(Photo: Staci Schwartz for the Village Voice)

I appreciate a good critique. And so, when I began Lynn Yaeger’s critic of the Murakami Exhibit and shop at the Brooklyn Museum of Art in the Village Voice, I was right with her.

She speaks of the Murakami/ Marc Jacobs collaboration as resulting in “cutesy-poo Louis Vuitton handbags”.

Of the fake Canal Street set up by Louis Vuitton outside the museum the night of the Brooklyn Ball, Lynn said:

“Actors impersonating impoverished illegal immigrants trying to make a living? Who came up with this swell idea? Not since Marie Antoinette dressed as a shepherdess has such blatant bad taste, such revolting hauteur infected a social gathering. (Maybe it’s a French thing?) In any case, this grotesque Potemkin Village is torn down by the time I visit, so instead of expressing my outrage at fake fake-bag booths, I’m battling toddlers to get a look at Murakami’s cartoon films.”

And while I may not agree with her analysis, I certianly can see how she gets there.

She shoots the whole “Lonesome Cowboy” and “Hiropon” easy targets… rips on the outrageous prices, and items in the store such as the “hideously glommed-up gold number called the Marilyn”.

That’s all fine with me…

But here’s where she loses me. Lynn goes on to tell the story of her frustration as she sat on the waitlist for a Louis Vuitton Murakami Cherry Blossom bag back in 2003. Apparently, her name never came up… and so she settled for the Cherry Blossom Canal Street special pictured above.

“In the end, I went down to Canal Street, the same ratty Canal Street that Vuitton thought was so witty to make fun of. And there I found a wonderful fake flowered satchel for $35, which I thought a cool guy like Murakami would probably get a kick out of, since the nameless third-world artisan who made it added some flourishes that LV hadn’t thought of, like silver faux-snakeskin trim and mirror studs.”

From there, it’s just down hill… trolling Canal Street & eBay for current fakes and ripping on Louis Vuitton’s anti-counterfeit educational measures.

Come on Lynn. If all this bugs you so much, why would you ever buy a fake?

If you really want to beat the system, you don’t buy a fake. You know that. A fake (besides all the regularly argued reasons why it is just bad- not to mention illegal) is tacky and inauthentic. By inauthentic, I mean the wearer looks fake. The carrier wants other people to believe that the very things that bug you- that they got through the wait list, paid the ridiculous prices, and actually like the cutes-poo design. All this is a high price for the collateral damage that the counterfeit market produces.

If you want to beat the system, you buy an authentic Louis Vuitton… at a discount price- by buying pre-owned. It’s legal, it’s relatively economical (if you’d have bought that Cherry Blossom bag, and kept it in great condition- you could probably sell it today for about what you paid- or more!), it’s environmentally friendly :), and you’re no poser!

Hey, Lynn. Let us know if you’re in the market. Promise us that you’ll never carry that ridiculous bag above again, and we’ll give you free shipping on any of our beautiful, authentic pre-owned luxury bags!

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This is hilarious.  I don’t usually critique people’s guides- because the people who write them are usually just trying to help people out.

Expert Village, on the other hand is obviously just trying to make some money (and who isn’t) but how hard would it have been to get some real information (and maybe even a real expert) in the video.

My three favorite lines?  (There are more- this video is a classic!) 

1.  After explaining the registration card in a Prada bag, she says,

    “So if someone asks you, ‘hey, is this bag real or fake’ you can say, ‘oh, I watched this “how to” video, and yeah, it is real because I have my card!”

2.  After explaining that fake Coach bags have “circles” all over them (not “C’s”)… she shows a simple Coach leather wallet- that is not in the signature (monogram C) style, and says, 

    “For example, this bag is Coach, but it doesn’t say (sic), have the C’s all the way around it.  So most likely, a boutique (?) is not going to try to imitate this, because they want to try to sell the most fashionable thing.”

3.  In closing, after sharing those two tips (if it has a registration card, it’s real- and any bag that isn’t signature/monogram is real), she says:

    ”Pretty much, that’s how you tell a real bag from a fake.” 

****  Just in clarification:

1.  The paper work that comes with a bag (receipts, tags, registration cards, etc.) is often faked better than the fake bag itself.  I’ve seen receipts with watermarks, and other very close copies. Don’t rely on these items alone for authentication

2.  Counterfeiters don’t discriminate in what they fake.  The rip-off cosmetic bags, wallets, limited edition pieces in monogram, all leather, canvas- you name it. 

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… to wearing fake Louis Vuitton.

Don’t get me wrong… we can’t get enough of Amy Winehouse either. It’s just that we’re hoping that with the $1,000,000 paycheck that she’s getting for doing a show for Louis Vuitton during Paris Fashion Week- she’ll somehow find it possible to replace the creative fakes she’s been seen toting around.

(No, that blue “Louie Vuitton” in the picture above isn’t a Richard Prince watercolor- it’s just a garden variety knock-off.)

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Hmmm. They might just be using the name as an example, but this article talks about new technology using holograms and RFID for authentication purposes in luxury handbags.

It actually says: “the world’s first holographic RFID tag to stop Vuitton knock-offs”. This could mean the world’s first holographic RFID than could stop Vuitton knock-offs- or that these particular stickers will stop Vuitton knock-offs (which is obviously an ambitious, but worthy endeavour!).

They’re supposed to “arrive” next month. Going to have to keep my eyes open on this one. I personally would be shocked if Louis Vuitton began to implement this type of measure… although, clearly, something has to be done!

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I mean, what can he say to this one? The man on the right is Göran Olofsson. He grew up in the village of Linsell, Sweden where his father, Gösta ran the village gas station. Apparently, his dad was as much artist as businessman- and produced all types of touristy knick-knacks based on his own paintings- to sell from his shop! What a great story (you can read more about it HERE).

Apparently, he had about 1,000 of these scarves printed out sometime in the 1950’s. It bears the name of the village, “Linsell” on the top- and is full of images from the area- the charming little church and local symbols- (including the coat of arms, the two bears and pasque flowers) of the county (Härjedalen).

Anyway, so Göran somehow stumbles upon MJ’s scarf- and is obviously recognized it. I mean- it’s pretty much an exact replica- except that instead of the village name- the scarf says “Marc Jacobs Since 1984″. (Although, I like the border on the original much more). Wow. Very embarrassing- and pretty ironic, if you ask me! (Especially since Louis Vuitton had to apologize for a similar snaffu with the naked ladies just a couple months ago… I blogged about it HERE if you’re interested).

So, apparently Göran has written Marc for an explanation. I can’t wait to hear it!

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Woot, woot!!! Nice work, ICE!

A federal court in Virginia has unsealed the indictment of three individuals who were allegedly involved in “one of the largest counterfeit luxury goods operations” ever.

The three were indicted on “one count of conspiracy to traffic in counterfeit goods imported from the People’s Republic of China (PRC), four counts of trafficking in counterfeit handbags, wallets, purses, and carry-on bags, and two counts of illegally smuggling counterfeit goods into the United States.”

This bust was HUGE. We’re talking, 300,000 fake bags & wallets, $16 million in associated illicit cash and luxury retailers like Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Coach and Burberry effected to the tune of about $100,000!

Good luck, Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian R. Hood of the Eastern District of Virginia and Trial Attorney John H. Zacharia of the Criminal Division’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section who will be prosecuting these cases on behalf of the United States.

Nice quote from Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security, Julie L. Myers :

“These criminal organizations cost legitimate businesses billions in lost revenue and they compromise the economic well-being of the United States… ICE is committed to working with our partners at the federal, state and local level to shut them down.”

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