Fashion & Spending (Be a Genius, Wear Denim)...

When I watched the high end retail market go wild in NYC, when Manhattan was full of hedge-fund excess, I wondered when it would pop. (wondering this, I did, wearing denim). Well, it has, along with other retailers biting the dust. Mother sent me this clipping from Oklahoma City about one of my favorite retailers from my earlier days, Harold's, going bankrupt and it set the prep look for Oklahoma and Dallas.  I was happy they even had one in Atlanta when I was there (Santa Fe never had one). When consumer spending represents two-thirds of the economy, we're in for a protracted severe recession.

Luxury is over and when Dallas cuts back, it's notable: "people aren’t shopping to feel better. They actually are not shopping to feel better.” The worst financial crisis since The Great Depression means thirty-seven percent of Americans plan to spend less on holiday gifts this year. When Rolexes & Picassos Hit Pawnshops you know that things are serious.

So, buy denim! What could be more practical? High-end (the $89.50 Ralph Lauren Western Denim shirt) or more practical (Working Person's store for Wrangler denim shirts at low cost), denim is the American uniform.  Denim has always been in style in Santa Fe. Fashion by default, I think.

One brilliant person wears nothing but denim. Inventor Dean Kamen is considered a genius - almost entirely self-taught, and technically never even graduated from high school, but was earning $60,000/year when he left high school. Kamen wears the same outfit - Levi jeans, workboots and denim shirts - and has for 30 years. He invented the Segway, the world's first drug-infusion pump (and formed a company to manufacture it), a portable insulin pump for diabetics and his latest invention is an electric car motor.  Read more about this guy who has only read one novel in his adult life (he has dyslexia (but not with numbers and equations) and reads old academic textbooks.

Let's go back to our truly original American fashion roots. Put on the denim. Some things never go out of style.

Some of the best things in life are simple.  What could be more practical, easier and comfortable?

Comments

[Kay Dennison]

I live in jeans these days -- even at the office. One Friday I wore jeans and apologized for not looking professional. My boss who always wears jeans (and looks like an unmade bed most of the time) and tennies told me to wear them all the time. I found that it was really better because it was less intimidating to our clients. And yeah, my boss is a genius. You'd never know to look at him that he's nationally known for his expertise on immigration.

[naomi dagen bloom]

jeans never left my closet so reading this makes me feel that i've been super-fashionable! just weart them more often than ten years ago...even have lined ones for the cold.

but it's going to take more than retrofitting wardrobes. did you see the ny times about how families need to begin to talk with one another about changing finances? very useful; hope people begin to take that seriously.

[Kathy]

Darn! I love Harold's!! I just bought a gorgeous art deco sweater there a few weeks ago. :(

J.Jill better stay in business...

[Carron E.]

Say it ain't so !!!.....Harolds goes under. What will the ladies of Highland Park do? One of the things I love so much about living in New Mexico is that people here sort of dress for functionality and comfort and warmth in the winter. They aren't obsessed with the latest style and no one dresses up much here. You may see someone who is "famous" or "wealthy" and they have on the jeans and a Carhartt jacket and dusty boots. Like their cars ... bought for utility....will it get you through the snow and up to the ski run?! They drive a Subaru. Denim and a black sweater with a chunky piece of silver jewelry is what they consider dressed up! That's not to say the boots may be pricey and the sweater designer cashmere. So...times are tough and people everywhere will learn, like the people of New Mexico, that the important clothes are comfortable and useful, that fun can happen having a stimulating conversation with interesting friends, and there isn't anything more beautiful than a sunset, a New Mexico sunset, and it doesn't cost a thing. For the rest of the country...can you say Target?