CHANEL, VERSACE, DOLCE & GABBANA, VUITTON, GUCCI, DIOR, FENDI, PRADA, COACH, MARC JACOBS et al
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As the holiday shopping season kicks into high gear, these are the brand-name clothing and fashion accessories that women will expect. But with the average cost of these items ranging from hundreds to thousands of dollars, how can the average woman afford these at all?

Add to the mix the celebrity endorsements. Paris Hilton wears CHANEL sunglasses, Jessica Simpson totes a VUITTON Speedy bag, Jennifer Lopez wears a DOLCE & GABBANA dress. “What’s Jennifer Aniston got on?” “Oooh what’s Madonna wearing?” Stars don’t have to worry about scrimping and saving to buy high-priced designer items; in most cases they don’t even have to pay anything, the companies freely give them the merchandise. Designers know that just having their products displayed by pop icons translates into millions of dollars in increased sales.

The celebrities are having a fashion party to which the average working woman is not invited.

So what is a woman of modest means to do?

Enter the knock-off. The fashion industry has created a need that the replica industry fulfills, designer clothing and accessories within the reach of the middle class budget.

By pricing their wares in the stratosphere, designers are essentially causing the knock-off market to thrive. Women see these must have fashion accessories in magazines like VOGUE and ELLE and want them. But when a handbag costs what the average middle class woman makes in a year, what choice does she have? She can’t afford the real thing so she buys a copy, much the same way that an art lover who desires a Picasso will hang a lithograph on his wall.

Each day on Canal Street in New York City, tour buses deliver scores of consumers who descend like vultures upon the rows of merchants who sell designer look-alikes. At the behest of the above mentioned designer corporations, the NYPD is constantly shutting down sellers and confiscating their merchandise, forcing these vendors underground as they try to keep up with the insatiable demand for replicas. Commenting on the public’s maniacal desire to own designer accessories, Tommy Y. a 20 something vendor sagely notes “We make them famous, and then they arrest us.”

The real irony comes when the fashion giant out sources the manufacture of their product to the very same company in China that is producing the copies. If the item is made by the same factory, how does one apply the “genuine” rule? Genuine as in “sanctioned by the manufacturer”?

A great deal of the blame must be placed squarely on the shoulders of the designers themselves. How can they justify such outrageous prices? VUITTON has a leather coin purse that sells for $275! MARC JACOBS has a $9,995 tote bag! HERMES’ bags start at $5,000 and rise steadily from there. CHANEL sunglasses average $300 per pair, non-prescription! Regardless of how loudly these companies cry foul, and hide behind trademark infringement laws, it’s all too obvious that they are greedily profiting from their media generated envy.

Gregory Lions is a former financial analyst for Dun & Bradstreet Inc. He is currently the CEO of BUYHEREBUYNOW.COM http://buyherebuynow.com

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Do you feel like you’re stuck in a rut of wearing the same thing all of the time? Feel like you have nothing to wear? Here are secrets to building a wardrobe you love. You will need to dedicate a little time, but the rewards are worth the investment.

Imagine, a closet of outfits:

Wouldn’t you like to never again feel like you have nothing to wear? The first step is to shop at home. Go through your closet to determine what you already have. Try on everything you haven’t worn in over a month. Your job is to evaluate:

Fit - Does it fit well? I’m not talking about just fitting into it. Does it flatter you? There should be no binding, tight-looking pulls on thread or material. Pockets should lie flat.

Appeal - Do you love how the item looks? More importantly, do you love how it looks on you? Does it flatter your figure and coloring? A beautiful item is only truly appreciated if it looks great on. Otherwise it’s a design and fabric waisted. Remember, the goal is to build a wardrobe of things you love, look/feel great in, and can’t wait to wear.

Comfort - Can you move comfortably? Does it itch or caress the skin? I won’t wear anything that itches or sheds (shedding is a major pain with contacts or any kind of lipstick).

Repair/Alterations - You need to decide whether to keep pieces that need repairs/alterations. If yes, make a pile and plans to do it. We all have a tendency to conveniently forget the repair pile. “Rework It” article for alteration ideas coming soon.

Below are some additional guidelines for filtering out the clothes that are just taking up valuable closet space:

“When I Lose Weight” Pieces - Forget it. Just let this item go if it’s more than one size smaller than your current size. Why is okay to keep things that are a size smaller? We tend to fluctuate by 5-10 pounds, especially in the warmer months. Focus on replacing that piece with something fabulous that you can wear now.

Hold Time - Now is the time to purge if you’ve been holding onto something forever. The rule is one year for casual/professional pieces and two years for special occasion items.

Next, outline what you’ve kept. You can simply write it on paper or do it electronically (a table in Word or in an Excel spreadsheet). List your basic clothing, grouped by colors in the first column. An example is a list of skirts, dresses and pants grouped by browns, blacks, bold colors and prints.

The next column would include all of the items you wear with each piece of the basic clothing. Then the third column outlines the pieces you think might work, but haven’t yet worn with the basic clothing. You should also include things you’d like to create additional looks.

An example; I have a pair of chocolate brown cotton twill pants listed in the first column. Additional pieces are white, cream, turquoise, pink and leopard print blouses. I also have sweaters/tops in brown, cream, pink and sky blue, plus blazers in leopard print, brown plaid, tan, turquoise and blue plaid. I’d like an apricot blouse and a butter-soft, brown leather blazer.

The ultimate goal of developing this clothing capsule is to create a list of looks of your existing clothing, plus determine the pieces you’d like to buy to enhance what you have.

Make Sure Those Great Buys Are Something You’ll Really Wear … A bargain is no bargain if it’s in the back of your closet.

Yolanda Keil is a certified image consultant and a confessed shopaholic. She produces two free style newsletters; Style Shopper and Voluptuous Femme. Sign up for email updates at: http://www.polished-images.com/stylenews.html

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