaded people to attract rich men or anything. But they need to buy one. To please their vanity. Pointless. No, really.

6) The Helplessly Unaware
Then of course there are aunties who don't even know it's the LV monogram and buy the cheap knock offs off the street without intending to project any image at all.

The problem with this phenomenon is that it's making the world ugly. I'd say it's just a reflection of how fashionably unaware Indians generally are. It's a vicious cycle. The purpose is to always show it off and it's the only one easily recognizable. Make it stop. Make it STOP.