Monday, April 05, 2010

Fashion Victim?

I've been watching the Vera Bradley craze with something sorta like disgust. They are ugly, OK? They have been ugly ever since the first time I saw them.

I remember that first time, because I was there to interview the shop owner, and she wanted to make sure I promoted her line of Vera Bradley bags and shoes, and I did, but the whole time I thought, "You will drive people out of your store, with these ugly quilted things, but OK, what do I know?"

And they certainly are popular.

Quite a few women at work have them.

Quite a few women everywhere I go have them.

Every time I see one, I think, "My goodness, that is god-awful."

And I just got one for Easter.

So, now, I am looking at this hideous thing on my desk and wondering, can I return it? FOR CASH? Because in no way do I want anything Vera Bradley offers. It is all the same quilted ickiness. Very Grandma Goes to Florida in the 70s.

On the other hand, they ARE exceedingly popular, and my current purse is not in terrific shape. If you choose to use something fashionable simply because you have it, even though you don't like it, is that crazy? Cheap? Spineless? And if someone compliments me on it, will I be able to resist to urge to say, "I HATE THIS PURSE, IT WAS A GIFT" for more than 2 seconds? Probably not.

I think I will just have to return it to Vera Bradley, because if I use this thing I will hate it every day until it falls apart, which could be years from now.

6 comments:

Sue said...

Looks like something my Grandma would MAKE for herself to take to the beach. Do you own huge straw hat, too? For some reason, I picture the two together. Oh, and SLACKS. I always equated polyester slacks with "senior discount."

I agree are UG to the LY. Then again, I wore "MC Hammer" style pants with flowers on them once. I have no room to talk.

Jill said...

I've gotten two Vera Bradley things for gifts, and I don't really get them either. I returned one and got some kind of equally expensive and useless tchotchke, but one that wasn't covered in fabric. The other one I gave to my gal, because she was in middle school at the time and loved having something expensive and popular for once. But you probably can't get away with that second option, unless you have nieces.

ALF said...

You are funny. You can use it and tell anyone who compliments you on it that you don't like it. I have a Vera wallet and eye glasses case. Once I had a Vera purse. Does this mean you don't like me anymore?

Christine said...

Yes, Sue, I agree. It's the perfect thing to go with my grandmother's polyester pants and a big hat. Granted, my grandmother somehow made that look OK. But...she was OLD.

Jill, Yeah, not a lot in the niece department. But I think I have found a destination for it.

Alf-I have done that sort of thing before and people tend to react as if I am certifiable, so I think I will skip it. And no, I can like YOU and just choose less poofy accessories for MYSELF.

Victoria said...

OMG... UGLY for sure... reminds me of the hand tooled leather purse my uncle bought for my aunt one year (they were popular and almost as ugly as Vera Bradley)... she opened the gift box, took one look at the bag, looked at him and said WHAT am I going to do with this? Mind you, she was a tiny women and he bought her a bag that would have looked a bit large being carried by a six foot tall Amazon of a woman.

ALF said...

Did you know that Vera makes binder clips? I have some. They aren't poofy.