The Objects of Desire

Some luxury goods, like handbags, are equally coveted by people without distinction of gender, social strata or even their generation. Nowadays, women (and some men) recognize the value of a luxury handbag beyond its price tag, from today’s grandmothers who bought the first edition of a particular iconic purse back in the 1960s to the millennial granddaughter who, in spite of choosing a widely different lifestyle, still invests in one luxury handbag. The question here is, why?

Perhaps the most obvious reason is that nobody wants to feel alienated. The will to grow and thrive is a component of the human condition, an imperative that is equal parts biological and socio-cultural. Human beings strive to achieve the better version of themselves they possibly can. No one person starts a path to fail; we want to succeed and be recognized for the achievement. Most children grow up wanting to be superlative: the tallest, stronger, prettiest, most intelligent, funniest, the best among all. Thus, nobody grows up wanting to feel or to be “less” than others.

On some level or other, we all want to belong to that group of select, beautiful, privileged people who seem to have it all -minus the worries and woes the rest of the world shares in its daily life. The luxury handbag is a statement of social status, and with it comes the assumption of achievement and empowerment: an actual Object of Desire.