I'm not going to deny my occasional splurges on things here and there, that would be hypocritical. After all, materialism is part of what makes us Homo sapiens. We've always been attracted to material objects, since our creation. What do you think art is, anyway? It's one outcome of our materialism... But what made me write this is the relatively extreme lengths materialism has reached in our society today.
As my mom, sister, and I entered the glass doors of Bloomingdales at Fashion Valley, I could not help but feel out of place. The store was modern, classy, and well-designed for the most part. I found myself in awe as I looked down at the cleanest marble-tiled floors ever. If there was a little smudge distracting from your reflection, you almost expected a team of janitors to come to the rescue. It was pretty amazing, I have to say. Ok, staying on topic... So, the store was pretty, but the customer service... well, there was none. I don't recall one single "can I help you?" or "hello" during our visit. I really tried to give the store a chance. I mean, I really wanted to like it. (After all, from an artistic perspective, the place is beautiful.) We were looking for a dress for my sister's graduation. We finally found the area that is supposed to be the "Juniors" section, and I immediately started to flip through the racks. I found a dress similar to one I'd seen at Charlotte Russe and showed it to her. After remarking that it wasn't that great, I glimpsed the price tag, which came right after the letters "BCBG." A $300 summer dress similar to one I'd seen for $25!!! My gag reflex was really acting up. So, I'm shocked, frustrated, and somewhat pissed at how ridiculous that is when I saw this woman walking down an aisle. Her chin was held abnormally high, as if she was trying to achieve a perfectly flat plane from head to toe. Occasionally you would see her head turn left or right, depending on which anxious, salivating sales associate she was addressing. (I swear those associates had dollar signs for pupils.) Now, I'm no detective but the enormous rock on her finger right down to the Prada shoes on her feet spoke of wealth.
I watched her for a few moments, and my previous urge to barf had suddenly been replaced with the desire to laugh. She was the poster child for ridiculousness. Indeed. She thought she was royalty, and all I could do is wonder how having hubby's credit card made you suddenly the queen of Bloomingdales. The sad part was that she did not look remotely happy. Shopping had simply become the hunting ritual, just something that needed to be done. Her face looked as if it had dismissed all recognition of happiness. Her ability to just pull a $800 handbag off the shelf and buy it was as easy as snapping her fingers, yet no emotion. This was purely business.
I think I just largely became aware of the expenses we put in to unnecessary material possessions. Why do people feel like they need the Coach bag rather than a generic leather handbag? We end up spending ridiculous (this is obviously the word of the night) amounts of money on these things that 1) could cost us less elsewhere and 2) aren't necessary and 3) do not really bring us satisfaction as human beings. Personally, I would much rather return to the time when art was the ultimate material possession rather than stupid name brands created by some escaped psychopaths whom are held as idols. I mean, come on, P. Diddy could make a shoe-string, pasta necklace and his gurus would pay mad money for it. Pathetic.
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