Are you a Splurge or a Steal?
Recently @vafashiongirl asked me on Twitter if I take offense to magazine articles & blog posts about “The Look For Less” when my brands might be “The Look”.
Nope. Fashion is meant to inspire. If we create a look that moves you to want/need it, great. But let’s face it, everyone shops differently and what inspires you to splurge is different from one person to the next.
At Donna Karan, we have two main brands, both uniquely inspired by New York. The designer brand is Donna Karan New York which is a dramatic and confident collection designed for the modern luxury girl forever on the move. The more accessibly priced collection is DKNY which offers function & fantasy for every day life. I don’t expect every person to be able to afford collection or even DKNY, but I think it’s important to understand why designers price the way they do.
The fabrics luxury designers use and the process by which they create, all factor into what a garment costs. We actually devote a section to the design process on each site. For Donna Karan, it’s called the ART of DESIGN and for DKNY, it’s lovingly titled, BEHIND THE SEAMS. Check it out, you’ll learn something new.
Personally, I splurge on great “must-have” items that I know will last the test of time and spend less on the trend of the moment (**unless I sense it’s a trend that will live on, like the cape). But, I didn’t always do this. In college I used to cheap-out on shoes. But looking back I realize there was always something that wasn’t quite right with them. Inevitably, I would end up buying 5 pairs of the same type of shoe just to get the design/fit right. Bottom line, if I had just added up the cost of all those shoes, I could have just bought the one designer pair I was inspired by in the first place.
The CFDA put it quite nicely this year when they came out with their “You Can’t Fake Fashion” initiative. Luxury designers work incredibly to hard to give the consumer the perfect design/price/value relationship. Investment pieces are worth more because quite frankly, you can do way more with them.
For example, the DKNY Cozy may cost $195 which is cheap for some and a fortune for others, but when you apply fashion math (there are 12+ ways to wear it), it’s actually the best deal ever.
When you splurge you get a feeling of shopping euphoria. There’s nothing quite like it. When you steal, you usually end up buying more versions of the same thing, because the quality and design never quite cuts the mustard.
At the end of the day, I just want people to feel good and look good. How you get the look is your prerogative, but just remember, there’s nothing quite like the original-
