On brandwhoring... I think a lot of people who get into clothing do so because they want to differentiate themselves and show superior taste. And if superior taste exists then inferior taste must also exist.
(I wish I'd made more of an effort to start reading Bourdieu at this point. It was just so long....)
, you mentioned your asian relatives and you might enjoy this book, it was pretty influential on me about this very topic.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Cult-Luxury-B ... 1904838057If anything, the book highlights that brandwhoring is only possible in a nation where taste has matured enough to be a respected status symbol. When nations have to reinvent themselves after a mass unshackling from subjugation, logo-branded items become the marker of status. Taste hasn't entered the equation yet. As time progresses, the statement bag becomes a way to keep up with the Joneses more than a status symbol since everyone has the bag and it signifies belonging (this is what you're describing you're sick of with your relatives, I think), and finally it becomes distasteful when oversaturated, and we end up with the understated elegance that characterizes people with supposed taste. This being the main way to distinguish between themselves and those "awful, gauche, nouveau riches..."
From my own (male) perspective, I'm brandwhory in a way that adds dimension to the clothing. For better or for worse, I buy into some brand's stories, and give them the benefit of the doubt. If the item is sort of nondescript then I may search for a reason why it's actually cool, because it's by X brand and they must have put more thought into it than Y mall brand who's just trying to make a buck and whose customers are sooooo generic and lame, unlike me, of course...
Brandwhoring, though, is also a cultural thing. If someone has clothes by certain brands, they demonstrate that they're in the know and are able to communicate on a deeper cultural level. However I'd argue that talent with styling things in really cool ways (which I don't have enough of, and welcome any resources for that such as ) is also a way to communicate on a deeper cultural level, without any of the same bad connotations to brandwhoriness. That was always the appeal of Sartorialist for me: often not knowing what brand the clothes were, and appreciating them just on a visual level.