My Short Lived Fling with Michael Kors

I sighed when I saw it.  It was telling me how chic and practical I would be at the same time.  It had siblings in black and green, but the lush red was what I had my eyes. There on the shelf in my favorite consignment store was the exact large red tote style handbag I have been looking for for the last two months and had yet to splurge on.  It was immaculate-looked absolutely brand new and I was amazed that someone would have the resources to resell such a beauty and buy themselves a new one.  I'm talking about a lovely Michael Kors bag, exactly like the one pictured below. The price for me was still dear at $49.00.  I walked around and didn't find anything else that appealed to me.  DD#2 bought her fedora, and we left the store.  However, before pulling away from the curb, I did a quick google search and found the purse on line at Macy's retailing for $298.00 on sale.  It was less than 10 seconds before I was out of the car and back in the shop, handbag to the counter buying it for myself. 

 It was the Saturday before Easter, the last truly sunny day we were going to have for a while, and I was in a spring kind of mood. I bantered a bit with the store clerk and I told her I couldn't believe my good luck, and how I could possibly find this bag, exactly what I was hoping for, for 15% of what it would cost regular retail.  And then she dropped the news.  'Well you know it isn't real, but she takes very little mark up for them."  My heart sank.  I didn't think you could openly sell counterfeit items and I certainly didn't expect it in that little store.  I pictured the dodgy street corner hustlers, packing up quick when a police officer came by.  I felt that I had been lured into the world of black marketeering, seduced by the thought of a beautiful hand bag. I had to walk away.  I don't believe it is ok to profit from stealing from others, and using someone's brand, even a rich designer like Michael Kors, is wrong.  It is his name, his brand, and no one has the right to steal it and dupe ignorant people like me into thinking they scored the deal of the decade. 

She had said there should have been a note on the tag-there wasn't. I guess this is a regular seller at the store who goes to New York regularly and buys theses and sprinkles them all over the metro at stores.   It made sense now.  I felt a little like I did in high school when I learned the "older" incredibly handsome guy I was dating  (he was one year out of high school), was also dating the cute out of town beauty school student attending the school down the street from the grocery store he and I worked at. I was seduced then by the outer package, not looking close enough to see the reality. I walked out of the store without the bag.  The clerk felt truly bad, though my daughter in her 14 year old way thought she was probably kicking herself for saying anything and losing the sale. That is my story of my short lived fling with Michael Kors.

Picture credited to scarlettsrollonfire.blogspot.com