rant

Today I read an article entitled "First Lady Michelle Obama steps out in Lanvin sneakers and they're only $540!" Granted, the article was making fun of her a bit for wearing such pricey shoes... it went into detail about some designer, or clothing line, or something, called Lanvin, that I frankly couldn't care less about, and then explained "Dresses and strappy pumps cost upward of $1,500, while tops go for $400 to $1,000." Holy. Cow. That is more than I spend in clothes over a period of probably 5 years. I don't care how much money you have, spending $1,000 on a shirt is wrong. Seriously, there is a special place in hell for people that spend hundreds of dollars on extravagant, useless clothing purchases while people are dying all over the world from starvation and disease, kids aren't getting the education they deserve because they can't afford it, science programs need more funding... there are so many other, much more worthwhile places you could spend that money. There is nothing that can make that shirt worth 5000% more than a $20 shirt from Kohls. You want to buy nice clothes, fine. Old Navy or H&M not your style?, okay. You want to pay a little more than $20 for a shirt?, go ahead. But spending on the order of $1K per ARTICLE of clothing, not fine. Mrs. Obama's shoes were described as "suede, with grosgrain ribbon laces and metallic pink toe caps." Let me tell you what I think of those shoes after seeing the picture: hid-E-ous. I wouldn't have bought those shoes if they were on the discount rack at Marshalls for $7.99, and they fit me perfectly. They're ugly. Though, apparently they "come in denim and satin versions, and have been a brisk seller all spring." I'm willing to bet you would get nice, better-looking, and higher quality shoes if you payed about $80. I have no experience with these fancy designer, trade-in-your-firstborn type of shoes, but I doubt they are all that durable. Why should they be? If you can drop $500 on a pair of shoes, you probably won't be wearing them that long before switching to a new, trendier pair. The shoes made for us regular people have to be made well, because we will quit buying them if they keep falling apart after extended use. If I part with $40 of my hard-earned cash for a new pair of shoes, I sure as heck expect them to last over a year, with the kind of wear I put into them. The shoes I'm currently wearing I've had since a couple of months before I left for Denmark back in '07. So it's probably been about 2 years. Not only that, I wore them all around Europe on my month-long backpacking trip. I'd say they were worth the $20 I payed for them on sale at the Sports Authority.

I'm not saying everyone in the world has to buy the cheapest clothes and shop at Shopko. Some people are more into fashion and designers and all that crap than I am, and that's okay. But if you're going to pay over hundreds of dollar for one pair of shoes, can't it at least have some semblance of being worth that much?!? Seriously, those shoes are hideous. I wouldn't wear them if someone gave them to me. (unless they were really really comfortable, and then I'd wear them for working in the yard and stuff)

/rant