Do you miss New York City?
Amazon has a product for those with Big-Apple-Lust.
Ah, yes, nothing like the stink of hot pavements mixed with bus fumes! I’m getting nostalgic myself.
*
And for those outside the hotbed of couture who fear missing out on the latest fashions, I give you the following:
What do you want to use to schlepp your goodies around town? How about the “L.L.Bean Boat and Tote [which ]was introduced in 1944 as the Bean Ice Carrier, a simple bag designed to help people transport ice blocks to their home freezers.” (1)
You can get a newly-designed model for a mere $475.
The writer at New York magazine says she would buy it: “Yes! I think $475 is reasonable.” Of course, we non-fashionistas can go to the L.L.Bean catalogue:
*
The fashionistas can tote their way around town while sporting the latest women’s fashion accessory: a baseball cap. Here are just a few at Saks Fifth Avenue:
For the best anticipation of this millenary trend, I cite Syd Hoff’s cartoon in the July 3, 1948 issue of The New Yorker:
*
The Veblen Effect and the Reverse
A century-and-a-quarter ago Thorstein Veblen wrote The Theory of the Leisure Class and introduced the phrase “conspicuous consumption” to describe the attempt by the moguls of the Gilded Age to distinguish themselves from the riff-raff.
They exhibited their wealth in a novel manner, and their conspicuous leisure took on the forms that were not productive. They engaged in ridiculous, time-intensive sports like riding and polo. Yachting. Mansions. Gourmet foods and liquors. Baby furniture. (2)
Paradoxically, however,
the goods the leisure class used to signal their freedom were perpetually made cheaper on account of mass manufacturing, and so the specifics of conspicuous consumption kept changing to ensure exclusivity, specialness and distance from lower class culture.
At each leap forward in productivity, the leisure class latched onto the next big, deluxe thing that could not be copied by the disgusting masses.
But something has radically changed. Today, instead of the underclasses imitating the rich, in fashion the rich display their wealth (conspicuous consumption) by appropriating lower or working class articles of clothing—sweatpants (3), jeans, baseball caps, and t-shirts (4)—and spending tons of money on items that are for sale elsewhere for a fraction of the price.
Fifty Years Ago
“The haute couture is a degenerate institution propped up by a sycophantic press.”
Kennedy Fraser
The New Yorker, April 28, 1975
***
(2) https://lithub.com/my-babies-are-richer-than-yours-on-the-lie-of-the-online-tradwife/
(3) See my blog: https://drnormalvision.blogspot.com/2015/03/the-active-bottom-and-bottom-line.html
(4) "[T]he last Balenciaga couture collection, in July, included what looked like ratty old concert tees but turned out to be shirts with hand-painted oils by the artist Abdelhak Benallou featuring images of members of the Balenciaga atelier as a heavy metal band.
That’s an extreme case, but many pieces of the “stealth wealth” trend could be lumped in the same category. Think of the Loro Piana cashmere baseball cap. Not to mention the sudden preponderance of haute jeans and chore coats. Every runway brand seems to have them. . . .
Because of the fabric and cut, luxury casual is more expensive — often significantly so — which is the downside. Sometimes it costs a lot to look unfancy. Whether that’s worth the price is up to you."
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/26/style/under-over-dressed-events.html
