A Rambling Train Of Thought That Touches On Big Issues

[poliphilo]

I don't get handbags.

I mean they're obviously very useful things but I don't get why they've become such fetish objects.

craftyailz was in Wilmslow yesterday. She came back with horror stories about how there were handbags in the shops  with price tags of £800- and counting.

I've seen these designer handbags. They look like handbags. I don't think I've ever seen a handbag I've considered beautiful. 

I mean, it's just a bag.

Ailz doesn't think anyone should pay that sort of money for such a frivolous object. Not in a world where people are struggling to feed their children. I agree. 

Wilmslow, of course, is in WAG country. Lots of premiership footballers have houses round there. Omid Djalili was saying on Have I Got News For You last night that it shouldn't be Wives And Girlfriends because you can't really be both at once.  It should be Wives Or Girlfriends.

It took a moment for us all to get the joke....

Omid Djalili is new to me, but it seems he has a show of his own in the pipeline. I'm looking forward to it.

He's a British Iranian. Big and bald and beautiful. Two of the most amazing people I ever knew were British Iranians. 

Michael Hashemian and Sherry....? No I forget the second name. Sherry was short for Sheherezade.

There are several Michael Hashemians out there. One of them is a dentist in Florida. I don't think that's my guy but who knows? He was 19 when I knew him. A Greek God-  with brains to match his beauty.

As for Sherry- well, I remember discussing Baudelaire with her. I was a terrible prig and saving myself for marriage and she was already spoken for, but it didn't stop me fancying her like crazy. 

I am dreading the moment when Bush attacks Iran. If Brown backs him up I shall feel as if my country is no longer my country .

Comments

[msjann65.livejournal.com]

Writing as both a handbag-toting woman and as a no longer proud US Citizen:

Why anyone would be willing to pay more than $25 American dollars for a handbag is beyond me! All we need is something that is not unattractive, has a strap (for me, a shoulder strap), and several pockets or compartments in which to stow our various necessities. Personally, I fail to see any difference between a so-called "designer" bag and those that are sold in the Wal-mart or Target, or even from sidewalk pushcarts. I guess the thrill in a handbag or any other item (car, condo, what have you?)consists for some in going to their friends to brag about how much they paid for it. Each tries to outspend the other, insane though that may seem.
By the way, I feel the same way about a Rollex watch as opposed to a $25 Timex. Call me crazy!
Now, about Bush, and to a certain extent, his Democratic opponents who are running for the presidency in 2008: "A plague on (ALL) their houses!" I still contend at the old age of 66 years that it has never been my function as a woman to produce cannon fodder for some old men's wars, whether it be my children, my grandchildren, or my far-in-the-future descendants. As for that blasted BOMB, I was among the "cranks and Kooks" who marched to ban it as early as 1957, when I was only 16. At the time it was a highly unpopular cause -- those were the McCarthy years.
Bush's obsession with WMD's got us into Iraq, and if he has his way it will get us into Iran, leaving the new President with a double mess.
And just as an aside: where did the leaders of the United States get the idea that the only country that should be allowed to have WMD's is also the only country that ever dropped TWO of them - on a civilian population, at that? If the US needs these horrors for "defense" in a country that has not had a live war on its shores since the mid 1800's, then why not other countries whose enemies are on their borders? Just a thought....

[saare-snowqueen.livejournal.com]

More money than sense, More money than sense, More money than sense, More money than sense,..............

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I marched against the bomb too- in my day.

It would have been the early 80s and we were protesting about the American bases at Greenham Common and Molesworth.

I don't think Bush was ever obsessed with WMDs. That was just the excuse, the cover story. He wanted to neutralise an unfriendly power in the Middle east- and it's the same with Iran. What he chiefly wants is control of the oil fields.

[beentothemoon.livejournal.com]

as loathe as I am to do it, I must come to the defense of the expensive handbag. A beautiful limited-run couture bag, designed by a master artist and hand-crafted by a truly gifted artisan (as opposed to an underpaid, exploited sweatshop worker) is a work of art. How is that different, more frivolous or less justifiable than spending money on a piece of artwork to hang on your wall? An immaculately made bag will last just as long as a painting or lithograph, and has the added bonus of being taken out into the world and actively enjoyed. Also like more traditionally accepted forms of art, a couture bag will increase in value.

Obviously there are some people who want a great big label to show how much money they spent on a bag. Those big label bags are known as "collection" bags as opposed to couture. They're still beautifully and ethically made, but I will freely admit there can be an element of silliness to that.
But the people who are buying couture, or even high-end collection bags are, I'd be willing to wager, not people who have more money than sense or the great desire to own something expensive so they can tell their friends about it, but people who save and sacrifice for a piece of truly beautiful art.

Maybe you can't tell the difference between a Walmart bag and beautifully crafted leather goods, just as there are people who can't tell or can't be bothered to note the difference between good wine and bad, Hershey's chocolate and Valhrona 72%, Kraft American cheese and aged cheddar or a poster print and an Old Master. That's fine.

Some people can though, and decide the beauty and joy it brings into their lives is worth scrimping and saving for that hefty price tag. What exactly gives anyone the right to judge the worth and merit of that joy? To place a value of "unacceptable" on it because it's not something you would personally do? I'm not all that interested in modern sculpture, but I'm not arrogant enough to tutt tutt and decree grandly that no one needs a funny shaped piece of clay that costs more than 25 dollars. They just need something lumpy to put in the foyer.

I have beautiful shoes and a few exquisite handbags. I work for those. I also have a trust fund. I help build and run a series of four water wells in southern Malawi with that.

Yes, there are children starving all over the world, but my purse isn't part of that economic abuse. Look where your handbag and shoes were made. Can you say the same thing?


Here is a link to the Dior plisse and samouri bags, handwoven leather, bronze and tortoise shell. Either could rightfully be displayed in a museum. http://i22.tinypic.com/727i46.jpg

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I take your point. Those are handsome bags.

But they're still only bags. They're the same shape as other bags... and, well, de gustibus non disputandam so I'm going to shut up.