(Article changed on May 26, 2013 at 17:30)
Luxury Jewelry and Fashion Shopping at International Gem & Jewelry Show by InterGem Jewelry
Luxury Jewelry and Fashion Shopping at International Gem & Jewelry Show by InterGem Jewelry
One brief clip in this fluffy, boring film I saw today, just out of masochism for however materialistic I am, implies that my ashes would be swept up more quickly than you can say "pig" and disposed of in Bergdorf Goodman's tony garbage receptacles.
In that clip, the
boss leaves a message for an employee that there's a dead fly on one of the
window seats, which is disposed of by the employee's underling more quickly
than you can say any four-letter word.
Bergdorf's was
actually purchased by the Neiman Marcus group some time ago and is considered
their crown jewel. I wondered to myself whether I could afford the very
cheapest item in the store, whatever that was--an ostrich feather perhaps?
The history of
the store is so boring I couldn't concentrate, except that I think they said
that the block-long building used to be the Vanderbilt palace. A photo of their
young son bringing some friends home to play after school is offered,
accompanied by totally banal commentary--something like "Wow, can you imagine
being one of those friends?"
To give you an
idea about those $6,000 red glittery spikes, my friend the jewelry designer,
who exhibits at Bloomingdale's, is told to jack up the price(s) she wants three
times, and she'll get it if she makes any sales and invoices for them.
Bloomie's gets the dough first. Therefore, those spikes actually cost at least
$2,000, so don't be so aghast the next time you find them at TJ's for that
price and are horrified. Shall we think fair trade? Not for the source of the
shoes, a middleman. You can be sure that if they were made in China, no more
than one penny will get back to the real source.
Where are those glitzy spikes actually
manufactured? Who cares? Somebody gets ripped off hugely. Us. Didn't you read
about Apple keeping its money in Ireland to avoid paying taxes to the homeland?
You need pay no taxes on your billions as long as you keep them out of the
country. Does that make any sense? Another behemoth avoided paying a cent in
taxes back in 2010. Who pays those taxes? Us.
Because the
government has to keep going somehow. So some states guarantee that the poorest
of the poor will not benefit from ACA by refusing to add to the funding they
allocate to Medicaid. Looks like nothing will be left to trickle down. Instead
of "bottom-up," it's "vomit-up" whatever we've got. Dig deeper into those
pockets with holes in them.
Back to the film,
that documentary about the top one percent paying $50,000 for a Bergdorf's
pillbox. I mean real pillbox, not the hat they sold to Jacqueline Kennedy
Onassis, which she was wearing--from Bergdorf's--the day JFK was shot.
Then there is the
anecdote about Yoko Ono telling Bergdorf's fur department to send someone over
on Christmas Eve because John Lennon wants to buy her some furs. That's
puzzling even for Snobs UnLtd., but they manage and, after waiting two hours
for John to come home, surprise, forty pieces are purchased for the happy
couple and their friends and relatives. Bergdorf's is happy, too, so Merry
Christmas, even considering the huge overhead of paying staff to hang out there
(overtime?).
Then, the day
Elizabeth Taylor stops in for some furs, she asks if they have any mink
earmuffs. When they say yes despondently, she orders four hundred pairs,
perhaps for each day she was married to Richard Burton before he dropped dead
from so many one-night stands. Sorry. Very bad joke based on something he said
once. She actually was buying Christmas gifts too.
Actually, I
believe that the couple was together longer than four hundred nights but am too
lazy and bored to Google for this information.
There is lengthy
footage on Bergdorf's windows, those tableaux vivants that coat their
mannequins with Swarovski crystals, inter alia, small units of them in droves.
The cost of one of those windows, which are changed several times during the
year, would feed several developing countries for God knows how long--these
statistics were not provided in the film.
You need window
designers, who charge a lot since they are crà ¨me-de-la crà ¨me, and props, which
are purchased from only the highest-end emporiums (emporia?), not from the
Internet. And what they do creatively with those props is wallet-boggling.
Our favorite
designers, most of whom I never heard of, are interviewed amid their "lines."
If, like Isaac Mizrahi, you condescend to work with someplace like Target,
forget it. My favorites, Ralph Lauren and Jones New York, are not even
mentioned. So much for my taste in clothing and my budget; I only buy on sale.
One designer made it to Bergdorf's shelves by flaunting Saks's interest in her
wares. Presto! Bingo! The Valhalla's doors open.
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