I've been to a planet named Prada (RL)

[thistlechaser]

I went to the mall today. I haven't been to a mall in fifteen years or more. I dislike shopping (and crowds of people), so really, staying away from malls works best for me. However, when I ordered my iPad I ordered a case as well. Unfortunately the case was due to arrive 2-3 weeks after the pad. Since the pad is basically one big touchscreen, it kinda needs a case. So off I went to the closest Apple Store! (In Valley Fair Mall, for those in the area.)

What a wacky place. I felt like it was for some species totally different than mine. Every designer had a store (I saw Devil Wears Prada, so I knew them all!). Jewelry stores (Cartier, Tiffany's). Stores with nothing but just one designer's handbag. There was an entire store just for eyebrows. Seriously. Hollywood Eyebrows. An entire, full-sized store just for shaping eyebrows. Endless designer shoe stores. Fashion stores for newborns. Gah.

It just boggles me so much. You can be as not-naked when wearing a $20 pair of pants as you are when wearing a $500 pair.

Irony of this trip? The store was out of cases. Luckily they found one in the back for me!

Comments

[laurelwood.livejournal.com]

I actually semi-enjoy shopping, but I still feel very "Is this place for another species?"ish when I go to Valley Fair, so I tend to avoid that place whenever possible. It used to be just an ordinary mall, but now it's just bizarre. I haven't even seen the eyebrow place. I wonder what the 'technicians' would think of my virgin eyebrows. They'd probably be horrified that I've been walking around like this for 40-odd years.

Yay that you got a case- it'd suck to have to go back!

[veloxe.livejournal.com]

You can be as not-naked when wearing a $20 pair of pants as you are when wearing a $500 pair.

Gotta remember that one for later.

[ani-mama.livejournal.com]

One of the directors I worked with bought his wife some Tiffany jewelry for Christmas. He got it while at work and showed it to the curious gaggle of office gals. I remember being utterly underwhelmed...for $4000 I could have bought a lot more interesting things than a small necklace and earring set!

[mark356.livejournal.com]

Forget $20 pants; most of the time I wear $5 pants from the thrift store!

I have been known to splurge on expensive clothing, though. When you spend $300 on a pair of pants, you're probably paying for a very specific material, fabrication, cut, and tailoring. And you'd wear it to very different places than you'd wear the $5 jeans from the thrift store.

On the other hand, though, I can never go shopping in malls like the one you just went to. (Where do you live, New York City??) The scale of prices is just too different than what I've got. It's not every day-- or, heck, every year-- that I can afford to spend $300 on a pair of pants! I so hate going into a nice store, finding a sweater that I think I could get away with, and then finding it's $150. I don't have $150!

I do like the process of shopping, of checking out stores and seeing what they've got, but whenever I go into ritzy places like the one you probably went to, I feel a sense of dislocation-- like you said, like it's another planet.