On my last trip out to California, I was thrilled to be introduced to Kreayshawn's beats which have by now made their way across the country (okay, the world) and into the Brooklyn scene. Amazing as this girl is for building her own empire - and I LOVE the entrepreneurial ascension from IKEA staffer to 2011 MTV Video Music Awards nominee for Best New Artist and director of a Red Hot Chili Peppers video - I of course was thinking about what her song "Gucci Gucci" represents in terms of consumer psychology: specifically, the backlash against luxury labels that the bourgeois have long since adopted as status staples.
Gucci Gucci Louis Louis Fendi Fendi Prada
Them basic bitches wear that shit
So I don't even bother
As a new wave of scrappy upstarts move from rags to riches (okay, relative riches) in the era rife with Kardashians and Occupy Wall Street protests, they are rejecting the highly marketed global luxury labels in favor of smaller indie brands, local, artisan, or vintage finds that reflect their sense of individuality and creativity - and state clearly: "I am NOT one of THEM."
Yes, it's a case of How Luxury Lost its Luster, but this time, the luster is lost on what was once considered the "aspirational" market - the people who wish they could buy something but are left out of the loop. Kreayshawn and her "White Girl Mob" have blatantly rejected these symbols of wealth as uncool and "basic," although Kreayshawn attributed this in an interview (which I can no longer find online) as a result of their being unable to afford these brands which they once considered cool before they discovered that putting together their own looks from vintage stores and smaller artisans gave them far more satisfaction and street cred than any logo-saturated handbag ever could.
Where's your originality, Louis Vuitton girls?! The sun might be setting on your status as fashion's elite.
It remains to be seen how this will affect the established luxury brands - how many aspiring bad bitches will turn their backs on the leading fashion and luxury brands as they climb the ladder of fame and fortune? If the luxury brands lose their "cool" status with the emerging opinion leaders... well, they probably still have enough loyalists to keep them in business for a long while to come.
