Sunday, September 17, 2006
Fashion victims
Although shopping wasn’t on our agenda for this trip, we did have a number of requests from the hubby’s colleagues for Louis Vuitton goods (can I do an eye-roll here?). Now if you don’t already know this astounding fact (like me, until this trip), LV goods are as much as 40% cheaper in Paris than their retail prices in HK, if you buy them as a tourist. The retail prices are lower, plus you get VAT back later. So although we weren’t particularly keen to be seen hobnobbing with the fashion-savvy, we reluctantly made the trip to LV’s newly-renovated flagship store at the Champs Elysees. It was a fifteen minute walk from our hotel, and in autumn weather, it was a pleasant journey.
Until we got there. We had to queue up to get into the store. Not so different from the stores in HK, eh? We were let in after about five minutes of queueing. Some monogrammed-bag-waving fashionistas on stilettos tried to barge in without lining up but the bouncers (yep) took care to prevent a riot on the hallowed pavements. After we got in, you could almost hear a distant choir greet our visit, and then we took in the scene.
Shelf-upon-shelf, row-upon-row and tier-upon-tier of LV bags. The bags sat pristinely on their shelves, leather glistening away in the glare of spotlights, while hungry LV shoppers discussed their hearts desires with equally-hungry LV customer service consultants. Large monogrammed trunks dangled from the ceiling, suspended in a flood of halogen lighting. And you don’t just pick up any old bag you fancy: you have to wait until one of them attends to you. We were just mesmerised by the number of people in the store who were already touting various combinations of monogrammed bags and purses. Men, even! - there was a section dedicated to the fashion-conscious amongst men.
The thing that stuck out the most: all the customers appeared to be tourists. We didn’t see a single person who looked like a French local. Except for them customer service consultants. Which reminds me. While it is common to see branded handbags on the MTR, you don’t really see any on the Metro, unless they’re on the arm of an Asian tourist.
Once we were attended to, we gave them the list comprising the product codes of the bags awaited wistfully by hubby’s colleagues in HK. Her task made easier and wasting no time, our customer service consultant hurried away and returned with the products packed neatly into an embarrassingly huge LV carrier bag (how do we hide this?!) and equally quickly swiped our credit card.
We were not to escape judgment though: as we were making our way out of the store, hubby was suddenly accosted by a former university contemporary! Talk about coincidences, and of all places to meet former acquaintances! “What-are-you-doing-here”s and “I-can’t-believe-I-met-you-in-LV-in-Paris”s were quickly exchanged before we escaped. We had to lug that @&^%#! carrier bag for the rest of the evening as it was too inconvenient to walk all the way back to the hotel and come out again.
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