HEART SKIPPED A BEAT

When flicking through the TV Guide, anything with the word 'fashion' in the title is going to grab my attention, naturally. I think that applies to most girls. So when I saw that a programme called Secrets of the Superbrands: Fashion was on BBC3 last night, I made sure I got infront of that TV before any other family members could get in there first.

Aside from the really irritating and unfunny presenter Alex Riley (tried way too hard to be that funny dork kinda guy) I loved it and actually found it really interesting despite the fact that it was definitely aimed to make the Fashion industry look pathetic, greedy and superficial. It covered designer labels such as Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Burberry and even Abercrombie and Fitch and Superdry (puke) and explored how they make their money, how they reach their target demographic through the wonderful thing that is advertising, how they may or may not exploit their employees and how they're taking over the world. Anyway, I'm not here to give you a review of the thing but it was interesting and a must watch.

A thought that popped into my mind whilst watching a girl's brain being scanned whilst she was shown images of highstreet and designer bags to see how she reacted in relation to pleasure and recognition, was that despite me often being determined that I'm really not too bothered about designer labels and am perfectly happy with my trusty highstreet favourites, H&M and Urban Outfitters, really, I would quite fancy some designer arm candy and would actually probably give my right arm for a leather, label-clad delight.

Until I either marry a rich man (doubtful) or eventually get that dream career at a Fashion Magazine (as much as I love my job in Graphics right now, I haven't lost sight of my life-long ambition to re-inact The Devil Wears Prada), I very much doubt that I'll ever be the owner of a Balenciaga that I can fit absolutely everything I could ever need in. I've had many a beautiful handbag which I'll admit, have either broken within weeks or been copied by Primark, from various highstreet stores or internet sites (including a fake Marc Jacobs that is still intact but became so popular to replicate that I felt ashamed to wear it anymore) and I will never throw any of them away, however, whilst I looked at those images flash up of designer bags last night, I felt a yearning for something expensive, good quality and of course, achingly cool and on trend. I never thought I'd want it but turns out, I do. Maybe it's the fact that my favourite bag in the world; a black and gold studded shoulder bag from Ebay, has just today broken, and I am wondering if I'll ever own my dream bag that doesn't break as I'm walking down the street, that makes me crave some good quality and assurance that what I have over my arm, is going to be amazing until the end of time.

The temptation to buy that £8 mock satchel from Primark that copies a designer version really well but is guaranteed to fall to pieces as you're crossing a main road (true story), will always be there and come pay day, I probably will find myself panic buying something cheap and mock-leather, however, the dream is to own that grown up, leather scented, sturdy bag with the all important label attached because, well, it looks frickin' amazing - the kind of amazing where you put it on a shelf in your bedroom and stare at it instead of the TV and might actually stay in one piece without throwing your Blackberry, make up bag and homemade sandwiches all over the tarmac.

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http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b011fjb5