Labels Are My Crack

It all started when I moved to Portland. Suddenly I had a different group of friends, ones who had jobs and money, not the poor college kids I’d spent the last four years with. At first, I just watched from a distance, wondering what it was like. Eventually I received some of my own as gifts, just to try. Before I knew it, my normally frugal self was spending my own hard money on it. When I made an impulse purchase last week on my way home from work, the severity of the situation finally hit me. My name is Heidi, and I am an addict. Designer labels are my crack.

Growing up in rural Montana, I thought labels were North Face and Levi Silvertabs. I knew nothing of the world of Coach, Kate Spade, Manolo Blahnik and Jimmy Choo. That all changed when I moved to Portland, where every girl in the city has at least one Coach purse. For the longest time, I couldn’t fathom why labels mattered so much and why people spent so much money on them. And then I fell in love. No, not with a man, with a purse. It was a black, satiny, box-like Kate Spade. I have no idea what the actual name was. I call her Kate. The best mom in the world gave it to me for a birthday one year. The best mom in the world also gave me a small Coach and small Prada to start my collection. From then on I was hooked.

I have girlfriends who update their designer duds with the same regularity as their underwear. I tend to go with classic things I can use for a long time. Because lets face it, even though I love my labels, my frugal side usually wins out. For the first time this past December, I spent my very own money on not one, but two Kate Spade purses. To be fair, I bought them on sale through a crazy discounted website and got two for less than the price of one regularly priced purse, but I bought them none the less. I call one Kate the Second and the other Party Kate.

Buying designer labels is like taking up running. The first time is the hardest and it just gets easier from there. Since December, I’ve managed to acquire (i.e. purchase with my own money) two pairs of Coach sunglasses and a Coach coin purse. I did hold off on the Kate Spade wallet and another Coach purse. Why all the Coach and Kate you ask? Because as far as designer things go, they’re the bottom of the rung and I can’t even justify spending money on those. I can’t imagine the heart attack I would have if I bought something at full price, much less if I ventured into Louis Vuitton or Manolo Blahnik and actually purchased something.

Last Friday was when I realized I had a problem. I stopped by Nordstrom Rack on my way home and there they were. They called out to me as soon as I saw them. The perfect white sunglasses. My brother had recently informed me that girls who wear white sunglasses are hot. I figured I didn’t have anything to loose testing out that theory (besides a couple bucks) so I had my eyes open for a pair. They came home with me.

It’s a slippery slope I tell you. The first time, you’re sick to your stomach that you actually spent that much money on a purse or a pair of sunglasses and before you know it, you’re impulse purchasing them on a rainy Friday afternoon like it was nothing. I’m starting to seriously worry that Coach and Kate are my gate way drugs. Because from where I’m sitting, a pair of Manolo’s would look pretty fabulous on my feet.