Bargain Buys Are Not Rachel Zoe's Forte
LatestWhen Rachel Zoe started her newsletter, The Zoe Report, one of the first missives contained an erroneous and hyberbolic statement. In the eight or so months since then, TZR has been hit and miss. And the misses are way off.
Most of the time, the problem is with the “Parallel Universe” portion of the post. That’s where Zoe offers “the look for less,” sometimes in head-scratching ways. In March, Rahel Zoe wrote about a “basic” tee, priced at $85. The “Parallel Universe” item was also a basic tee, for $28. Maybe it’s a little nitpicky, but a “basic” tee can certainly be found for less than $28, no?
In any case, that episode pales in comparison when you consider that the “affordable” version of a$295 Raquel Allegra shredded tee was a shredded t-shirt by Raw 7, ringing up at $150.
It’s great that Zoe makes the effort to make fantasy high fashion looks reality, but sometimes the budget ideas just don’t compare to the designer ideals. Dying for the $2795 sleeveless double-breasted wool overcoat by Michael Kors? You’ll have to hack the sleeves off of your $168 Express coat and imagine nicer lapels.
Have a crush on Alexander McQueen Titanic Ballerina Pumps? Settle for suede heels from Steve Madden. (Drooling over an army-inspired Marc Jacobs jacket? You’d better have $2,200 — there’s no “Parallel Universe” on that one.)
The point here is that while the original item may be absurd and prohibitively priced, it’s is always better than the inexpensive one, and sticking to the cheap stuff — which is all we can afford anyway — is often not a good idea. The “affordable” suggestion in today‘s newsletter really drives the point home: If you have $1,195 you can purchase Fendi tulle-and-lucite heels. Or, for $47 you can get, what they call where I come from, plastic stripper shoes.
RachelZoe.com [Official Site]
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