Bingo.
In response to the other thread in this forum, I went on my obligatory festive shopping expedition today through the city, which led me into very pricey boutiques filled with the most banal of products, the sort which the marketing execs claim to ‘sell themselves’ by virtue of their positioning, but not of their make. Most egregious of all was Prada, a literal chequerboard-paved merchant of sh*t.
People try to tell me that Miuccia’s work is intellectual, and in a way they’re right, because she must appeal very hard to intellectually challenged people that keep her business running. Why else would you pay thousands for their plasticky ‘leather’ handbags or to look like a roadman in their nylon trash bags? Not only were the designs boring and the prices insulting, almost everything was made out of synthetic (cough, technical) fabrics, except for the thinnest leather jacket in the world that could have been sourced from Target. ‘Oh, but it’s reversible,’ the SA tells me. Yeah, I suppose that justifies why it’s 3 times the price of an Ami biker that’s probably better made. In short, it was the least luxurious store I’ve been in.
Luxury today is smoke and mirrors. The bankers in control of the fashion houses have pulled the long con on their customers, asserting that brand name alone can impart a rarefied aura to products that have nothing else to show for them. Now we are seeing a pushback from the affluent middle, who no longer have the means nor the willingness to buy into their delusions. Cucinelli and Hermes, while far from the best, are growing by dint of offering true, verifiable, top-of-the-line luxurious materials. Which brand will be caught next selling the emperor’s new clothes?
