You may have to fake till you make it

What is your most extravagant purchase?

On a work night out, myself, Mollie and Steph were comparing our designer sunglasses, handbags, watches and purses. We all had a mixture of mostly legitimate brands and only  a couple of fakes thrown in. Our prized possessions and very proud of them we are too. I’ve just lost my Gucci sunglasses so had to wear a £10 pair on holiday that I bought from the airport. It was so sunny yesterday but I spent the whole afternoon squinting rather than compete with Mollie and Steph in their designer shades.

I bought a couple of designer handbags from Hong Kong a few of years ago and two pairs of fake Converse. I don’t use any of them. I know they are fake and in my mind so will everyone else. They look exactly the same but wearing  a faux handbag or trainers just doesn’t feel right. Which is so stupid and all in my mind. And I wasted money (not a lot) on things I bought and do not use. I’d rather have given the money to charity or bought a real pair of shoes.

It’s like if you’ve ever had a glazed doughnut that’s not a Krispy kreme, Or had to suffer a supermarkets own brand baked beans? Or like the last jar of non branded coffee that we have at the office – smells like wet dog and doesn’t taste much better. I’m not saying all non branded stuff is bad or that all designer gear is better. After all, Ben Stokes did okay with his fake Nandos,

Why are we so obsessed with designer brands? 

I suppose coming from a working class background and always wearing hand me downs until I out-grew my sister and then she had mine, affording and wearing a designer brand is a way of saying you are not poor anymore.

My most extravagant purchase recently: We have just splashed out £££££ on a lavish holiday. The last time we spent that much money was when we got married! It’s our 25th Wedding anniversary so we felt it was worth it.

Nothing compared to the outrageous and sometimes stupid spending of the rich and famous.

Nicholas Cage has just had a whole load of stick for wasting his money on a lot of very weird stuff, including $150 million on a dinosaur skull (WT?!!?), Pygmy heads and a couple of European castles. Now he’s pretty broke he has to try and find someone equally as daft to buy the stuff back off him. Although turns out the dinosaur skull was stolen and he had to give it back.

The most expensive house in the World is in Mumbai and cost $1 Billion. It is owned by Mukesh Ambani and took 4 years to build. It is 27 floors high, with six parking levels, three helipads, a health club and Spa (wonder if he needs helps with recruitment?), a 50 seater movie theatre, multiple swimming pools, Yoga Studio and 600 staff! Just makes me feel a bit sick inside, knowing that their are so many slums just alongside. If you have ever been to Mumbai, you will know exactly what I mean. The slums sit next to the big flash hotels and designer shops. It is very sad.

Kim Basinger bought a whole town for £20 million. It is the town of Braselton in Georgia and she purchased 1,751 acres of the 2,000 acre town. Kim wanted to turn the town into  a tourist attraction and film studio but sadly she had to auctioned it off in 1995 when she was declared bankrupt.

Katy Perry bought a £200,000 ticket to space for Russell Brand’s 35th birthday on board Richard Bransons’ Virgin Galactic – Not sure whether she asked for it back after the split but maybe she is hoping he won’t come back!

One of the most bizarre I think is Paris Hilton who spent $325,000 on a villa for her dogs! And Donald Trump (shock) who installed a SOLID GOLD bathroom in his $100 million Jet. Most extravagant of all (and I quite like the bloke) is BONO who paid $1,500 to fly his hat out to Italy for  a gig because he left it behind.

But for sure if myself, Steph and Mollie had loads of money we would definitely have a few more designer items but we all have too much common sense and work too hard to squander our cash on something stupid……..or maybe not…