Thursday, 1 January 2015

Why I bought my MCM

I've never appreciated  monograms. Hence even when my schoolmates were going gaga over Louis Vuitton, I held back. Likewise, with MCM, I loved the street approach because it was edgy, flashy, and had yellow gold accents across many of their products. BRING ON THE FLASH. However, I held back because it just didn't fit in with my "no brand logos" approach to designer goods.

Nonetheless, that didn't stop me from casting a longing look into the MCM store each time I took a budget flight from Changi Airport. Until 26 July 2013.

Was feeling pretty proud of myself  that day, because for the first time in two years, I was taking a full-service (Singapore Airlines!!!) flight for a leisure trip. I was obviously feeling like a baller. As luck would have it, I spotted a few lovely snakeskin bags with tight stitching and clean lines inside MCM. And without monograms As a fan of tight, clean lines, I would describe those bags as "Orgasm in a Clutch". Of course I walked in.

"This is on sale, Ma'am. 40% off" said the helpful saleslady.

40% off?? At that point, I didn't know much about MCM (i.e., that it was Korean backed, or popular mostly with Chinese teens). But I did know it had my ex-StyleMeister-Colleague's seal of approval, and that I'd fallen in love with a dead animal, and that I wanted it to grace my lap at every function I attended from that day forward. Furthermore, I figured that at Changi Airport, nothing much could go wrong. #fansofchangi, yo.

"Is this snakeskin?" I enquired, knowing that a snakeskin clutch at $800 would've been an absolute steal.

"No, ma'am. It is embossed calfskin"
"No?" I enquired. "It looks real though"
"No ma'am. If it were real snakeskin, it would be much more expensive."

Right. So my gate was closing soon, and I ended up buying the bag.

"This is your warranty card ma'am. Don't lose it because you need it for warranty to be effective".

Standard stuff. And also, the beginning of a nightmare. You would note that at this point, the woman:

  • Called the bag embossed calfskin, and even told me outright that it wasn't a snake
  • Didn't tell me about the bag's warranty period
  • Didn't tell me that I needed to keep the receipt as well

Can you guess what happened?
I shall update...soon.