The authentic Chloe Paddington, side by side with a Replica sold by Sunny.

Fake designer bags. They're everyhwhere. In NYC a quick trip down to chinatown will reveal a plethora of replica designer goods, some convincing, others blantantly obvious in their trickery. But in a world of Ebay and online designer discount stores, fakes are harder and harder to spot. The funny thing is, if you were in the business of selling fakes, would you really want to advertise it?

While googling over my latest fascination with Kooba bags I came across Sunny Replicas. Here they shamelessly market knockoffs of Marc Jacobs, Fendi, Bulga, and many more. But these are not your average $40 fakes. The replicas at Sunny come with serial number, logo dustbag, and a couple hundred dollar price tag. (In fact, further investigation reveals a rather large number of companies operating online proudly selling fake/replica designer bags.) I guess I wonder, because for the asking price of some of these "fakes" you could get a very cool and genuine bag from an emerging designer, which (in my opinion) has more cred than a "high class" forgery. Anyhow, as handbags are the reigning status symbol among status dressers, don't expect the bag madness to abate. And in some circles, the difference between real and fake isn't an issue. I'm reminded of a return flight from Melbourne where a nice lady from the midwest, on her way back from visiting her daughter in Australia, misunderstood our New York destination as a holiday.

"The absolute best place in Manhattan," she counseled, while pulling out a trapezoidal bag with a Kate Spade label "is Chinatown. They have designer outlets there! This cost only forty dollars!"

"Beautiful bag," I told her, not having the heart to set her straight. Sometimes fakery wins.