I Just Don't Get It: Adventures in a Bougie Mall

On Saturday of last week, Gene and I drove our kids to the airport to catch a flight back to California. They flew out of Newark, so we were only minutes from NYC. We decided to, you know, swing by the Statue of Liberty while we were in the neighborhood. 


It was wicked cold and windy, so we decided to head home. On the way, we saw a mall. A MALL. 

Guys, these still exist. Depending on where you are from, this may not be exactly news to you, but in our area, the local mall is essentially defunct, with storage rental units where JC Penney's used to be and potholes peppering the parking lots. Supposedly, a developer is revitalizing the decrepit space, but progress has been incredibly slow. 

Suffice to say that when we saw an honest-to-goodness mall, we had to check it out. Little did we know we stumbled upon an upscale mall that was utterly out of our tax bracket. There were stores upon stores, most with designer names like Jimmy Choo, Chanel, Coach, and Louis Vuitton. Now, at the risk of sounding like a country bumpkin just arriving in the big ole city, the sight of people waiting in lines to just go into a store was mind-boggling. The stores had security guards, limiting the number of people permitted in the store at a time, presumably to curtail the theft of purses with thousand-dollar price tags. 

Friends, I have to be honest. I just don't get the appeal of designer-label clothing and accessories that cost thousands and thousands of dollars. I mean, for one, I work in a primary school and am regularly snotted on by children, so I have no use for expensive clothes, but even if I did go to some fancy office without tiny humans whose bodily fluids sometimes end up on me, I don't see myself wearing anything designer or carrying a purse worth more than a mortgage payment. 

I'm aware that there is an entire fashion industry out there, whose intricacies I'm blissfully ignorant of. I appreciate that a lot of talent, creativity, artistry, and imagination go into creating fashion. But, I still don't get wanting to buy a purse, for example, with "LV" printed all over it, just to prove to people that I can afford it. 

To be clear, I don't mean to judge people who do shop at designer stores. If you can afford it, and you aren't buying things so that people admire you, good on you. Truly. It's just not my thing. If I had enough money to have disposable income (read: didn't work in the field of education), I still wouldn't spend it on a $600 Hermes scarf or $900 heels. I don't even buy $9 heels, so there's that. 

I'm not saying I'd be responsible if I were rich, don't get it twisted. I'd absolutely buy a bunch of books I don't need, but more importantly, I'd splurge on experiences -- trips to Europe and Costa Rica, a vacation home in Maui. But over-priced jeans? Nah. 

Speaking of buying books I don't need, there was a cool bookstore in this mall called Indigo, which I got lost in. It just went on and on. I could have spent a day there. (This is probably where my fashionista counterparts go, "Why would anyone go to a bookstore when they can go to Sephora?" All good. To each their own, right?)

Here was something else I "got" in this bougie mall -- the incredible Italian market-slash-deli-slash-restaurant-slash-gelato shop. Did I take photos like a tourist? Yes, yes I did. 



Now THAT was a line out the door I could relate to. 

So, hey -- if you like spending money on designer merch, go for it. Catch me in the gelato line when you are done. The chocolate hazelnut was banging, and I need to try the coconut next. 
 


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