Not Much More in Store

Did you read about the trouble in one of the Louis Vuitton flagship stores in China? Apparently, it couldn't pass muster after a quality control check and was forced to close.

I can just imagine the angry mobs of Chinese shoppers, pounding on the boutique's glass window, just dying to shell out thousands of yuan for a monogram bag.

Quality control, especially when we're talking about luxury brands and goods that cost dearly, is a big deal, and big money. I know that luxury designers have been locking down on counterfeiters here in the city. Every month it seems I read about some police seizure, usually in Chinatown, where authorities nab thousands of dollars in fake Damiers or Epis.

So when I was strolling through a Turkish seaside resort, my second stop in last week's little trip, I couldn't believe the scores of counterfeits in full display, for all the world to see. There was absolutely no sense of shame about these suspect goods.

Then again, I can't believe that anyone would dish out good cash for anything fake. But I am a girl who's never been keen on anything that has to have its logo plastered across it, as if somehow telling people that you're wearing a Marc, or an YSL, or a Gucci, better justifies the price tag.