What are your “aspirational” items?

[Mrcpy]

This question is a little tongue in cheek, but I’m genuinely interested in what you think.

I’m a professional in my mid-30’s. Obviously I’ve been aware that some people like luxury things, but somehow felt myself to be “above” fashion, and very happy with my £30 M&S crossbody etc.

Recently I’ve started upgrading my wardrobe and reading about fashion. I’m getting the impression that there are certain items which show that you’ve MADE IT IN LIFE.

So these are the ones that keep coming up:

• Mulberry Bayswater


• Cartier Ballon Bleu / Tank


• Hermes Birkin / Kelly


• Hermes silk scarves


• Chanel classic flap


• Burberry trench coat


• Van Cleef Alhambra bracelet


• Cartier love bracelet

Do you agree/disagree? Have I missed anything?

Just to clarify, this is just a list (for fun) of things that tend to be described as “classic”, “investment pieces” and “everyone should have a…”. My own wishlist is a lot shorter. The bracelets are not to my taste and I’ve gone off Mulberry. One day I hope to buy a Chanel classic flap and maybe a silk scarf or two.

(Namechanged as I may have outed myself on another thread. Been a member for years.)

I have a penchant for Chanel but do think influencers/social media has taken the edge off certain things but that's the same with interiors tbh. Unless you can afford bespoke it's hard to be original these days.

I disagree. If I see someone wearing something like that I just think they're very vain and have more money than sense.

The whole point is they shouldn’t really give a consideration to what you think. I do things and buy things because the please me.

You should be grateful really to such people Gwenhwyfar. They give you the opportunity to practice a lemon sucking face whilst polishing your halo.

It's a win win for both- they get to have something they like and enjoy and you get to bathe in a warm sense of superiority.

@Gwenhwyfar I don't really like luxury goods but would you think that of someone who buys an expensive property or an expensive car? Those things cost way more than any of the items on that list!

Or a first edition of a book? I see that a first edition of some of T S Eliot's poems will set you back £12,500.

www.peterharrington.co.uk/authors/e/t-s-eliot

Or Virginia Woolf- To The Lighthouse a snip at £6,000.

rareandantiquebooks.com/first-edition-books/lighthouse-virginia-woolf-2/

Haha, love this!

I would say someone with more money than sense has done pretty well for themselves. I hope they enjoy spending every penny of it on wildly extravagant luxury.

It was amazing, from the moment we walked in, to the travel sweets we were given for the journey home. Everyone knew our name and greeted us.
I want to go back to 'my' room, before I die

Yes but that isn't what was said in the OP.

It said " Recently I’ve started upgrading my wardrobe and reading about fashion. I’m getting the impression that there are certain items which show that you’ve MADE IT IN LIFE." So it is all about the show and not the enjoyment.

The thread is very clearly about personal enjoyment.

I'm sure you really enjoyed sneering at Gucci watches not being expensive, although that wasn't the sort of enjoyment the OP was thinking of.

Im pretty sure it isnt, as the previous poster has said.

My grandmother was a court dressmaker so I've always preferred to look at good construction and nice materials rather than design. I have some beautiful things from the Browns own label made out of lovely embroidered fabrics that are 30 years old and still going strong, a very vintage YSL suit where the skirt has 2 back zips rather than one so that it fits better, a Miu Miu bag made out of really soft smocked leather and I recently had the sleeves of my old Dior tweed coat relined with a fabulous thai silk scarf that had torn in a place that was too visible to mend. I've smiled everytime I've put that coat on this winter but you can't even see the lining unless I turn the cuffs up.

I tend to buy vintage jewellery for a similar reason - £1000 will buy you the most exquisitly crafted Edwardian pendant.

It's doesn't have to be diamonds. I have 2 which are precious stones, one topaz & one peridot.

Trust me I’d quite happily ask someone that face to face.

But ONLY if they were thinking of buying the items to impress - if they turned up wearing them I wouldn’t say a word.

" I’m getting the impression that there are certain items which show that you’ve MADE IT IN LIFE."

No mention of enjoyment.

This thread has made me laugh. I have several of the things on OP's list but certainly didn't buy them to prove I've "made it in life" - but because I have the money and like the way the items look and the way it makes me feel when I wear them. It's nice to have a bit of everyday luxury. I wouldn't want to spend £2k on a couture dress I only wear once or twice - I prefer getting my monies worth if I'm going to spend a lot on something so choose to spend my money on things like nice bags, shoes, cars, watches/jewellery.
I don't like mulberry handbags, I prefer Louis Vuitton for everyday bags.
The wealthiest and most successful people often look like tramps anyway - you'd never guess my dh is a multi-millionaire - he wears worn clothes with holes in and is often unshaven and a bit scruffy looking. He doesn't give a shit!

Just spend your money on things you love (and only if you can truly afford it). It doesn't matter where they're from.

I've not read the full thread, but for me, being able to travel means I've made it in life. That, and private healthcare.

I'm insanely jealous of someone I know who's taken early retirement and is off doing the Camino del Santiago. He's going to come back fit, healthy, glowing, spiritually sound and cultured. I'd trade all my designer handbags and frocks to be able to do that.

Oh fgs sake - read the thread and understand it. It's quite clearly about personal satisfaction.

I completely get the made it thing, and it’s not necessarily about showing off to others at all. Not S&B-related, but I felt like I’d made it when I got a certain make of car. I must have heard something or seen an ad as a child that said they were THE car to have, because when I realised one was within reach I didn’t think twice. Of course, as an adult I do realise there are plenty of fancier cars around, but logic didn’t really come into it. Somewhere deep in the recesses of my mind, the car meant success, I liked it as a car and getting it felt very good.

I will admit to thinking that people were probably impressed as I drove by (this is actually laughable!) and getting a certain satisfaction from that, but it was very much secondary to what it meant to me.

I'd like a wardrobe like this too. Once my DDs are done with uni and there's a brief hiatus before house deposits, I am going to start buying decent stuff that lasts and will always look good. Until then, it's high street brands.

I can see the appeal of expensive clothes and accessories; they always look better than high street stuff, but once you go beyond a certain price bracket, you get diminishing returns on just how much better it looks.

I am also "handbag blind". I have spent many hours reading the handbag threads and following links. I have tried very hard (like I did with the Mona Lisa) to appreciate the finer points, but to my shame, am impervious to the allure of leather quilting and thick gold chains and am puzzled by Loewe.

You might say you don’t understand handbags, but you win bonus points for the pun 😂

Come on, we all splurge on different things. I buy good quality high street clothes. Expensive house. Kids go to state school (cause it’s a good one). My piano costs more than my car.

To those saying I’m trying to show off, well I’m really not sure if I am. The feeling of spending £300 on a quality leather handbag is new to me, and I enjoy looking good wi the it. I really want a Chanel classic flap but can’t put my finger on why. I don’t want a good fake, I want the one from the boutique that costs £££££ Is it to show off to others? I have no idea.

I think it changes according to circumstances. I remember being pretty chuffed when I had a washer and dryer in the kitchen. It was such a relief to be in a house with "normal" appliances and everything worked. I'd made it! Made it out of bedsit land. Made it out of having to live amongst drugs and litter.

I also felt I'd made it when a married a man who was ambitious and came with a wonderful family.

And then when he bought me a car, a mulberry, when I saved up and bought a beauty advent calendar, when we got the hot tub.

To me now aspirational is travel. We have children who don't like to leave home. It's clearing the mortgage.