Afternoon:
10°c
The editor of a fashion glossy tells me she is torn between two extremes in the current climate: escapism and realism. "Should a magazine acknowledge the recession? Or should we be a place where people can get away from it?" my friend asked me the other day. "And what if," she whispered, "people stop wanting designer labels?"Too late, girlfriend, as Gok Wan would say.
Yesterday Burberry announced a £50 million cost-cutting exercise, with the loss of 200 jobs here and 200 in Spain. It is the first victim of the designer backlash - and it won't be the last. Because even if you can still afford a £1,000 trench coat, you won't get away with buying it without feeling really bad. And everyone knows shopping is meant to be a joyful experience.
The thrill of the splurge is gone. The designer brand is dead. This is miserable. I have bought precious few designer clothes in my time but I aspired to buy a lot more. Not only do they now look less affordable than ever but they're also politically incorrect. What are you supposed to do in these dark times if you love fashion? Give up and start wearing a regulation credit-crunch shellsuit? (Think about it, Sir Philip Green, it's a winner.)
Let's not get into another row about "green shoots" but there are some signs in the fashion world that it's still safe to shop. Unfortunately, though, it's not what I would really call shopping - it's more glorified bargain-hunting.
This week Natalie Massenet, the genius creator of net-a-porter.com - with a turnover of £55.2 million last year - announced the launch of a new discount site, theoutnet.com, selling designer stock at massively reduced prices. Meanwhile, at celebrity rip-off frock site Asos.com ("As Seen On Stars"), annual turnover just hit £165 million and sales have doubled in the past two months.
This aesthetic escapism is not pretty. In fact, it's a jumble sale. It's the £20 off-the-shoulder frock you snaffled online which, only in half light (or while half cut), looks a bit like the one Cheryl Cole had on last week. Discount end-of-line pieces and celeb knock-offs can never be as glamorous as owning a once-in-a-lifetime investment piece. But I begrudgingly concede that at least they're something.
In this era of misery, these virtual temples to retail therapy offer a glimmer of Obamaesque hope, even if they are a form of desperate glamour lite. Those of us who relish tasteless excess - and refuse to give up on the designer dream - can just use the original net-a-porter as free porn. Sign up for the updates so that you will be the first to know of the latest Alexander McQueen dress. You can even pick out your size and drag it into your virtual shopping trolley. Then make sure you press delete. This gives you the feel of a glamorous shopping experience. And saves you thousands and thousands of pounds. I knew I should have been an accountant.
Not a Mom-in-Chief, please
It was a great day for America and, let's hope, the world. But was it really a happy moment for women? At the inauguration I was willing Michelle Obama to fling the Bible aside, grab the microphone and shout: “How long until we get a woman president?” She didn't, of course, because she was fulfilling her new, self-appointed exclusively maternal role, standing one step behind her man.
This reinvention slightly appals me: Mrs Obama has always been a determined career woman as well as a committed parent. Her husband's appointment may have made the race question look like finished business but we're no closer to gender equality. Especially not with an intelligent, ambitious woman trading in her own aspirations for a new life as Mom-in-Chief.
A new era, then Star Wars
Despite living in the wilds of Zone 6, I am always pretending that I live closer to central London than I really do. Inauguration day, however, defined the suburbs' limits. There was no way I could do the school run and make it into town in time for a gate-crashing attempt at Richard Curtis's Notting Hill party. So instead we had our own Teddington inauguration. It was a moment our family would remember for generations to come. I prepared a batch of Nigella's Elvis-style Southern fried chicken and plumped up the sofa cushions. As the long-awaited speech started, however, Barack Obama's inspiring words about a “new era of responsibility” were drowned out by the sound of two demented under-fives chanting: “We want Return of the Jedi.” This is the return of the Jedi, I told them solemnly. And I meant it.
Reader views (3)
Regarding your "Mom-in-Chief" comments -- THANK YOU for pointing out what needs to be said! You are so right. I was a Hillary supporter, and I still feel sad about the way she was demeaned, insulted and harassed during her candidacy. Anyway, I'm overjoyed that finally our president and country are moving the right direction (of course, anyone would look good after Bush). I will point out that Obabma just signed a piece of equal-pay legislation that seemed like an obvious no-brainer to me, yet it would have been doomed under the Bush administration. So finally, U.S. seems to be coming back to its senses . . . but still women are way behind in pay, in jobs, in health care, in just about every issue. I'm old enough that I've been voting every election since 1976, but have never seen a female mayor in my city, female governor in my state, or female president/VP in my country. I don't know if it will happen in my lifetime. This cowboy country still lags behind so many others when it comes to gender equality.
- Maryann, Los Angeles, California, 02/02/2009 00:08
Report abuse
Interesting comments about Michelle Obama "trading in her own aspirations for a new life as Mom-in-Chief". Let's hope she doesn't suffer the same fate as the last Democratic First Lady. I mean, whatever happened to her............
- Steve, London, 22/01/2009 17:51
Report abuse
If you really believe that a woman stands one step behind her man then you are seriously undermining yourself. She keeps everything running smoothly so he can get on with it - do you want him to do the washing up when he should be saving the world? There's not many women around who wouldn't want to be in her shoes! I wish it would be acknowledged that someone needs to look after the children - look at the mess we're in.
- Beverly, London, 22/01/2009 14:16
Report abuse
