subject: Chrome Hearts: The Chrome Hearts Culture [print this page] This essay examines the Chrome Hearts brand and why its adherents are attracted its jewelry so strongly. It delves into the rising difficulties facing the CH brand due to changing perceptions of brand and growing consumer maturity.
All in all, Chrome Hearts may be most accurately described as the Tiffany & Co equivalent of gothic silver jewelry for rich, powerfully daring people with anti-establishment ideals and mindsets. Hence, celebrity rock stars, rock fans, bikers and other free-spirited individuals tend to gravitate towards the brand. To illustrate this reality, we examine the extensive list of celebs that wear CH jewelry: Lou Reed; Steve Jones; Britney Spears; Jay-Z; Elton John; Martin Lawrence; Tony Leung; Lee-Hom Wang; Ashlee Simpson; Lenny Kravitz; Cher; Eddie Murphy; Jamie Foxx; Karl Lagerfeld; Angelina Jolie; Pamela Anderson; and the Osbournes.
Fans of CH jewelry adore it not so much for the brand. After all, brand-chasing is simply another form of conformism and uniformity. Rather, what they truly seek is well-crafted, unique gothic-styled gothic silver jewelry which endows its bearer with a powerful, magnetic image mix fusing non-conformism, empowerment, daring and wealth. And not very many jewelers or labels can claim to craft sterling silver gothic style jewelry as excellently as Chrome Hearts does or used to do. However, this fashion reality is a cardinal weakness of the label's premium market business model.
Chrome Hearts replicas, fakes and Chrome Hearts inspired alternatives
In recent days, Chrome Hearts has faced challenges in the form of several offshore competitors with the talent, resources and ability to deliver equally detailed, gorgeous and well-crafted luxury gothic styled silver jewelry to bikers and other rock-culture lovers at a fraction of the authentic items' prices. Today, fans of gothic silver jewelry have easy and affordable access to an extensive range of alternatives to original Chrome Hearts jewelry. Customers are wising up to the ugly truth behind branding, which is really nothing more than an imaginary concept. Brand is not something which customers will always be willing to pay for. Given the easy availability of cheaper and often equally attractive offerings, it is no wonder that designer label jewelry isn't an unusual or rare sight on the streets despite the luxury brand pricing of the original. The new wisdom is: why bust the bank on luxury label jewelry when you can get a practically identical product made from the same top grade 925 sterling silver at a tiny fraction of the price?
However, in buying alternatives in the form of replicas or similarly styled inspired designs, it is critical to know the grade of jewelry you are buying. Competitors range from top grade alternatives and close replicas by real jewelers to mass-producing bootleggers churning out cheap imitations made from low-grade materials such as aluminium & copper.
For a comprehensive discussion of Chrome Hearts fakes and replicas, the writeup at the Chrome Hearts page will be very useful and informative.
