THOUGHTS ON THE WORLD OF LUXURY AT LARGE
At Sunday night’s Presidential Town hall debate in St. Louis, lots of newsworthy events occurred. And yet, as I’m sure you already know, one of the most prominent vignettes that has gone viral is about a sweater. A red sweater.
In these stressful times, when it appears that a class war is going to erupt at any moment and swallow America whole, let’s take a moment to celebrate that great equalizer across the boundaries of economic class: McDonald’s. What’s that, you say? Rich people don’t eat at McDonald’s? Dear reader, you could not be more wrong.
If you asked an elementary school-aged boy in the late 1960s or early ‘70s what he wanted to own when he grew up, if he could own anything in the world, he would very likely have had one or more of the following on his list: a rocket ship, his own car company, an airplane (or even better, an airline), maybe his local newspaper, and a sports team. Yes, these are clichés, and gross generalizations based on gender – but they’re also true.
As sure as falling temperatures, flying phalanxes of geese and golden leaves herald the arrival of autumn, so too does the appearance of a flock of new luxury fragrance introductions. Like clockwork, each fall brings forth dozens of launches in a bewildering array. This season there were several fairly significant events in the category, with Louis Vuitton re-entering luxury fragrance for the first time in almost 30 years; make-up artist Charlotte Tilbury launching her first scent; ditto Alexander McQueen, architect Philippe Starck, and shoe designer Christian Louboutin (the latter two actually launched three new scents at once, and sadly none of them smell like new shoes fresh out of the box). Tom Ford introduced Orchid Soleil; Aerin Lauder debuted Tangier Vanille; and SJP (that’s Sarah Jessica Parker, for the uninitiated) launched “Stash,” her new fragrance, which she describes as smelling “like a sweaty European man.” OK, then. Moving right along.
In a recent post, we here at Dandelion Chandelier explored the continued adoption of body modifications like tattoos and multiple piercings by the luxury class. There’s a tech angle that we left unexplored then, and it’s the next chapter of the story: the widespread use of temporary tattoos as a fashion statement, even by the wealthiest among us, has recently been married with some fascinating new technologies. Smart skin is here. And it’s pretty cool.
