September 24, 2009--Poor Louis Vuitton
The other day we were walking in Soho after having been out of the city for more than two months and were informally trying to take the pulse of economic activity by seeing who was in the stores and on the streets and what shipping bags, if any, people were carrying.
It was quieter than we had hoped, but we were at least pleased to see that very few shops were for rent. We had expected to find many with "To Let" signs. Maybe things had picked up in spite of how things looked.
And then about a block south of where we were there was quite a commotion--out front of the Marc Jacobs boutique there was a crowd of young women who it appeared were waiting in line in order to be allowed to enter. Rona said that they must have reached capacity inside and before anyone else could go in someone had to leave.
This looked like an economic green shoot to me. "It must be a sample sale," Rona said.
"What's that?" I asked.
"In effect, they have items left over from the summer season that they put on sale so that they can stock up with fall goods."
As we got closer I noticed something else--virtually everyone lined up was Asian. Mainly Japanese. "What gives?" I asked.
Rona said, "Thank God for Asian girls—and notice they are really girls and not women. If they weren't out buying clothes we'd be in even worse shape."
On the other hand, if Japanese girls are keeping the high-end goods business alive in America, it looks as if buying habits in Japan are rapidly changing so that now their version of Wal-Mart, Seiyu, is growing while shops selling Louis Vuitton leather goods and Hermès scarves are in a crisis--in Tokyo it seems they can't any longer sell their $1,000 handbags and so the Vuitton people recently cancelled plans for a ritzy new shop in Tokyo.
The New York Times reports that the cultural obsession with luxury goods of all kinds may be coming to an end. (Story linked below.) Japanese fashionistas, it appears, are now happier mixing and matching garments found in secondhand clothing stores than traipsing around on four-inch heels in, well, Marc Jacobs.
Even sales of umbrellas have spiked. Japanese women used to take taxis everywhere whenever there was a hint of rain in the air. Now, with their new, inexpensive umbrellas, the streets are thronged with pedestrians even when it’s teeming.
As one put it, “People used to feel they needed a Louis Vuitton to fit in. But younger girls don’t think like that anymore. In the new environment, cheap is chic.” Cheap everything it seems.
Up until now this mania for all things expensive not only meant that designer goods of all kinds jumped off the shelves but there was even a passion for designer foods—Kobi Beef would go for more than $100 a pound and butchers couldn’t keep it on the shelves; Toro Tuna at $200 a pound sold like hot cakes at fashionable sushi bars; and special melons went for $100 each at fancy food shops. Now, supermarkets can’t keep enough bean sprouts and onions in stock to satisfy the new demand for cheap food.
So the new cry being heard on the barricades is “Let them eat cabbage!” Which used to go for about $4 a head.
It was quieter than we had hoped, but we were at least pleased to see that very few shops were for rent. We had expected to find many with "To Let" signs. Maybe things had picked up in spite of how things looked.
And then about a block south of where we were there was quite a commotion--out front of the Marc Jacobs boutique there was a crowd of young women who it appeared were waiting in line in order to be allowed to enter. Rona said that they must have reached capacity inside and before anyone else could go in someone had to leave.
This looked like an economic green shoot to me. "It must be a sample sale," Rona said.
"What's that?" I asked.
"In effect, they have items left over from the summer season that they put on sale so that they can stock up with fall goods."
As we got closer I noticed something else--virtually everyone lined up was Asian. Mainly Japanese. "What gives?" I asked.
Rona said, "Thank God for Asian girls—and notice they are really girls and not women. If they weren't out buying clothes we'd be in even worse shape."
On the other hand, if Japanese girls are keeping the high-end goods business alive in America, it looks as if buying habits in Japan are rapidly changing so that now their version of Wal-Mart, Seiyu, is growing while shops selling Louis Vuitton leather goods and Hermès scarves are in a crisis--in Tokyo it seems they can't any longer sell their $1,000 handbags and so the Vuitton people recently cancelled plans for a ritzy new shop in Tokyo.
The New York Times reports that the cultural obsession with luxury goods of all kinds may be coming to an end. (Story linked below.) Japanese fashionistas, it appears, are now happier mixing and matching garments found in secondhand clothing stores than traipsing around on four-inch heels in, well, Marc Jacobs.
Even sales of umbrellas have spiked. Japanese women used to take taxis everywhere whenever there was a hint of rain in the air. Now, with their new, inexpensive umbrellas, the streets are thronged with pedestrians even when it’s teeming.
As one put it, “People used to feel they needed a Louis Vuitton to fit in. But younger girls don’t think like that anymore. In the new environment, cheap is chic.” Cheap everything it seems.
Up until now this mania for all things expensive not only meant that designer goods of all kinds jumped off the shelves but there was even a passion for designer foods—Kobi Beef would go for more than $100 a pound and butchers couldn’t keep it on the shelves; Toro Tuna at $200 a pound sold like hot cakes at fashionable sushi bars; and special melons went for $100 each at fancy food shops. Now, supermarkets can’t keep enough bean sprouts and onions in stock to satisfy the new demand for cheap food.
So the new cry being heard on the barricades is “Let them eat cabbage!” Which used to go for about $4 a head.
posted by Steven Zwerling at
3:28 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home