What is the true value of a designer label?

It is human nature to seek approval from others.

From the day the first cave man stumbled out of his cave to gloat about discovering fire, it has always been human nature to compete. If you’re not a winner you are a loser, and this trait of nature has developed into many different competitions as time has gone on. Now millions of years later, instead of competing for food, space and power, we compete for money, knowledge, status and continue to fight for power, on a much larger scale.

This need to be valued has translated into women wearing shoes that cost a month’s rent, or men with cars that are more status symbol than transport.

Perhaps, with some designer items, the price could be justified, for example one of a kind pieces, but the Chanel hand bag you spend the best part of a grand on won’t hold your miscellaneous collection of rubbish any better than a cheap bag. If it does the same job, what is the difference, apart from the best part of your bank account – and overdraft.

With most top designer purchases, you have nothing but your receipt to show the huge dent it has left in your finances. Most designers choose not to advertise their line on their own items, because spending a fortune on something and wanting everyone to know you had would make it seem like that you were somewhat common.

The thing about labels is that they are a dividing line. They set the bar for people in social circles, between the rich and the poor. Anyone who doesn’t see this line usually have banks circling like vultures while they desperately try to pay for a new Louis Vuitton with 6 different credit cards and a handful of change.

In many ways, designer items can be a one of splurge, for a milestone. For example, you get an amazing new promotion at work, you buy new shoes, or for men, an expensive suit. In a way this is a healthy way to take designers, because you are not drowning yourself in credit card bills to reward yourself for all your hard work.

The problems come when people start to think that everything in their lives needs to have a label.  Buying clothes, like many people already know, can be like a drug, and with designer clothes, a very expensive drug at that. Each time you go shopping you’re going to need to buy more and more, as you build up your price tag tolerance, in order to give you that same rush when they hand you your perfect shiny, designer carrier bag to walk about the shops and show everyone what you can afford.

In high school having the right clothes could make a person, and in life, people seem to think this is still the case. That, one more bag, dress or pair of sunglasses will “make” them, and bring them happiness that other – less expensive – purchases perhaps wouldn’t. Surely you can be just as miserable in Jimmy Choo’s.

The whole thing is very reminiscent of the story of the emperor’s new clothes, just because designer clothes are said to be the thing to have, we have no idea why when it really comes down to it, why that is. Why someone, somewhere, who most likely owns a summer home in the Hamptons, says that a bag is worth £2000, and we just accept it? 

The suggestion is not that we should all give up and wear bin bags. The suggestion is that, in a world where children are starving and dying for lack of clean water, where is the justice in owning a wardrobe full of thousands of pounds worth of clothes, which probably never see the light of day. The value of a designer label is not the price tag, but the cost it has on your self-worth.

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Teen pregnancy/parenting poll

Hey guys,

Hope you don’t mind helping me out with a poll for one of my classes in college.

Honest opinions please.

Results of music Industry poll

As you can see, the results show that 44% of people feel that the music industry does not have a negative effect on young people in2012. Only 22% said that they could definitely see that the music industry has an impact on the way the youth of our society think and behave. Young people are bombarded with images of their favourite celebrities, they see all the good, but also all the negative things the rich and famous get up too. Another 33% said they felt that sometimes, this exposure to the music industry and celebrity culture can effect young people, and at times cause a negative impact.

Music industry poll: Have your say.

In 2013, there are more artists in the music industry than ever before. We need to ask ourselves what effect this is having on generation Y. Songs are constantly pushing boundaries and breaking barriers, but where does this controversy end?

 

The six greatest couples in history.

They say romance is dead, and it may well be, but we can look to the best fictional couples in history for guidance and dream. 

1. Ross and Rachel

Starting off with the love story we grew up watching blossom. The Ross and Rachel, will they/wont they drama spanned across every series of Friends. We watched the near misses, screaming fights and their many break-ups and make-ups. We all willed them to get together in the end, and eventually, on the last episode – that it is still impossible to watch without crying – that is exactly what they did.

2. Gatsby and Daisy

A love story with a happy ending is always nice, but for some unknown reason, when the ending is tragic, it makes the story even more memorable. Gatsby’s love for Daisy was so great, that in the end, even Daisy herself couldn’t live up to it. Sigh.

3. Harry and Sally

As in “When Harry Met Sally”. Everyone can relate to the situation this pair found themselves in, all based around the idea that, men and women cannot just be friends, and ultimately, they proved that fact to be correct. On New Years Eve as the clock strikes midnight, Harry tells Sally all the infuriating things she does that make him love her. Cliché, yes, but wonderful.

4. Odysseus and Penelope

This Greek couple sacrificed their whole lives, waiting to be reunited, after being torn apart for twenty years. Shortly after marrying his love Penelope, Odysseus leaves for the war and although Penelope holds almost no hope of him returning to her, she refuses 108 suitors, eager to take Odysseus’ place. Like Penelope, Odysseus is equally as faithful and turns down an offer from a beautiful sorceress, who claims she can give him true love and immortality. He gives up eternal youth in favour of the chance of returning home to his wife and child.

5. Noah and Allie

Noah and Allie portray one of the most selfless love stories ever told. They have a whirlwind romance as teenagers before being parted by social boundaries, unwilling parents and distance and despite all the trials life throws at them, they conquer it all.

6. Romeo and Juliet

Probably one of the best-known couples in history, (thanks to Claire Danes and Leonardo DiCaprio) and the tragic love story plucks the heartstrings of all who know of it. The two “star-crossed lovers” destined to be together, but torn apart by their families who are at war with one another. It definitely appeals to our ‘want what I can’t have’ nature. After Juliet fakes her death as a means of escape from her family’s grasp, and Romeo takes his own life not of knowing the smoke and mirrors behind his lovers demise, to which Juliet awakes and joins him in death. Tragic, yes, but great love demands great sacrifice.

So enjoy your valentines day, but take heed from these great couples who belong to the ages, and make your valentines day memorable, after all no matter what happens the outcome can’t be anywhere near as tragic as this lot.

If you don’t ask, the answer is always no.

Sounds pretty obvious, huh? But the number of us who don’t stick to that rule is unreal.

Everyday you hear people, “I was going to apply for the job, but I don’t think I have the experience.” they say looking deflated before they even gave themselves the chance to be rejected.

These people are ruining their own chances by giving up before they have even tried.

I have always been a great believer in things happening for a reason, but what if that attitude is the thing that is stopping great things happening to each of us.

Too many of us rush through life thinking that amazing things, opportunities and people will just fall into our laps, out of a god given right to happiness.

I only say this, because up until recently I was 100% one of those people, and then I realised that that is just simply not how it works.

If you don’t apply for the job, work hard at college, or ask the guy out then you will not get the result you hope for, regardless.

If you don’t put yourself out there in situations where you could show off your wonderful self, then you cant be surprised when people don’t notice you.

We are not entitled to anything and the only way you can be successful in your endeavours is to go out and grab every opportunity you see.

Most are usually jealous of the people in life who seem to be constantly getting promotions, gaining friends, and getting ahead but the reason these people do so well is that they take the chances instead of letting them slip through their grasp.

So get on a plane, apply for that internship or ask the guy out, but just don’t let it all pass you by.

Advertising: The not-so-hidden agenda.

We’ve all been there, you work your way through the latest issue of your favourite magazine, you get to the end and you will to be better. We promise to start that diet, dye your hair and buy that new dress that will definitely get you noticed.

The last new “in” colour or trend is out and you need to rush off and buy the next big thing because someone you don’t know in an office, somewhere in a distant cultural city, has decided you simply must have this new must have item. If you don’t have a certain look, possession or idealism then you simply don’t fit the mould.

In a society where we can essentially have what we what, when we want it, we need to ask, where do we decide that simply having an individual style, personality and perhaps even, shock horror, a brain, would be enough to keep a person happy, and to make them feel like they are a valuable and decent human being, even without the Louboutins. In a society that teaches that what is on the outside is indefinitely more important than what is inside this might be an unachievable goal.

Models in adverts always look the same, they mirror back to us the ideal version of ourselves. They have beautiful skin, long hair they could sit on and teeth so white you can barely bring yourself to look at them.

Although, even the model trying to portray this amazing version of real women, is probably not in reality as perfect as the camera makes her out to be. With techniques such as airbrushing and lighting or even just good old fashion makeup, even women who are closer to this ideal than most still need a little help to reach that level of flawlessness when it comes down to it.

In the same way women see these models, with teams of hair and makeup to get them ready for a photo-shoot, woman look at celebrities and think that they look just like models in magazines, so why can’t the average woman. The answer is life. Real women have jobs, education, schedules and sometimes even children to deal with, and no one there to help them to look perfect on a daily basis.

Many adverts show glamorous woman casually strutting around massive houses in designer dresses and heels while flipping their freshly dyed hair, which it seems unlikely has been done without the help of a professional. However, back in the real world, we are lounging about in pyjamas, with hair dye all over the bathroom and looking at the worrying shade we’ve become.

Women in 2012 need to grasp on to the fact, that we are not perfect. We are not now, and wont be after we’ve maxed out our credit cards with things to make us feel worthy. We will never love every little thing about ourselves, and even the models that we long to be like have the same insecurities as everyone else, they are just hidden well, along with their imperfections.

In 2012 the ‘C’ word is virtually unheard of.

It’s 30 day’s until the big day, but christmas is now deemed politically incorrect for fear it will offend other religions. In a world where everyone’s beliefs and opinions should be treated as equal, it looks like Christmas is missing out.

Instead of each of us celebrating our own religions and who that makes us, we are to go with what we are told is acceptable in todays politically correct society and attend holiday parties, give holiday gifts and buy a holiday tree.

No longer are the days of nativity plays filled with makeshift shepherds and angels – and even if they were still acceptable, we wouldn’t be allowed to film it – now if a parent even considered taking a picture of their child in public place may be scolded for being politically incorrect, even if it was only their own child in the shot.

Instead people go to see ‘holiday’ shows filled with P.C songs with no mention of baby Jesus or the Bethlehem star.

Everything is changing; things that were acceptable 5 years ago are now a social faux pas, and in five years time what is acceptable now will probably have been updated and modified as, no doubt, someone, somewhere will be offended. 

This is already a world where proud parents can not take pictures of their children, children who will have to grow up, constantly being taught to be careful what they say and how it sounds. In a world where nothing can be said without a thought because there is no such thing as an innocent statement anymore.

More than ever our rights as human beings are being called into question all the time, but what we need to ensure is that these rights better us, rather than hinder us, and in light of all these rights it seems we are still told how to think and behave.

As far as we have come with developments in the prevention of sexism and of discrimination against different age groups and races but we need to make sure we are not politically correct now just for the sake of it, that there is still a positive motivation behind the cause. Unless changes are made, we may all soon be treading on eggshells with every sentence spoken.

Although all these positives have come from welcoming other ways of life, when so many long held traditions are being lost from British culture such as Guy Fawkes Night, it still leaves me asking, have we gone too far?