i'm not sure if you're referring to my earlier remark because i have said that if chanel keeps increasing prices, i'm probably going to spend the money on a hermes bag but building on what i said before, i do think bags are interchangeable, you shouldn't let a bag determine your style and you can like more than 1 style. sure, some people just don't like hermes or lv and will never think of spending their money there. if for slightly more than 2 chanels (in the last 2 years, it used to be 4-5 chanels for 1 birkin), you can get a better crafted bag, then why not?
i don't only use 1 brand of bag and let it determine what my "style" is. sure flaps and birkins are completely different in terms of design and style but if you like both, you should be able to pull it off. some days i feel like a chanel fits what i'm wearing, some days it's a 20 bag from a flea market.
and people like different things for different reasons. how do you even tease that apart? i've liked the birkin for a while (and i do know about the other hermes styles) but it doesn't mean that because i like the way a bag looks (do i like it because it's always in the magazines, it's famous or because of its inherent design??), i should find out about how it is constructed and all the intricacies. sorry if this is sacrilege but a person should be able to like a handbag simply because of the way it looks.
thus, even if a person likes a birkin for its status symbol and not its quality, to each her (or his!) own.
IMO, chanels have also become somewhat of a status symbol in that same way hermes SAs "determine which customers are worthy." it is especially true in asia, the chanel boutique in singapore is ridiculous. i've had a SA tell me that i'm LUCKY to have the chance to see what the bag looks like even though i can't purchase it. needless to say, i've never bought anything from there.
don't get me wrong, i still love chanel and the way it looks, i'm just saying that style is personal and more versatile than the brand of bag you're carrying.