Well he made a website advertising his brand name, then went to what is essentially a fashion conference, showed up professionally, dressed as designer with cards, and they let him in? Isn't that what you expect/hope for?
Id?
How I Faked My Way to the Top of Paris Fashion Week [video]
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Re: How I Faked My Way to the Top of Paris Fashion Week [video]
#22My wife and I went to Paris for our anniversary and we didn't realize until we were there that it was Fashion Week. I am genuinely not surprised at all that this guy made it to the top. Streetwear has become so ironic because the lines have blurred between haute culture/high fashion and bargain basement designs that you genuinely can't tell what is $800 (Balenciaga Triple S https://www.balenciaga.com/us/triple-s-shoe…
It is great there is little objective difference between $800 and $55 pairs of shoes. It means the middle class can afford high-quality items and do not need to care if someone is willing to pay for the brand.
I’d say that’s not quite what’s going on here. You can’t tell when someone else is wearing an $800 or $55 pair of shoes, but in my experience the $55 shoes tend to bite my heels and fall apart within the year. If you don’t care about the brand and have a middle-class income, I might spend $55 on shoes for a growing kid but $200 on shoes for myself that I know will last for years.
Not saying you can’t get good shoes for $55, just sharing my experience. Someone will come in with the Terry Pratchett quote about boots here any moment, or you can look up the quote for yourself.
Re: How I Faked My Way to the Top of Paris Fashion Week [video]
#23Then again this is the world of fashion where reality doesn't matter, it's all about perception, brand and connections. His restaurant prank is even better. It would be impossible to keep up these feats for a length of time , but nevertheless it is impressive how he pulls them off.
Re: How I Faked My Way to the Top of Paris Fashion Week [video]
#24Ive always truly believed that gullibility was one of humanity’s biggest, most exploitable weaknesses, if not the biggest. You can fake your way into almost anything with confidence and basic acting. I’m reminded of the folk wisdom about simply holding a clipboard and acting like you belong can get you into private areas of 90% of companies. All the fraud people fall for, all the scams, obvious phishing, you’d think…
Trust-by-default is pretty much the definition of social capital, which is thought to be incredibly important for a functioning society. Basically, it's more efficient to trust people and be exploited once in a while, than to never trust anyone, which would lead to high transaction costs for any social interaction. Short intro by Robert Putnam, the big cheese in the field: http://robertdputnam.com/bowling-alone/socia…
And honestly, what's the damage of the exploit in these cases? Someone who doesn't belong gets to be vaguely "part of things" for an event; that price, compared to the price of locking someone who does belong out, seems low.
Re: How I Faked My Way to the Top of Paris Fashion Week [video]
#25Earlier quoted context omitted.
Exactly. The other day I was carrying 2 relatively heavy boxes (furniture; I just moved into a new place) and suddenly a guy comes up to me and asks if he can help me. At first I was kind of flabbergasted, but after a second I was like 'he's just trying to be nice' and gave him one of the boxes. We carried it until we arrived at my apartment complex and had a nice chat along the way. When we arrived we exchanged numb…
> Maybe I'm an outlier there but I'm pretty quick in determining if someone is being sincere or just sweet-talking me to get what he/she wants. Personally, I feel the same way. But it's illogical. What data do you have that you're good at ferreting the genuine from the not?
Millions and millions of interactions accumulating into a well-oiled intuition.
Re: How I Faked My Way to the Top of Paris Fashion Week [video]
#26Ive always truly believed that gullibility was one of humanity’s biggest, most exploitable weaknesses, if not the biggest. You can fake your way into almost anything with confidence and basic acting. I’m reminded of the folk wisdom about simply holding a clipboard and acting like you belong can get you into private areas of 90% of companies. All the fraud people fall for, all the scams, obvious phishing, you’d think…
Trust-by-default is pretty much the definition of social capital, which is thought to be incredibly important for a functioning society. Basically, it's more efficient to trust people and be exploited once in a while, than to never trust anyone, which would lead to high transaction costs for any social interaction. Short intro by Robert Putnam, the big cheese in the field: http://robertdputnam.com/bowling-alone/socia…
> Trust-by-default is pretty much the definition of social capital, which is thought to be incredibly important for a functioning society.
Not all societies are the same. Trust by default is a luxury in many parts of the world. Typically the rule of law is just non-existent in these places.
Re: How I Faked My Way to the Top of Paris Fashion Week [video]
#27Earlier quoted context omitted.
Exactly. The other day I was carrying 2 relatively heavy boxes (furniture; I just moved into a new place) and suddenly a guy comes up to me and asks if he can help me. At first I was kind of flabbergasted, but after a second I was like 'he's just trying to be nice' and gave him one of the boxes. We carried it until we arrived at my apartment complex and had a nice chat along the way. When we arrived we exchanged numb…
> Maybe I'm an outlier there but I'm pretty quick in determining if someone is being sincere or just sweet-talking me to get what he/she wants. Personally, I feel the same way. But it's illogical. What data do you have that you're good at ferreting the genuine from the not?
Mostly likely that he has not been completely duped yet.
That has the effect of quickly realigning your trust meter.
Re: How I Faked My Way to the Top of Paris Fashion Week [video]
#28Earlier quoted context omitted.
It is great there is little objective difference between $800 and $55 pairs of shoes. It means the middle class can afford high-quality items and do not need to care if someone is willing to pay for the brand.
I’d say that’s not quite what’s going on here. You can’t tell when someone else is wearing an $800 or $55 pair of shoes, but in my experience the $55 shoes tend to bite my heels and fall apart within the year. If you don’t care about the brand and have a middle-class income, I might spend $55 on shoes for a growing kid but $200 on shoes for myself that I know will last for years. Not saying you can’t get good shoes f…
I've bought plenty of $300 pairs of shoes that fell apart in a year. Price has little relationship with quality nowadays. You just need to do your research.
Re: How I Faked My Way to the Top of Paris Fashion Week [video]
#29Well he made a website advertising his brand name, then went to what is essentially a fashion conference, showed up professionally, dressed as designer with cards, and they let him in? Isn't that what you expect/hope for?
Id?
Why? People don't routinely ID one another in social interactions.
Re: How I Faked My Way to the Top of Paris Fashion Week [video]
#30Earlier quoted context omitted.
I’d say that’s not quite what’s going on here. You can’t tell when someone else is wearing an $800 or $55 pair of shoes, but in my experience the $55 shoes tend to bite my heels and fall apart within the year. If you don’t care about the brand and have a middle-class income, I might spend $55 on shoes for a growing kid but $200 on shoes for myself that I know will last for years. Not saying you can’t get good shoes f…
I've bought plenty of $300 pairs of shoes that fell apart in a year. Price has little relationship with quality nowadays. You just need to do your research.
What kinds of shoes are you buying for 2-300 $? High quality running shoes seem to max out at ~150 and the prices are centered around 100.