Explain Designer Clothing

Now, I am not one who is opposed to dressing nicely. I also understand that good quality clothing sometimes costs more. Usually, a $3 t-shirt is exactly that, and was probably made by some sweatshop child. And I have been one who has admired clothing by designers (when it is not ridiculous). I'm not necessarily well-dressed, but I am not a fashion Luddite.

But today I was looking through the wonderful Manolo Shoe Blog, and he had a link to an interesting-looking pair of shoes that were on the Rafaello Network, and I found myself looking through the Prada line. Now, I admit that there are Prada designs that I find very beautiful. But I started looking at the prices. And then I came across this. It is a black t-shirt, which has the retail price of $350. I clicked to look at the details, assuming that somehow this must be the Mother of All Black T-Shirts. This must be made of some rare material, or something that makes this particular t-shirt worth $350 (especially considering the fact that, for that price, you could buy twelve metres of high-quality doupioni silk -- or so I have discovered). It is 92% cotton, and 8% spandex. Oh, and it has a small zipper pocket on the back. This isn't even a valuable item of dress clothes, a beautiful pair of leather shoes or a high-quality jacket. It is a t-shirt.

For $350 dollars I could:

• Pay my half of the rent, my parking spot, and a couple of utility bills;
• Pay my tuition for the spring semester;
• Buy three months' worth of groceries;
• Buy a more-than-decent cappuccino maker;
• Replace nearly my entire casual wardrobe;
• Fly to Vancouver;
• Buy that sewing machine I have my eye on, and sew my own silly t-shirt;
• Sponsor a child for ten months; or
• Buy a black t-shirt.

Such things give me rage, apparently.

But wait! For $1400, or now on sale for $749, I can have my own navel-exposing puffy parka. My mind reels at the specific situation in which this would be appropriate. Thank you, Prada. You have done the world a service.

So, I throw this one out to the crowd: how would you spend $350? Or can you explain to me why this is worth this much?