I understand as much as anyone that nice things are not always widely appreciated, so delving too deeply into the "worth" of a Birkin or Kelly is largely a doomed venture. However, I also think it's obvious a company will price its goods as high as people are willing to pay.
So, it is extremely problematic when consumers themselves begin reinforcing the belief one should earn the right to do business with certain retailers. It's the seller who should be trying to push prices higher and costs lower, not the buyer.
Whatever Icarus is saying, there is truth to the notion that men and women generally respond differently to different forms of marketing. We can both be taken advantage of in our own ways. One way in which women are thought to be particularly susceptible is through their tendency to view market choices as social choices. Thus, Hermes, and many other luxury brands, actively reinforce the belief that membership in some sort of elite group is at stake. As a consumer, it's only wise to scrutinize these sorts of marketing efforts, rather than help companies raise their prices while lowering the quality of their customer service.
Before anyone calls me sexist, please consider that this all generalized and cuts both ways. If you want to ensnare men with marketing, you'd go on and on about a product's features, emphasizing quantitative "measures" of performance. Take a look at razor blades, cars, or the entire electronics market as examples. Men are more likely to get caught up with numbers, even if they don't actually mean anything.
At any rate, none of this means Hermes doesn't make excellent leather goods. It just means it doesn't make sense to put so much faith in a brand and exceptionalize it to such a high degree.
