Wooley: Fashion shows not everyone is doing it tough
While some Aussies are choosing between buying food or fuel … others are splashing the cash on luxury goods, writes Charles Wooley
Opinion
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The 1920s American pop song “Ain’t We Got Fun” still holds good in Australia today, “There’s nothing surer, the rich get richer, and the poor get poorer”.
According to economic analysts from our top banks, some Australians are still splashing the cash while others are having to choose between buying food or fuel.
It has become clear that not everyone is doing it tough. The current rising costs of everything, including interest rates, are not weighing evenly on all Australians.
The quarterly consumer survey by the investment bank UBS says that those Australians on more than $120,000 a year are still optimistic and out and having fun, while those on less than $48,000 a year are staying home.
At long last, a word of sympathy from Philip Lowe, the out-going (not necessarily by nature, he is an economist) Governor of the Reserve Bank, who said last week: “It’s tough. Some people in the community are finding things really difficult from higher interest rates, and other people are benefiting from it.”
With that revelation the business pages of the national dailies (that chunk of print between news and sport) were chockers this week with stories of cashed-up shoppers splurging on luxury brands like Gucci, Jimmy Choo and Dolce & Gabbana.
Be assured I own none of those, but I once did have a $500 Monte Blanc pen, for about half a day.
It was not a folly. It was a gift, which I left for a moment on a desk in the newsroom and someone in a hurry must have grabbed it.
There are so many cheap lookalikes I’m sure ‘the thief’ had no idea.
Years ago in London, I worked with a sound recordist who had brought back a fake Rolex from Beirut and was mugged for it on the Tube.
He wasn’t game to catch the same train for some time. As he said: “When they find it’s not kosher and they see me again, you can bet they won’t be giving me a fake bashing.”
As the doleful prophet Ecclesiastes told us, “Vanity of vanities. All is vanity”.
The prophet was right. We will all be dead soon, but in the meantime let’s drop a few brand names to make this column look worldly and sophisticated rather than narky and judgmental.
The fashion house Chanel has just reported a 12-month sales jump to $571m, an increase of 32 per cent. Sales at Christian Dior were up 17 per cent.
Meanwhile shares in the ASX-listed online fashion business Cettire (I’d never heard of it either, neither has my spellcheck) are up 54 per cent.
Cettire trades in most of the absurdly expensive brands, some already mentioned here, and has announced its sales for the past four months have increased by 122 per cent to $141.3m.
Even the banks aren’t growing that fast.
You might never have heard of Canada Goose, perhaps because their winter coats sell for thousands of dollars. Nicole Kidman and Rihanna wear them, and the company is now setting up shop in Australia because it says, “Australia is a world-renowned destination for luxury”.
Getting real, the only fashion house I know here in River City is Fellini in Collins St which is run by old friends.
“Business is not too bad,” I was told this week. “But nowhere near where it was a few years back.”
Billion-dollar colosseums aside, there is often a restrained financial modesty and balance in our small town. Pina at Fellini wasn’t talking it up big when she said: “In times like these there are bargains in top fashion. We have a huge sale on right now with 50 per cent price reductions. You can buy a Canali or a Hugo Boss suit for $1350 instead of $2800.”
Now I don’t want to display Philip Lowe-like insouciance but if you don’t have one of those, half price isn’t a bad investment. Back in the roaring days, Channel 9 supplied me with such suits, and I must say they don’t wear out and don’t seem to go out of style. Well not so that I would notice. The point is to not have too many of them.
We are told the average Australian only ever wears about one third of the clothing in their wardrobes. And we are all throwing away an average of 23kg of clothing into landfill every year. There is little or no recycling.
But until you grow too old and fat to get into it, you would never throw away a Hugo Boss or a Canali. Not at those prices, even if they are 50 per cent off.
Making television docos there are no sartorial worries; you wear the same thing every day. My travelling wardrobe is two pairs of blue jeans and three identical shirts, blue or white. Always wearing the same, scenes shot over many days can be edited out of sequence without any continuity problems.
You wouldn’t believe how picky people can be.
“Look, he was wearing a red shirt when he got into the car in Broome and now, he’s got a green one when he gets out in Kununurra.”
People should get a life, but possibly they can’t afford to.
In London many years ago I remember how the Duchess of Cambridge, not sharing the same silver tail family background as the profligate House of Windsor, economised by wearing the same pale pink frock to two events.
The British tabloids went mad. “Kate Wears Same Dress
Twice in 11 Days!”
The dress cost 2000 quid 10 years ago.
For a fraction of that, next time she could duck into Fellini in Collins St, pick up a Canali or a Boss on special and wear it many times and no one would ever notice.
Well, at least that’s my experience.
Charles Wooley is a Tasmanian-based journalist.
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