In the opening chapter of my current work-in-progress, I was toying with the idea of having a character (a designer) describe his latest collection as “Slumdog Chic”, in reference of course to the runaway anti-Bollywood hit Slumdog Millionnaire. The collection is a sort of bum-as-the-new-black meets Indian slums, which I admit is a little insensitive and exploitative of the tragic plight of so many people (and so is a perfect metaphor for insensitive consumption), but Marie-Claire does me one better with their February cover.
Behold the new chic - Credit Crunch Chic.
Cash-strapped? About to be foreclosed on? Stuck in a loveless marriage because your assets are now worth less than a month’s supply of kitty-litter and now you can’t move out?
Boy does Marie-Claire have a deal for you! YSL has “downsized” its “no-frills, discreetly chic Easy bag” (presumably so the under-fed, over-stretched masses don’t pull a Marie-Antoinette on your ass and stuff the YSL “Easy” bag down your throat).
Suggested retail price for this bit of inconspicuous under-consumption?
$995.
There’s even a cheaper version for you SUPER bargain huntresses out there: $895.
No wonder this economy thing hasn’t bottomed out yet: we still don’t get it. Or maybe, we do get but Marie-Claire et al. think it’s a matter of time before we’re fed up with being sensible and go back to free-spending ways.
What do you think?
January 25th, 2009 at 7:27 pm
I live in Tennessee where most of my students are first generation college kids paying their way through on scholarships, jobs, and loans–the price of that purse is only a little less than the many make in a month with their 30-hour a week jobs.But that disconnect has been the case and will be, economic crisis or not.
And I think that like in F.Scott Fitzgerald’s novels, there will always be rich people who will never think twice about buying a $1000 bag. Then there are those who want to look as if they can afford a $1000 bag–that’s the Marie-Claire audience, I suspect. I’m sure that if/when the economy gets better North Americans will go back to their free-spending ways and “credit crunch chic” will be a catchword of the past. After all, much of the world is depending on that consumption as well, for better or worse.