Spendthrift Sunday is a new feature designed to highlight one distinctly un-frugal product that we’re being convinced we need.

Fashion is not a luxury, says the strident tagline of Sarah Jessica Parker’s new line of clothing, Bitten.

There was something about the signs that enraged me the moment I saw them, on a visit to the Leominster mall two weeks ago. I saw these ads immediately as the mind control they were: Forget your thousands of dollars of credit card debt, you deserve fashionable clothes, it said to me. Months of staying out of malls has made me keenly aware of the psychology used to part me with my money.

The topic didn’t come to the fore again until my mother visited this past weekend. She had seen the episode of Oprah where Bitten was featured, and thought she might find some clothes for her teaching gig this fall. Apparently the clothes are advertised as fitting a wide range of women.

So to Steve and Barry’s we went. Far be it from me to deny my mother.

The first thing that amused us is that of the Bitten items that were displayed at the front of the store, the XL shirt wouldn’t have fit me, let alone my larger mother. So much for fitting larger bodies. However, the prices were low, low, low.

We were soon to find out why.

In all fairness, there were definitely some styles that caught my eye, and I needed some new pants, so I retreated into the dressing room with a pair of khaki capris with odd ties at the bottom. The poor workmanship of these clothes became evident immediately. “This waistband is fraying,” I remarked, eyeing the “Made in China” label. Maybe it’s supposed to be distressed? Who knows? But the hems were fraying, too, and there were threads coming off all the seams, and the fabric itself was the same cheap, silky synthetic that all the Bitten pants are made out of.

The price for these pants? Fifteen dollars. $15 isn’t much at all for a pair of pants, but I felt like I could buy one of those 1960s paper dresses and be getting a better value for quality.

Visiting the website, I discovered that Bitten has a manifesto – I kid you not. I hope the pants feel empowered by it. “It is every woman’s inalienable right to have a pulled together stylish, confident wardrobe with money left over to live.” Inalienable right? Isn’t that going a little far? I mean, to hell with suffrage, if I can get some cheap clothes, right? Probably the person who made those clothes makes as much in a month as one pair of pants costs – what about their inalienable rights? How do they feel about being stylish and pulled-together?

I guess I can get past the trampling-on of a phrase that is so key to real independence everywhere, but I can’t get past the fact that this is advertising up to its same old tricks. They’re not selling you the clothes, they’re selling you a vision of who you will be when you’ve acquired those clothes. You’ll be “pulled together,” “stylish” (or “pulled together stylish,” if you go by the grammar above), and “confident.” And, assumably, be able to hide behind a toothpick like Sarah Jessica Parker.

The logistics of the manifesto fall apart as soon as you have a real look at the clothes. How can you argue that a pair of pants that’s going to fall apart in a year is worth $15? Here I revert to the wisdom that it is better to have a few high quality, classic pieces, and accessorize on the cheap, than it is to have lots of inexpensive, flimsy clothes. Ten out of ten classy French women would agree!

Admittedly, my own fashion concerns don’t extend beyond, “Do I stink?” and “Are my naughty bits covered?” but I encourage you to do what I did, and walk out of the store without spending a cent. Or don’t walk into it. Your money – your life energy – is better spent elsewhere.

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