In search of fake purses
I don't know what happened, but I think that Christmas is coming early this year. Wasn't it summer just five minutes ago? That's what it feels like to me. Schuyler and I decided to buy great fake bags for our loved ones this year. So we moseyed down to Canal Street to make our purchases. We walked right past Julia Styles on the street, which was tres exciting, especially for Schuyler. It's weird to walk by someone famous. Your first thought is that you know the person, they're a friend, and you want to say "hi." Then you realize, oops, you've just seen them in the movies. The only thing I can say about Julia Styles is that she was taller than I expected. Anyway, back to Canal Street. The cops have come down hard on merchants selling fake designer bags, so they only show non-fakes in their shops. By that I mean, bags that looks like they have the "LV" logo from far away, but when you get close up, you see that it's really "IW." What you have to do is to signal one of the Chinese women in the store that you want to see the REAL thing. A subtle nod will do. So, we did this, and the shop woman motioned for us to follow her. She took us around the corner, into the alley, unlocked a padlocked door which revealed a steep staircase. We walked up three flights and entered a loft-like room, where several Chinese men sat guarding boxes and boxes of fake purses. Being alone up there with my daughter made me very nervous. I realized that we were completely vulnerable and if anyone decided to rob us and chop us up into little pieces, no one would ever know what happened. Come to think of it, that would make a good episode of Law and Order or perhaps, even a novel. Getting murdered while buying fake designer bags would be as embarassing as dying while getting a face lift. You'd feel like the biggest fool on the face of the earth. Luckily, the woman took us into another room where the really good fakes were all on display. We bought about a dozen bags and hightailed it out of there. I was relieved to be safely back on the street. If any of my relatives are reading this, I hope you'll appreciate the risk we took to buy your Christmas present this year. I'm not sure I want to do that again.
Sunday, December 17, 2006
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posted by Karen Quinn : 1:06 PM
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