I learned of Hermès when I first visited Paris with my boyfriend (his family lived there) back in 1992. We walked along the street, and there were the windows. Gasp! During that trip, I started wearing scarves and had my first instructions in dressing like a French lady from his mother--and while something like Hermès was NOT condoned by this family (only their estate in Normady was deemed worthy of $$$), I knew H was special. I'd been studying art history for five/six years, so the connoisseur eye told me. I didn't know if it was "the best" (and I certainly didn't know how expensive it was/is), but I knew it was beautiful.
That set me dreaming.
The funny thing is--only now do I know that I could have afforded H scarves--and even a bag eventually--as soon as I started graduate school (I was heavily funded by multiple sources). But it seemed silly for a grad student to tote something Grace Kelly would have worn. Still, someday . . . And I never forgot that.
When my scarves from India started to fray (I studied with weavers in India--I'm passionate about my textiles), that's when I got my first Hermès scarf. When I finally got sick of the transformation of
Coach (my bags were very old by then), I went after my first H bag. Since that first bag, I've acquired a surprising number (and released one)--but then, I've always loved bags and scarves. Always. And if H makes me happy, good.
I live in a world that would find such things a reason to disparage me. Because this is a forum away from the real world, there's the sense that the "status" of H confers only the good things. Sorry, it doesn't. Most of H goes way under the radar, which is great, and I'm just getting too old to care about the rest (I hit 40 in a few months). The only thing I'm careful about is the Kelly--that gets too much notice.
I like beautiful things--and not just H things. And since I don't like furniture or cars or jewelry and I won't be having children, H things are possible. I can't ever have the David by Michelangelo, but I CAN have a BBK. Yummy.
Personally, I just bought an Hermes hat after buying several one size fits all cheap hats over the course of two summers...one too big to stay on my head when the wind blew, one with a large brim that got too floppy after handling it a few times, one with a brim too small to shade my eyes...finally, I broke down and paid the $$ for the Hermes hat that I tried on two years ago and knew was the right size to shade my face from the sun on the many days when DD and I are out walking. So sometimes Hermes IS a need, not just a want 
Hear, hear!