Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, or so they say. Well, that may be true of people, but if you are just about the spend big bucks on a designer purse, say from Coach, then you want to be sure that it’s the real deal you are buying. The most commonly copied Coach purses are those from the signature monogram range so if you are looking to but one of these items then you really should take care. As well as this, if it wasn’t hard enough to find an authentic designer handbag in online auctions such as EBay, counterfeiters are also replicating seasonal and collectable lines like the Coach patchwork collection and many other of Coach’s prominent designs. So how do you protect yourself?

Know Your Purse

The best defense against purchasing a counterfeit product online is to research the products. That’s right, if you want to know how to tell an authentic Coach patchwork purse from a fake in mere minutes, you need to familiarize yourself with the quality of Coach products. Some internet websites claim that counterfeiters have become so savvy at replicating designer goods that only the manufacturer will know the difference. This is not necessarily true. A skilled fashionista who already owns several Coach handbags will be able to determine the authenticity of the product by the weight, interior, and stitching of the handbag. Bottom line is: if you don’t know what an authentic Coach patchwork handbag looks and feels like, you won’t be able to contrast it against a fake product.

Hence, spend some time in a Coach store before purchasing any Coach merchandise on the web. Take a look at the product discount. If the average price of a Coach handbag is close to 300 dollars and you’re purchasing the bag for close to 100 online, then something is most likely wrong with the vendor. Even vendors who buy Coach bags at wholesale prices cannot afford to sell goods at a fifty percent or more discount.

Check The Detail

Cheap knock-offs are usually only profitable for their makers because they skimp on the quality of materials and labour. One of the tips good buyers use is to check the alignment of the monogrammed “C’s”. If the C’s don’t line up then it’s probably a rush job and the bag is fake. Luxury manufacturers like Coach take extensive measures to ensure the quality of the workmanship – it’s part of the appeal of the brand, whereas counterfeiters are only driven by profit, meaning that the attention to detail is often overlooked. When buying online always buy from a listing that shows the detail closeup if possible, but especially avoid listings that just have thumbnail images. You could be buying anything.

The Interior

Coach purses are also heavy. This is because of the luxury materials and leather used. A genuine Coach bag will also sport a quality interior. Unless you have been face to face several times with a Coach bag it will be difficult for you to determine the authenticity of the product by weight alone, but luxury goods are made with quality materials. Unfortunately, its impossible to tell the weight and build quality of an item from a listing, but you can raise a dispute with EBay over the item if you believe that its fake when it arrives. Always pay using PayPal if possible as you are protected – often for the full amount.

Coach does not want its merchandise sold on the streets or discreetly out of car trunks, and I’m willing to be they are not too thrilled about vendors selling them online either. Online vendors who hide their feedback are giving you a clear message – beware of scams. Personally I would only even buy a Coach purse online if it looked like it was from a ‘normal’ private seller rather than an online store vendor.

Finally, all Coach Purses have a serial number. Although fakes often have serial numbers too, you can verify your serial number if you look inside the bag. The serial number should be stamped in there. All you have to do is call Coach at 1-888-262-6224 and verify that the serial number is authentic. You’ll also need to give them the bag’s color and style, so you may want to visit their site first and get the proper terms for the purse version you have.

I love pumps and sling backs. I don’t know why, perhaps because they go with my 9-5 business fashion as well as with my “after 5″ fun fashion. I love dressing up a pair of jeans with pumps.

It’s finally Fall gals, and the designers are starting to show their offerings. There are a lot of fabulous high end designer shoes to choose from and some are absolutely to-die-for!

Prada is offering a fantastic bronze pump for fall. This pump has a 3 inch heel and a perforated leather on the toe cap and the back of the shoe. The vamp and body of the shoe are actually covered with bronze paillettes (sequins) that mimic a lovely snake skin design. It’s gorgeous, and so in demand that some stores are limiting the number you can order!!

Brian Atwood is offering a lovely d’orsay pump in black and white leopard skin. It has a peek-a-boo toe with an adorable bow….meow! I’m not sure if I like that one best, or the Dolce & Gabbana leopard print hair-calf and leather sling back. It has a leather toe cap that is adorned with gold toned studs.

Christian Louboutin is offering platform pumps in a leopard print
or brown or black suede.

Perhaps the shoe of my dreams is the new Dior leather pump.It has a 3 1/2 inch heel to start. It’s offered in what I call a winter white. It has a bow at the toe and is covered with fabulous leather weaving details. The heel is horn and is embellished with the famous Dior “D”. Dior also is offering a leather shoe they call “Rebel” that has a zipper on either side of the heel. It has a buckle logo across the toe and rivet details.

I can’t not mention my favorite shoe designer, Manolo Blahnik. He is also working with hair-calf offering it in several different styles, from a open toed pump with a blush (light pink) and brown/tan leopard print to “wow-em” unmistakable tan/black leopard print pump with a keyhole vamp with a bow. This has a lovely 1/2 inch heel. Of course his classics include his ever popular halter and crisscross designs in alligator.

Go ahead Gals, fulfill all your shoe dreams!

Over the centuries clocks have been used as a status symbol by those who wear them. Their precision, elegance and convenience are just some of the attributes that clocks and watches represent. Often they are bought purely for their aesthetic looks. and at other times they are bought because of their technical attributes like being precise to the last second or even millisecond. This is what makes clocks and watches so collectible and in some cases they can command high sums of money.

Whether you collect the new high precision watches or ones that come from a past era, the fact is that over the years this hobby has become a high turnover business. And collecting watches is in a lot of circles regarded as a wise form of investing.

At the start of the last century the clocks that were available for men or women were firstly pocket clocks, and then clocks that held by a pendant attached to the lining of jackets or corsets. The advent of war, industrialization, and the development of the sport activities, brought over new trends which extended to not only the way we dressed, but also how we carried our clocks.

It is said that it was a nanny who invented wrist watches at around the end of the 19th century, who fixed a clock around her wrist by using a silk band. The first watches to be made were in fact smaller models of pocket clocks that were fitted with a leather strap. Once this product hit the market newer designs started to be produced based around this same concept.

It was Louis Cartier who first made the kind of watches we see today when he created a watch for a flying pioneer hero by the name Santos Dumont. By 1911 this same type of watch was on general sale. That same type of watch became the blueprint of what wrist watches look like to this day.

Soon after the design of wrist “clocks” began to diversify away from the classical round shape that had been in vogue up until that time. From the Cartier classical wrist watch other makes of watch started to emerge which were characterized by their shape. Movado is the perfect example of these new designs when it came out with the “Polyplan” shaped watch. Then came the famously and cryptically called “clock reference n. 1593″ by Patek Philippe which was a rectangular shaped watch.

From 1913 onwards more and more watches started to be developed in all shapes and styles. From the “gondola” watch of Patek Phillipe to Louis Cartiers’ “Tank”; named thus because it was inspired by the shape of English armored cars of the time. These are watches which are very much sought after. There were other numerous watch makers like Audemars Piguet, Vacheron Constantin who along with Patek Philippe and Cartier came out with many other designs which added other features to the watches like lunar phases, month and day most of which are found in modern watches now.

Of course we could not mention wrist watches without mentioning the most famous of them all: the Rolex watch. In the 1920s Rolex debuted in the world of wrist watches with the elegant Rolex Prince and its revolutionary “dual time” feature made famous for having the “seconds sector” larger than that of the minutes. At the same time Jaeger Le Coultre produced an even more advanced piece called the “Reverse”, also very revolutionary in that it could be turn 180 degrees within its case, thus protecting the crystal and dial. It became incredibly popular and was only prevented from achieving even greater success by the recession of the 1930s and the advent of world war 2.

These early watches of the 1910s to 1930s are what define all the makes of watches that we see and wear today. This short article has only scratched the surface of what is a very vast subject which has many more watch makers with diverse and revolutionary designs. However it is makers like Rolex, Cartier, Jaeger Le Coultre and the others mentioned that are amongst the most valuable and collectible, and should you ever be so lucky to get one then make sure you hang on to it – preferably to your wrist.