08/14/07

9:01 a.m.
So, yesterday, it wasn't that our air-conditioning was unable to keep up, it was that it had conked out altogether! And on the hottest day of the year, so far . . . of course.

It got to be around 4 p.m. and unable to bear the continuously rising temperature any longer, I fled the condo for the downstairs lounge, finding out once I hit the sweet, cool breezes of the lobby level that the air-conditioning was on the fritz for only three floors in the entire building -- one of them being ours.

It took a few more hours and then the problem was resolved, but how in the world did anyone survive here in the South when there wasn't such a brilliant modern invention as air conditioning? That's what I want to know.

7:19 p.m.
I spent most of the day reading "The Cult of the Luxury Brand" as my mind reels. The information in this book dovetails a bit with the Gucci book I'm reading, as there was a point in the 90's when the Japanese recession began and all the luxury brands took a huge hit to their profits, including Gucci. It was a time of panic and consternation among the design houses as they struggled to keep afloat while a huge chunk of their regular clientele pulled way back on the purchasing for a few years.

Reading this book also gives me a much better insight as to why most top design houses generally orient their lines to European and Asian body types rather than Americans. Asia and Europe together consume over 70% of the luxury goods produced annually, which leaves the U.S. consumer wielding only about 25% of the clout in the luxury market.

Time and time again, I've listened to American women express frustration about how difficult it is to find a designer dress that fits properly, and I've experienced my own frustration while trying on Prada, Armani, Versace, Yamamoto, etc. -- too skinny in the sleeves, too tight through the shoulders, not enough leg room in the thigh, shoes that pinched my toes. I was, like, "They obviously aren't making their clothing for me!"

And I was right. They're not making their clothes for me. Or their shoes. Or their bags. Or their belts, scarves, coats, luggage, gloves or hats. They're designing their product lines first and foremost for the Japanese and the Europeans. If some mongrel American is somehow able to squeeze into it as well -- that's just a happy accident.

"Look upon my skinny thighs and despair!"

I mean, really, I'd love to look like that in a suit -- Blue-Blooded and in the final throes of consumption -- but my ancestors were clearly German peasants who toiled in the fields, and they passed on the DNA that proves it.

That doesn't mean I don't want a kick-ass suit, though!