Hervé Léger of BCBG quality
Known to most fashion fanatics, the luxury label Hervé Léger is owned by BCBG’s Max Azria since 1998, but wasn’t relaunched until 2007 with now epitomous body con bandage dresses. I wasn’t in the slightest surprised that the BCBG label had a few bandaged skirts in its collections, but what I didn’t expect was the quality that lied within them.
I have a wedding to attend to at the end of the month and instead of spending money on yet another dress, I figured a more versatile combination of a skirt and top would still be appropriate. I came across BCBG’s bandaged skirts at their flagship location downtown in nice stretchy rayon with a nice thickness to them that I liked very much. Priced at $179.
Then I went upstairs to look at dresses to see if anything picked my fancy. Nothing was of interest except the bandaged dresses in the middle of the room. Hervé Léger dresses in fact. I had not come across them very often (the other place that carries Hervé Léger is Ursula B. in Les Cours Mont-Royal), so I perused the racks of last Spring’s discount sales. I then realized upon touching them that the dresses were made of the exact same material from the bandaged skirts one floor down. It dawned on me that Hervé label’s top notch dresses and skirts were no different than the much less expensive brand of BCBG, yet its prices were at least twice more expensive were they not on sale.
Also, Hervé Léger is Made in China. Naturally.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m in love with Hervé’s body con dresses and I find they flatter the figure if one has the figure to wear them. But at the same time, I’m offended. Yes, you’re paying pretty much as much for the label as for material. But considering that Hervé Léger is supposed to be a “luxury brand” there was nothing of that sort that made its rayon dresses and skirts superior to BCBG’s skirts. Shameful.
If one looked carefully, I’m quite sure that BCBG will have its own body con dresses made of the exact same material at the fraction of Hervé’s prices.
Ladies, you have been duped.
I walked away with my first fashion purchase in 3 months. A royal purple bandaged skirt with a nice little black top I got on sale for $50, and a sequined clutch on sale at $90.
I may not be able to afford Hervé Léger, but even if I had the money, I would not stand to be duped into forking out $1000+ over a dress I could get for much less made of the same company (and factory).
When Email Fashion Blasts Don’t Work
Dear BCBG,
I do love the dresses you have and the ultra cute shoes and accessories that give that little bit of glam. I love visiting your stores, and I love what you’ve done with the new flagship on Ste-Catherine.Your website is top notch and you’ve got the online magazine à la Net-a-porter down to great looking editorials.
However, sending me email blasts of yet another sale every single day will not entice me to purchase from your online store. I don’t care how nice your email creatives are.
If you want an effective email campaign, try sending at most once a week of your promotions. And if there’s a sale, it’s better to simply send at most 2 global campaigns to your lists: one to announce, and one to remind. There’s no need for you to send me an email every day. It’s pointless and it’s spamming my inbox.
It’s email marketing 101. If you were a consumer, would you want to get an email from your favorite brand every day? I don’t think so.
Sincerely,
Dahlia
Happy Holidays!
I just wanted to wish my readers and passerbys a Happy Holiday!
I am currently in Houston with my family for the next couple of weeks. Reporting on fashion here will be a little difficult considering that this city is the Disney World of chain stores.
Here’s one peculiar thing I noticed here: there is only ONE American Apparel store in Houston. In Montreal there is at least 4 American Apparel stores in the near downtown vicinity. But I can understand why this chain may not be very successful…Houston is considered one of the fattest cities in America. From my understanding, AA is a chain that caters to a certain demographic, and that seems to exclude the overweight.
My recent experience at Banana Republic had the store assistant literally dismantle a mannequin sporting this really nice slate gray cardigan because it was an XS - the only one left in the store.
BCBG is also carrying slightly tamer versions of their Hervé Léger bandage dresses oddly enough. Making real Hervé Léger dresses less special. Why would you want to pay $1000 on an Herve Leger dress when you can get something similar, owned by the SAME company, for a fraction of the price? A look at the online website doesn’t reveal this, you would have to shop at Dillard’s to see the knock off collection. Max Azria is shooting himself in the foot with this move.
Bakers, a Montreal equivalent to Aldo shoe stores, carried a trendy line of shoes, but made of the worst quality. The leather looked cheap and tattered on the edges and the soles stiffer than cardboard.
Speaking of Aldo, they’re also turning more and more like Nine West and Steve Madden by copying a pair of Michael Kors’ Berkley T-strap sandals, with their Tavira shoes. What’s funny is that the MK version is only $129, and the Aldo shoes are $90.00. Knock offs are getting more and more expensive!
More updates to come soon hopefully.
Enjoy your holidays!
Shopping More Consciously
After reading interesting bits about counterfeiters being arrested, Italian houses employing illegal chinese manufacturing laborers, and many luxury houses shipping their productions to China, India and Mauritius, I’ve just gotten a whole lot pickier about shopping for clothes.
Made In Labels
I made a round at the Rockland Centre today, being a completely picky shopper. I checked “Made in” labels, rubbed the fabric between my fingers, and turned skirts, dresses, jackets and pants inside out to check what they were made of. Though now I know that some “Made ins” are completely false (produced in China, assembled in Europe, carrying the European label), it’s gotten a lot tougher to decipher what’s of quality what isn’t. Not to say that everything China is poorly made, there are different grades of quality in Chinese goods (and some of them are of very good quality), so it’s really a question of knowing your fabric, looking at the seams, the stitches, the craftsmanship. Not that I would be an expert in fabrics, but we all learn as we go right?
Here’s a roundup of what I found in some of the stores I visited:
BCBG - Lots of stuff made in China, shoes made in Brazil. Quality is to be questionable, especially at such a high price. I’ve already bought 2 dresses from them at $300-$400 a pop. One of them has sequins sewed near the neckline but it’s been dropping sequins all over the place after only wearing it twice for 2 weddings. Disappointing to say the least. Aside from the dresses, their jackets, shirts and pants, looked flimsy, I’ll have to ask my BCBG-nut friend of their clothe quality.
Banana Republic - Made in China, and The Philippines. Quality is better and appropriately priced for some of their clothes. I checked out one orange dress with a polyester lining but it looked flimsy as far as being attached to the dress itself. I have a skirt and a shirt that I’ve had for over a couple of years, so far the skirt looks worn and the black faded (lining still there amazingly), the white shirt needs constant ironing, otherwise the buttons are still on, a good sign.
