Objective: To determine the no. of Louis Vuitton and Gucci (GG) bags dangled on the arms, wrists or shoulders of Singapore women
Time: Tuesday 15 August 2006, around 845am.
Location: Dhoby Ghaut MRT, the 500 m (?) walk from North-South line to North-East line
Total count: 5 GGs 1 LV
Time: Thursday 17 August 2006, around 6pm
Location: In transit from Aljunied to Pasir Ris MRT station
Total count: At least 6 GGs
Observation: Two years away from my favourite red dot, (read brand conscious) Singapore women seems to have graduated from the ranks of Braun Buffel and Renoma (and even LV) to pricier designer labels (read: Gucci).
Time: early August, 9ish
Location: Starbucks at Millennia Walk
Subject: Brand conscious Singaporeans
Participants: 2 ‘lower middle management’, ‘white-collar’ Singaporeans and 1 in-between (read: jobless) overseas graduate (read: kantang)
Gossip: Young Singaporeans slaving in Call Centres or just starting out their careers, earning S$2000 a month are buying Raoul shirts (S$100?/piece) and GG bags (S$800 – S$8000?/piece). ‘Lower middle management’ buying ‘counterfeit’ GG and remain stuck with Braun Buffel.
Location: Traffic Junction at Raffles City
Subject: Branded bags in Singapore
Participants: 2 ‘lower middle management’, ‘white-collar’ Singaporeans and 1 in-between (read: jobless) overseas graduate (read: kantang)
Contradiction: Project Shop Blood Brothers (psbb, read: made in Singapore ‘designer brand’) is considered expensive to a ‘lower middle management’, ‘white-collar’ Singaporean; LV handbag (parallel import from France and hence ‘cheaper’ than Singapore) is considered ‘good buy’. Price differential between psbb and LV – at least S$500?
Am getting confused with the warped logic of consumer utility in Singapore. Why, oh why, are Singaporeans paying so much to model the monograms on behalf of these designer brands?
Addendum: Just learnt from a co-worker that LV is in fact more pricey than GG – goes to show how much I understand these ‘designer labels’ ;).
Gen X-I 
i wonder that ALL THE TIME! hahaha but really.. some of the bags are VERY PRETTTYY!!! some people like them coz of the design and quality of the bag, but i suspect majority just own them coz it’s a brand and owning it means you’re worth something.
Comment by sneakyniki — August 17, 2006 @ 9:55 pm
ah well… this is all about packaging, I suppose. What really bewilders me is how these women – by virtue of the same brand they are ‘endorsing’ – seems to exalt in a ‘uniform’ look.
Comment by Hwee Hwee — August 18, 2006 @ 3:04 pm
The design and quality is a major attraction. There are some people who are very concious of others holding the same bag as there. They think it’s a total embarassment so much so that they are willing to fork out extra money just to be unique. You mentioned about LVs and Guccis, their bag designs are quite different from the others. I never found LVs method of printing thousands of ‘LV’ letters on the bag pretty. But it seems to be a popular choice among the high end consumers. I guess it’s just for people who really want people to know they own an LV bag. 😉
Comment by Mr. Dew — August 21, 2006 @ 1:11 pm