This is a brilliant piece! There's no such thing as an "ethical billionaire". The externalities are always ignored whether it's underpaid and unsafe labour, limitless resource extraction or the unfettered pollution of the natural world.
One of the best you've written. Unsolicited editorial suggestion: Given the amount of research and citation that went into this piece, you could easily expand it into a full-length essay. So good! <3
Excellent perspective on the friction-filled layers of wildly successful ownership. One cannot own the handbag without the fingerprints of the hands that toiled to bring it to existence. Three weeks ago, in Milan, I visited the original Prada store (not fact checked - a description provided by the seductive sales associate), with a dad I was traveling with and our two 10 year old daughters. The girls walked out with handbags, I walked out with a photograph of them beaming with pride, clutching the most valuable item in their young wardrobes. Clueless owners to a system of manufacture they can't begin to imagine. Part of me wishes I could show that photo to the real people that made the bag to see the delight their work created, part of me wishes they were holding melting gelatos instead of Prada bags.
This is a ‘plane for the pantheon. Her constant referral to her ‘politics’ as well as the labelling switcheroo you outline belie a deep insecurity I think we often see in the ultra wealthy. They know being rich (…evil) is corny but they are always searching for a way around it. Zuck and Bezos will never be cool, not because they don’t patronize sustainable indie clothing brands but because they are rich, evil, and lame. Those are antithetical to swag. In my opinion this logic extends to these billion dollar brands like Prada. Everything they do wrt activism/pro-social messaging/gesturing to Miuccia’s political past is all an effort to compensate for the fact that these fools are lame as fuck and they know it.
Speaking on Materialism specifically, as someone who for years had worked in luxury retail, I can confidently say that Prada has to have some of the worst quality items on the market, from the leathers to the nylon, which is a shame because whenever I come across vintage Prada irl from 10–15+ years ago, the difference in quality is night and day.
Wanting to evoke and idea or message in a collection is one thing, but it baffles me when people try to intellectualize Prada, at least in its current form as something other that the farce it is, the ghost of its former communist self . The Elia Kazan of fashion. To loosely paraphrase Robert Pirsig from Zen and art of motorcycle maintenance,
Regarding items that are poorly made, in this case clothing, bags etc,the idea of not caring is already built into it by the producer so why should the consumer expect anything more than a sub par product. Especially with something coming from a multi billion dollar corporation
Love breakdowns like this. It reminds me in Worn (Sofi Thanhauser) when she talks about how fashion writers used to discuss clothing in terms of material, but now the sole identifier is the designer's name. Pieces like this are grounding, thank you.
Yes this is good. Can appreciate it for what it is but also for the bigger picture of BBSP putting this out there; as they become more “insider-y” (a blunt term for building visibility and influence) it gets harder and harder to in essence speak truth to power. At a time when it’s needed most it seems most difficult, and applaud any efforts in that direction.
Prada is such a weird one. On one hand, the clothes are often sick. On the other hand every time I see someone visibly rocking any big house shit I immediately assign them 25 Corny Points. I firmly believe the best clothes in the world can be had for $600 and under and are often made by companies of 5-10 people
This is a brilliant piece! There's no such thing as an "ethical billionaire". The externalities are always ignored whether it's underpaid and unsafe labour, limitless resource extraction or the unfettered pollution of the natural world.
One of the best you've written. Unsolicited editorial suggestion: Given the amount of research and citation that went into this piece, you could easily expand it into a full-length essay. So good! <3
Excellent perspective on the friction-filled layers of wildly successful ownership. One cannot own the handbag without the fingerprints of the hands that toiled to bring it to existence. Three weeks ago, in Milan, I visited the original Prada store (not fact checked - a description provided by the seductive sales associate), with a dad I was traveling with and our two 10 year old daughters. The girls walked out with handbags, I walked out with a photograph of them beaming with pride, clutching the most valuable item in their young wardrobes. Clueless owners to a system of manufacture they can't begin to imagine. Part of me wishes I could show that photo to the real people that made the bag to see the delight their work created, part of me wishes they were holding melting gelatos instead of Prada bags.
This is a ‘plane for the pantheon. Her constant referral to her ‘politics’ as well as the labelling switcheroo you outline belie a deep insecurity I think we often see in the ultra wealthy. They know being rich (…evil) is corny but they are always searching for a way around it. Zuck and Bezos will never be cool, not because they don’t patronize sustainable indie clothing brands but because they are rich, evil, and lame. Those are antithetical to swag. In my opinion this logic extends to these billion dollar brands like Prada. Everything they do wrt activism/pro-social messaging/gesturing to Miuccia’s political past is all an effort to compensate for the fact that these fools are lame as fuck and they know it.
Speaking on Materialism specifically, as someone who for years had worked in luxury retail, I can confidently say that Prada has to have some of the worst quality items on the market, from the leathers to the nylon, which is a shame because whenever I come across vintage Prada irl from 10–15+ years ago, the difference in quality is night and day.
Wanting to evoke and idea or message in a collection is one thing, but it baffles me when people try to intellectualize Prada, at least in its current form as something other that the farce it is, the ghost of its former communist self . The Elia Kazan of fashion. To loosely paraphrase Robert Pirsig from Zen and art of motorcycle maintenance,
Regarding items that are poorly made, in this case clothing, bags etc,the idea of not caring is already built into it by the producer so why should the consumer expect anything more than a sub par product. Especially with something coming from a multi billion dollar corporation
Ouch! My fingers are bleeding! The journalism is too incisive!
Thank you for writing this.
Think you meant “Delete “Palm Pilot” and swap in a 17 Pro” instead of Delete “New media”
Love breakdowns like this. It reminds me in Worn (Sofi Thanhauser) when she talks about how fashion writers used to discuss clothing in terms of material, but now the sole identifier is the designer's name. Pieces like this are grounding, thank you.
Thank you for shitting all over these hypocinis, smearing poop on their heads and eyes. Do another one!
Dang dang danggity dang am i excited to read this…. !
Yes this is good. Can appreciate it for what it is but also for the bigger picture of BBSP putting this out there; as they become more “insider-y” (a blunt term for building visibility and influence) it gets harder and harder to in essence speak truth to power. At a time when it’s needed most it seems most difficult, and applaud any efforts in that direction.
Prada is such a weird one. On one hand, the clothes are often sick. On the other hand every time I see someone visibly rocking any big house shit I immediately assign them 25 Corny Points. I firmly believe the best clothes in the world can be had for $600 and under and are often made by companies of 5-10 people
The italicized "possible" is doing some HEAVY work.
TRUTH! thank you.