A SOCIETY IN CRISIS

Independence Day Party at Embassy

The right to party. The right to get drunk. The right to stay sober. The right to puke. The right to mispel wurds. The right to take a shit. The right to play. The right to care. The right to give a damn. The right to be repetitive. The right to celebrate. The right to surf. The right to be right. The right to murder bloggers in their sleep. The right to suck. The right to spit. The right to swallow. The right to sleep. With anyone, anywhere. The right to be gone in the morning. The right to a one night stand. The right to break hearts. The right to be vain. The right to call in sick. The right to sing. The right to shop. The right to wear Gucci. The right to get hot. The right to smoke tobacco. The right to snort cocaine. The right to vote. The right to chat. The right to lie. The right to left. The right to grow hair. The right to make love, not war. The right to be inspired. The right to be gay. The right to be gay. The right to rock n’ roll. The right to sing in the shower. The right to fake an orgasm. The right to make a difference. The right to be free.

A SOCIETY IN CRISIS
by: boldstar

Alain Nemarq, the chairman of Mauboussin, the prestige jewellery firm, said that the world of luxury had gone wild in pursuit of the idea that nothing could be too expensive and no profit margin too exorbitant. "The pursuit of exclusive trophies ... is finished," he wrote in Le Figaro last week. "We will now return to reason, decency and discretion." Déjà vu or jamais vu? Either way we are going to get stuffed.

Ladies and gentlemen, please fasten your seatbelt. The economic world is indeed in the midst of turbulence, worst since the great depression and we may need to execute an emergency crash landing. That means back to reality. So buckle up, and assume the brace position because you may find yourself waving goodbye to Lanvin and shopping for ukay ukay in Cubao, letting go of Angus beef for lunch and 0% shopping for beach gowns. Unless you are one of those rare breeds of people who have never been touched by this crisis, consider yourself lucky. Like Miss Paris Hilton, who graced us in Australia with her presence over the New Year and proceeded to apparently buy 31 dresses. But if you ask me I can smell a publicity X-deal.

Unfortunately for high end retailers like Chanel which slashed 200 jobs 2 days before 2009, and saw the cancellation of its mobile artistic installation featuring its quilted handbag, the meltdown in sales has clearly walloped its interlocking facade. The luxury purveyor is now starting to feel the brunt and will continue as its high net worth customers fortunes disappear into thin air. China Daily reported that Chinese billionaires dropped from 66 in 2007 to 24 in 2008 (China Daily, 2008). While LVMH, the biggest conglomerate, cancelled a plan for a megastore in Tokyo after losing 44% of its share value last year. Alain Nemarq believes they are facing a harsh future after a decade in which greed and easy money led to hubris.

As much as it is hard for the House of Chanel to admit its current losses it cannot shut its doors like when Madame Chanel closed shop just before the Nazis took over Europe and checked herself in at the Ritz for 30 years. If Madame Chanel recognised the irrelevance of fashion, what then would the relevance be for fashion blogs like Shoppingera, Bryanboy, and Chuvaness? Should they follow Madame Coco and retire? Or should they just morphed into something else focusing less on expensive wanting needing anything thereby showing us their skills, creativity and survival chutzpah to transform with the changing socioeconomic conditions and sentiments. Or would it be a free for all "bakbakan" in the blogosphere, and he/she who dares wins. Remember, their blogs are about their latest purchases, their lifestyle oozing with money and never-ending society dos, first class travels, and charitable efforts. No one can seriously disassociate the commercial objectives of such artistic endeavours. How else would these fashion blogs survive without x-deals, advertising rents and media freebies?

People it seems are no longer interested in the latest "It" whatever, and going to fancy designer installations that is fundamentally just a shrine to decadence and wanton spending for something malignant. So blog traffic to Mabuhay girls, BB's and Chuvaness's may seriously be dented by this crisis. Unless of course the "Chikatime" fever, arising from the dominant pastimes of every Filipinas and Filipinos I know, here and abroad would reveal that all three are mortal enemies.

In a small Manila fashion pond, jealousies, intrigues and debt obligations do create havoc between relationships. By writing about these blogs does it also mean that I am aiding and abetting their survival? Hopefully my efforts can be seen not just as a panacea to the ills of our society but as a stepping stone for all our personal growth.

But then again there is Hermes. Saved by the bell, err I mean Twill, silk scarves which are its entry level product. And so does Gucci, and Tods', in that rarefied status. Crisis! What crisis? For some, at least if you are wealthy and working like Chuvaness, its LV to the max and hello bodyguard. For Shoppingera Mabuhay Girl, it is a case of Scarlett asking, "Rhett, if you go, where shall I go? What shall I do?" He answers, "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn". OK that was just for drama as it is actually rent me! Rent me; rent my blog, this space for yours!

Therefore amidst the crescendos of bravados, I shall name thee Jenni Diversification Epperson, mabuhay extraordinaire.

And then there's Bryanboy, who would probably state in his will to get buried in haute couture outfit by any members of the Chambre syndicale de la haute couture wrapped in a chinchilla full length fur coat. And then like Paola Fendi bribe the officials of Campo Verano, an exclusive but full cemetery just to get buried next to the exalted of Roman society. Hence, for some, luxury till they depart or, holding a Hermes bag while they are being departed. With rampant lay-offs and specially in manila where poverty is hard to ignore, it would be suicide carrying a Louis Vuitton bag worth 150,000+ pesos around unless of course one never venture beyond the borders of one's gated community, air-conditioned car and shopping malls accompanied by a bodyguard. Personally, I would feel like Robert (Will Smith) in "I am Legend" hunted by 588 million Darkseekers.

For other mere mortals, like many Chinese professionals, extolling the virtues of frugality is a necessity. So in with living for a "100-yuan for a week" campaign, blogging budget tips, and recipes for meals, that cost less than 10 Yuan ($1.46), wrote Michael Wei from Reuters International. But then again millions of Filipinos have been living for a dollar each day as proof of our martyrdom in this never ending political thievery.

Reason, decency, discretion, and frugality are our survival mantras. Overall, if you don't have it, don't borrow to spend it, and pretend rich, because as much as you'd think rich and be rich ala Tim Yap, there is such a thing as "can't really afford it" and some of us who knows the truth. Wake up! Because like a tiger in an African savannah, who hide it's captured prey up a tree away from thieving hyenas, the natural law of the jungle will eventually force you to share it.