Forget the $500 Manolo Blahnik pumps. Those triple-digit shoes may be old-school. Luxury has new and higher prices, according to this report from Associated Press.
Members of the high-ticket, in-crowd are now wearing:
$1,000 shoes (up from $350 to $600)
$5,000 to $40,000 purses (up from $600)
$700,000 pens from Montblanc.
"Whether it's a handbag, shoe, or watch, the price of keeping up has gone up," said Kelly Bensimon, founding editor of Elle Accessories in an AP report.
Members of the high-ticket, in-crowd are now wearing:
$1,000 shoes (up from $350 to $600)
$5,000 to $40,000 purses (up from $600)
$700,000 pens from Montblanc.
"Whether it's a handbag, shoe, or watch, the price of keeping up has gone up," said Kelly Bensimon, founding editor of Elle Accessories in an AP report.
The wild prices and the very conspicuous consumption reflect the widening gap between the wealthy (annual salary over $350,000) and the rest of us. That gap has grown to the widest levels since the Depression, according to some market experts.
But I don't buy that explanation. Some of the wealthiest people I know are very, very frugal shoppers. They're very generous, but they don't waste money. So who is buying all of that big-ticket merchandise, where sales and prices have been popping higher?
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The Frugal Duchess Booktique
The Frugal Duchess of Beauty Store
Book Shop of Fear
The Poetry & Drama Queen
Frugal Jazz & Blues
Frugal Comic Book Connection
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_____________
The Frugal Duchess Booktique
The Frugal Duchess of Beauty Store
Book Shop of Fear
The Poetry & Drama Queen
Frugal Jazz & Blues
Frugal Comic Book Connection
__
4 comments:
The 'wannabe' people, the people who let image influence their life and don't look to the future about how their purchases will impact them.
Who?
Inadequate men and the women who love them (or at least pretend too) for their money (Donald Trump et al).
Or maybe companies are offering these goods because if a (sucker) does buy them, they make a crazy profit, and they immediately get to establish themselves as a fantastic company for the uber rich, which then turns the items into status symbols...which then makes THAT the new luxury standard instead of the triple-digit luxury goods being attained now. Those triple-digit goods are too plebian apparently...
Companies are just messing with us to see how far consumers will go before cracking.
In keeping with that, I once blogged about $800 haircuts!!!
If you are billionaire, some of these articles are just pieces of art, nice to pass on prosperity and there is no shame to buy these eternal treasures. To those talking about poverty in the world and such as, I answer that buying these things have no impact whatsoever on these matters. The act of buying, be it on a $0,50 BIC or the amazing Montblanc at $700,000,00, both help the economy to spin, create jobs and help poverty diminish. It is to show off theses things in vanity that is bad. The pen that would really amaze me would be one who can only write smart things. Whatever would be the price, I would be buying one to give to the president.
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