off the plateau

so....for the past month and a half, i'd been plateaued in my weight loss. up 0.2 down 0.2 each week. no fun. but! this week, i was down 1.2! finally off my plateau, i hope. it seems as if all i talk about is my weight, so i think i'll talk about clothes.

i deal with clothes quite a bit. not just because i wear them every day (duh!) but because i work at a clothing store. sometimes i think about brands and trends and such. like this year, for example, the leopard print. very in. now i never thought i'd like the look, but i do, and why on earth would i want to spend money on this trend that has a short shelf life? i thought i'd like to have a pair of leopard ballet flats....but, do you spend the money on a nice pair or go for the cheap version. i went for this cheap Target version.

i sometimes wonder where you draw the line between quality and price. like these $775.00 Michael Kors boots. i like them a lot. they're nice and pretty and could go with a lot of outfits. but what makes these boots so special? is it that michael kors designed them? is it the fabric? the labor?
i also like this J Crew version. they're nice. they are minus the platform and the heel is lower, but other than that, pretty similar. and for $258.00 (or with my discount $103.00) they seem a lot nicer. they wouldn't be bad boots to have. i'm sure they'd hold up....so i guess after all this rambling, my question is this:
i know sometimes we get what we pay for, but at what point are we just paying extra for the name?