The magazine editors introduced the products, but it was the celebrities who spread the feverish demand to the masses. Christian Louboutin Madonna created a rush on Tom Ford’s blue satin and velvet Gucci pant when she wore it to the 1996 MTV Video Awards. More recently, Sarah Jessica Parker has brandished an enormous red Birkin on "Sex and the City," and kaching! Status was no longer hooked to what money could buy, but how fast you could buy it. The fashion press trumpeted the waits like gilded trophies. And here’s my disclaimer: I was one of those frenzied magazine editors who not only published these lists, but also, as a consumer, jumped them. By the spring of 2001, after Marc Jacobs had sent a load of graffiti-covered Louis Vuitton monogram down the runway the previous October in Paris, the wait-list phenomenon reached its maddest moment — in retrospect, a presage of demise. Every single fashion magazine featured the in their January issues, but Louis Vuitton did not deliver them until late May. The wait-list hierarchy went berserk. Robert Duffy, the president of Marc Jacobs, insisted the wait list was not engineered, but was the result of production problems. "I couldn’t even get my hands on one, and I work for Louis Vuitton," he said. "Marc couldn’t get one either, and he designed the thing!" The are no longer made. It’s possible to speculate about shifts in culture, but coveting is part of human nature. Here is what people want this season, and if enough of them want it, there will be a list. Marc Jacobs’s bright yellow sequined coat was back-ordered in three sizes at the SoHo store. A purple peasant blouse at Yves Saint Laurent sold out in just days at the New York boutique in July, and when a shipment arrived in October they were all sold to customers on a list. The Tods Carre Shopper, unveiled in magazines in July, still boasts a list of 150 people waiting to spend $1,100 on a medium-size version. "War and recession are not going to slow down the desire for fashion; there will always be demand," said Jeffrey Kalinsky, the owner chaussures Christian Louboutin of Jeffrey in the meatpacking district. "It’s up to us in fashion to create something that will ignite that fire. We have to create fashion’s ‘Harry Potter.’ " " But who is going to wave fashion’s magic wand now? "I don’t think it’s the same anymore," said Patricia Wexler, a dermatologist by trade and fashion fanatic by hobby. "Since Sept. 11 shoppers don’t have the same drive anymore. People are going into their closets. There’s a nostalgia for the familiar. Nobody wants to be trendy." At a new chaussures Louboutin store designed by Rem Koolhaas opening in SoHo later this month, they’re replaying their greatest hits, offering new versions of vintage evening dresses, coats and from wait lists past. And what about that Birkin and its supposed eight-month waiting list? Hermes says it has a production nightmare on its hands; since everything is handmade, reordering is not that easy. The official story is that each Birkin takes 18 hours to saddle stitch together, and that only 250 craftsmen know how to make the . Under French law, each craftsman is allowed to work only 35 hours a week. So, even though 14,000 Birkin have been made so far this year, according to the company, demand still far outstrips supply. Yet, any number cruncher would ask why, in a recession and at $5,300 a pop, the Hermes guys haven’t hired a few more craftsmen to pick up the pace. Do they intentionally go slow to create an impression of scarcity, like the Broadway producer who hired an arthritic box office worker so there would always be a ticket line down the street? An Hermes spokesman said the company has hired more craftsmen to make Birkin . But there is a hitch: Hermes requires each one to train for Escarpin Christian Louboutin five years. Maybe I should consider myself lucky. The Birkin I ordered came in the wrong size. These days, it’s much easier to carry the fantasy of the Birkin than the receipt.
About the Author:
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
Comments
Leave a Reply
