“To dissimulate is to pretend not to have what one has. To simulate is the feign to have what one doesn’t have. One implies a presence the other an absence...pretending or dissimulating, leaves the principle of reality intact: the difference is always clear, it is simply masked, whereas simulation threatens the difference between the “true” and the “false” and the “imaginary.” (389)
This quote partially stood out to me from Baudrillard. In essence, he is saying that to hide that you have something shows that you have a presence. To show something that you don’t have implies an absence of that thing. Baudrillard talks about how in our postmodern world, images will precede reality. He is implying that concept within dissimulation vs. simulation.
This connects me to the fashion industry. Elitists brands like Gucci, Louis Vuitton, and Supreme will purposely “stain” their clothes. This, in essence, pretends like people are not as wealthy or elitist as they are. The clothes, however, still have the Gucci or Louis Vuitton logo on them, so the people get the grunge look of non-elitest clothes with an elitist status, which is what Baudrillard and Zizek would call dissimulating. The same can be said for amazon dupes of lululemon. Lululemon leggings normally cost about $110 dollars, which makes them inaccessible to certain economic groups. However, brands will take the Lululemon designs and make them into “dupes.” They look like the Lululemon leggings but are normally about $20-40 dollars. The overall quality of these leggings is normally less, However, to have the look of these leggings, which implies wealth and status, is more important than actually owning these things. This is, in effect, simulation.
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