Quality for yourself-- or aesthetics for others?

Have you heard about the new Balenciaga bag? Would you buy it?
(Or just grab one from Ikea for 99c)

This Balenciaga bag is a prime example of how society and fashion functions: high-end designers get their inspiration from the middle class, using quality materials and selling them at a hefty price tag. This is what happened with our quintessential jeans -- blue jeans were originally made for miners and cowboys but eventually got adopted by designers. The question here is, though, how do they appeal to consumers? Why would they buy them?
To further analyse this, we need to understand why people buy luxury goods in the first place-- for quality? For self-esteem? It seems simple to understand, everyone wants to own something they can feel good about owning, yet allowing them to earn some sort of acceptance from others. This may just explain it succinctly-- maybe in our nature, we feel the need to get acceptance from society and these bags with its (almost ripoff) design fulfills this need perfectly: consumers know they are owning a piece of quality, and so do others. Yet, the design looks almost painfully normal, Could this almost.. help consumers gain the respect they want from those around them without being outwardly obvious about it?

Or could it be another way to be even more flashy?