A teenage girl who was overjoyed to be gifted a handbag from local brand Charles & Keith by her dad. Singapore-based Zoe Gabriel, who’s 17, shared a video of herself unwrapping the bag, which cost around $80, on TikTok. However, while the bag was a “luxury item” to Zoe, internet trolls couldn’t resist roasting her.
@zohtaco thank you dad 🥹
- One comment in particular really upset Zoe. Since she didn’t mention the price of the bag in her video, many viewers seemed to think she had no idea how relatively affordable it is. “Who’s gonna tell her?” read one cruel comment that included the laughing emoji. This prompted Zoe to speak out in an emotional follow-up clip.
- Zoe Gabriel didn’t grow up with a lot of money. As she revealed in a separate clip, Zoe said that $80 actually was a luxury to her for much of her life. “We couldn’t buy new things as simple as bread from BreadTalk,” she said. “That kind of thing was a luxury to us … Every time we passed by a store, my parents would just say next time, but next time would never come.”
- It’s also about the thought that went into it. Even if Zoe’s family is now in a better financial position, that doesn’t make her appreciate the bag any less. “We couldn’t buy new things as simple as bread from BreadTalk,” she said, referencing a popular Singaporean bakery. “That kind of thing was a luxury to us…Every time we passed by a store, my parents would just say next time, but next time would never come,” she explained.
- As it turns out, Zoe Gabriel and her purse got the last laugh. After her video went viral, the founders of Charles & Keith, Charles and Keith Wong, invited Zoe and her dad to have lunch and check out the company headquarters, The Straits Times reports. Not only that, but they also had her model one of their bags, which they shared on Instagram. Zoe Gabriel was then named the new brand ambassador. How cool is that?!
@zohtaco Replying to @cressy i am so happy and grateful for you, that you can consider charles and keith not a luxury. also btw if you google it, lots of sources do classify them as a luxury brand. so.
