Greed is good
So many pre-Christmas bargains, so little desire to shop for anyone but oneself. Is it just me or has this Christmas been exceptionally testing in the generosity department? Luckily there’s no such floor in Selfridges, so let’s assume that Barbara Kruger’s “I shop therefore I am” , the store’s wry little sales slogan, is working to keep us true to our inner Scrooges. “One scented candle for mum, one pair of Victor & Rolf half-price shoe boots for me.” But this year the sales began before Christmas, before those surplus calories get to fuel our one last – and morally-justified – shopping binge. The fashionista’s christmas came early, and much to my dismay I might add, because frankly I don’t need any more incentives to be selfish and to spin the season of goodwill into commercial opportunity. I struggle enough as it is without Selfridges boasting some of the biggest designer reductions I’ve ever seen. Thousand pound pieces of Givenchy, Fendi and YSL slashed to the price of a couple of Reiss dresses.
Selfridges might want to go the extra mile and emblazon the store with the infamous Wall Street quote beloved by Gordon Gekko: GREED IS GOOD. A return to good old-fashioned 80s capitalist values will boost the economy no end, which is a damn fashionable proposition given that designers have hauled the decade into focus for spring. Ripped jeans and stonewashed morals? Bargain.
