To my surprise, and what I expect will be a surprise to many other Buffalo bargainistas, it turns out we are dishing out major dough for designer merchandise more than ever. The economic shortfall has not stopped consumers from splurging on those must-have designer items. Coming from my perspective as a busy senior in college with an unpaid internship and a bank full of loan debt and credit card payments, I’ll admit that I still find the resources to make a humble sanity investment each week at the nearest H&M. But according to the reporters at FashionUnited, shoppers are embracing the luxury lifestyle with designer name items such as Michael Kors, Calvin Klein, Coach, Louis Vuitton, etc. That puts my measly shopping trips to shame. Everyone seems to be finding their Zen in Manolo Blahnik and Saks lately! Not to worry, coupon clippers; thanks to ever-advancing technology motivating accessibility to merchandise commerce, there are ample quantities of fashion discount sites where your next well-deserved luxury treat can be found at a more dignified price. Try Bluefly.com, gilt.com or even eBay. Better yet, try downloading one of their free apps to your smart phone and make purchases while you’re making that hard-earned income at work. Apparently most of you already do; according to recent statistics we spent over $200 billion in online shopping in 2011. It must have been all those designer shoes and handbags!

On a global note, Brazil’s Rio de Janiero and Sao Paulo have welcomed a wave of new designer shops including Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Hermes, Burberry, Carolina Herrera, Marc Jacobs and Jimmy Choo, to name a few. China and several other Asian and Middle Eastern countries are seeing an inflow of luxury stores in response to their growing middle-class markets. The world, as we all well know, is more connected now than it has ever been, and subsequently, people are more aware of the big names in fashion.

Why do I find this topic interesting, you might ask? Well my fellow fashion friends, it dawned on me that we apparently have some closet splurgers hiding in our midst… AND IT’S OKAY! It’s time to come out of the closet and be proud that you spent your entire paycheck on a Coach clutch. Here’s an idea: invest your Big Ben’s in classic pieces that you will get plenty of use out of over the years. View these investments as milestone accomplishments. Indulge in a chic 100% leather messenger bag for all of the necessary day-to-day trinkets or authentic, durable boots for the unpredictable weather we get in Western New York. Definitely make an exception for those Tori Burch flats or a pair of Prada sunglasses. We don’t judge you, and you look fabulous for it. As Gaga sings, “Ohh la la la, we love designer!”

-Carly Hall

Carly Hall is a Canisius student studying Fashion Merchandising at FIT.

Photo courtesy of Flickr / jessaax.