It takes all kinds, and so does fashion. It satisfies all tastes, both the beautiful and the ugly ones. The designers create but always pay attention to their business. And since pecunia non olet, often what happens is that what is sold as luxury and expensive actually looks very cheap.
Sophistication, elegance, style: three words that, talking about look, not always (or almost never) are in any way related to the price on the label of clothes or accessories. If not all that glitters is gold, for sure I can affirm that not all that is expensive is luxury. Or better, it’s luxury but results in pure ostentation.
For those who live in Milan, at least once, have bumped into Russian people that crowd the streets of the city center while holding in their hands the bags from the most famous boutiques: Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Armani, etc.
Well, they are the perfect example. They are flashy like a Xmas tree and accessorized with any object that could be defined as showy, they’ve just one goal in mind: to show off their cash. We could say that’s the eternal competition to have the biggest one…wallet, of course!
But even without arriving to the land of vodka and fur hats, we can speak about luxury as also having a look at our ordinary life. It’s enough to think about white trash outfits that we see every single day. Giant logos printed on t-shirts, bags, shoes. They’re so visible that they don’t go unobserved even for somebody blind as a bat. And also belts appropriate for a duel at the time of the wild west, chains around the neck like a saint during the procession and other whims that burn the bank account. Expensive, but ugly and ungraceful. I still remember the age of jeans by Richmond with the graphics RICH just over the butt cheeks, no comment.
“That’s the fashion, baby. The fashion! And there’s nothing you can do about it. Nothing!”, the contemporary Humphrey Bogart would say in a potential remake of Deadline – U.S.A.
The threat is bad taste. Luxury at all costs, because to appear rich is priceless. So, even what is considered ‘high’ can become drastically ‘low’ and CHEAP. That’s the slight line that highlights a clear border between somebody rich and the nouveau riche, even if the attitude to show off without any moderation, often belongs also to people who don’t have ready money but want to build their social status. Each of us has an aspirational model, it’s the well-known What do you want to be when you grow up?: there’s those who want to be Donald Trump and those who aspire to be Dario Fo, even with the cash of Donald Trump. As always, it’s all about class…that cannot be bought. So, please, take cuffs off of your pants: they’re allowed only in Venice if the tide is high, very high.
