Armani blouse: $1,800
Armani jacket: $5,000
Armani shoes: $2,200
Being disgusted by all this luxury: Priceless
[Thu, Jan 17 2002 – 23:33] Giorgio Armani (www) (email) I am disgusted by luxury, it is true, which is why I never charge $2,200 for shoes. Stefan Geens is an ignorant fuck who knows nothing about fashion.
[Fri, Jan 18 2002 – 05:36] Belmeloro (email) actually armani does have lower cost brands, ranging from the pure “armani” label, all hand made, jolly expensive, down to the mid-level expensive but affordable “collezioni”, then we have “emporio”, and one could just about dress one’s uncle in that, and we end up at the lowly “exchange” brand, a sort of Gappy type of thing, which this stefan character could wear on a good day.
Belmeloro is still stuck at the “collezioni” stage, but is trying to work his way up to buying $2200 shoes one day. he feels his non-english speaking friend Giorgio might have misused the word “luxury”, and may instead have been meaning “frippery” or pointless expensive decoration. certainly the sleek economy and understated style of his designs would imply that frippery is something he thinks should be avoided.
[Fri, Jan 18 2002 – 15:39] Felix (www) (email) Very good, belmeloro. What you call the pure “armani” level is actually called “Giorgio Armani”, and you forgot “Armani Jeans”, which comes somewhere below Emporio. Whether Armani Exchange is Armani at all is debatable: Giorgio Armani has no stake in it, and designs none of the clothes: it just pays an annual fee to use the Armani name.
But Giorgio was right, above: even the top-of-the-range Giorgio Armani label doesn’t charge $2,200 for a pair of shoes.
[Mon, Jan 21 2002 – 23:09] George R. Marny Esq. (www) (email) Dear chap. My Lobb shoes were $3,000 and they’re hand-stiched. My coat’s Harris tweed and my underpants are made my silkworms raised by the vegetarian nuns of St. Albans. And what’s wrong with that? Several people are employed to keep my kit in top-top-ship-shape fashion. I do my bit. Get a real job. Kindest and sincerest regards, Marny.
[Tue, Jan 22 2002 – 05:33] Belmeloro (email) Dear george, may i just say pshaw! no one except 2nd generation new money desperate for acceptance by old (no)money norman aristocracy wears silk knickers from the vegetarian nuns of st. albans. old (no) money buys cotton briefs at marks and spencers. you remind me of the yanks who’d pop over to cambridge for a year. the first term they’d be perfectly pleasant people called ed, who’d put up good-naturedly with the inevitable ribbing, the 2nd term they’d begin to emit odd noises as their accents began to transform, and in their last term they’d be nasal “edwards ” or “teddys”, who’d hang out with impoverished sons of baronets at the pitt club (buying all the drinks), talk extremely knowledgably about fox hunting, and wear $3k lobb shoes, harris tweeds, and said underwear.
get over it. the real aristocracy these days are boy bands, the ex-wives & girlfriends of boy bands, and the gallagher brothers. and THEY wear armani, OK?
[Wed, Jan 23 2002 – 16:48] George, Uncurious (email) pshaw twice over. dear chap. dear, dear, chap. up your bum.
A great many paranoid conspiracy theorists (PCTs) and average Joes and Joettes are conscious of the esoteric order named the Illuminati. The Illuminati is commonly believed to have its roots in the European Enlightenment and it’s believed the order was founded in May 1776 by Adam Weishaupt a Jesuit instructed Professor of canon law. Today there’s a growing belief that the Illuminate is not simply a benign group of intellectuals and wealthy adherents seeking camaraderie in kind but is in fact a malignant entity dedicated to the creation of a one world order in which the masses are enslaved and controlled by “the few”.
David Icke is perhaps the most well-known and vociferous campaigner against the Illuminati and he reputedly believes the Illuminati controls humanity via machinations, subterfuge, secrecy, and conspiracy. Indeed, David Icke cites the Holocaust, Oklahoma City bombing, the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, the war in Bosnia, and the September 11, 2001 attacks as examples of events orchestrated by the Illuminati; Icke believes these orchestrated catastrophes are designed to coerce, control and led the masses into submissive subjugation — to a world in which the Illuminati have complete, unequivocal and unanswerable control over the ignorant masses.
Recently it was proposed that Fashion has its own form of the Illuminati. This elite order of “fashion” Illuminati apparently coerce, control and led the masses into submissive style — dictating what is fashionable and thereby excluding free and true style which they consider a threat to their positions of power. Most historic Fashion Houses have been identified as members of this esoteric order and a number of media channels have been accused of being complicit in the conspiracy to control the fashion buying masses. It has been suggested that if we look around us today we will see clear evidence to support this conspiracy theory as the verve of youth and innovation is suppressed in favor of drab, lifeless mediocrity.
On the other hand, perhaps we should not look to blame secret orders for the serious, and not so serious, issues of our time. Perhaps we, you and I, the masses, need to step forward and through our own spirit, determination and desire for change claim a new future built on egalitarianism, inclusive respect and opportunity for all.