image: Wilfredo Rosado

Hand carved shell cameo pendant with 18k hammered gold and diamonds. Price tag? I have no idea. I’m assuming it’s 5 figures. What’s a girl to do. Either we swoon over gorgeous pieces we’ll never own or we seep into the grunge-on-grunge bargain shopping in Kensington, wearing mismatched socks mom bought us at The Gap three Christmases ago. Really, how do designers expect us to live? $3,000 for a bag – OK, maybe. $30,000 for a pendant – OK, never. Liking beautiful things is worse than a drug addiction – at least with drugs there’s the sweet prospect of dying from an O.D. and never paying your dealer back. A Balenciaga won’t kill you. No matter how many you buy in one day.