Ok. So this isn’t exactly busting a star. But that is what the makers of MTV’s show “The City” would like you to believe. I’ll call this post the fake reality, fake handbags article. It just goes to show that everything is fake these days…right down to what people will tell you is reality.

A recent episode that I came across on Youtube had Olivia Palermo out cruising for Replica Louis Vuitton and Gucci handbags on Canal St. It’s clearly staged, as is much of the show as far as I can tell, but I got quite the kick out of it. I guess that’s the point now isn’t it.

The so-called reality show features New York City Socialites like Ms. Palermo, and the show’s lead Whitney Port being themselves…ahh shopping, eating out, partying…and oh yes, working in fashion. Palermo is the token bitch on the show from what I can tell, and seems to also have a reputation as a bit of a ditz. Though, how she could take that title from Whitney Port I’ll never know.

The "Real" Olivia Palermo looking pretty sharp with her Hermes bag in New York

The first indication that this clip is staged is that the replica handbags vendor (who I think is fantastic with his little Gucci hat and scarf and his ridiculous replica Louis Vuitton is wearing a microphone. Palermo does her best to play it cool, but ends up coming off as if she’s buying guns or something…a little bit overacted by any standard, but for “reality” TV it’s a bit silly.

I get the impression that this Connecticut girl whose making $12000 an episode to “be herself” and who, (if you Google her with handbags you’ll see what I mean) has an enormous collection of real bags, has never even seen a replica handbag let alone gone down to Canal St. to buy one. Personally I’d rather watch a reality show about that guy they got to be the purse vendor. Now that’s an entertaining idea, no?