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Originally Posted by Alex Stroup
For me, the only part of fashion that I find truly perplexing is when people are only paying for a name attached and not the product.
For example, I can understand absolutely loving a Thomas Kinkade painting (even though I think his stuff is just atrocious) and being willing to pay $1,500 for a piece. But I don't understand why the exact same painting would no longer be worth $1,500 to you if the factory person who actually painted it had his name put on it.
The exact same painting in both cases. $1,500 if it says "by Thomas Kinkade" on the card next to it; $150 if it says "by Joe Schmoe." And it is the same with clothing fashions. If the only way you know it is worth $100 for a particular t-shirt for you is if you first look at the tag and see Fred Segal instead of Kathy Lee on the label then I'm lost.
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Becasue sometime you are paying for a name, a connection to the actual artist, hence all the business with "certificates of authenticity." Sometime we only accept art or fashion if it is made by a specific artist/designer.
This is kind of what I was getting at earlier with my reference to Marcel Duchamp - but I'm betting you don't appreciate dada either. As an artist, he has the power of making something art simply by assertion. You or I generally lack that power (though many of us on these boards have considerable power of decalring "swank").
A forgery may be nice, but sometimes we want the connection to the artist designer maikng it authentic. There may be no basis in logic, it may be delusional having no basis in reality (assuming there is some objective "beauty" to which to measure things by). Yet the distinction is real if we believe it so - and so we do make a big deal about lables, signatures, and scholarly assessments that assert authentic art or fashion.
To go on a bit about fashion, often the big designers are taking their inspiration from the street. The pull out what resonates with them and repackage it for their public. Your bedazzler design may not command much on the open market, but Fred Segal stealling your idea and churning out designer versions will - becasue after all he is "authentic."