Bob CollinsThere was an interesting segment on APM’s Marketplace the other night on how the recession is affecting the way we dress. You’d think that we’d be slobbing it up a bit, but actually — the story goes — we’re dressing up for the down economy.
“It’s time to really make an effort, you can just sink down into, you know, the depths and think about this gloom and doom. And fashion is something that, you know, traditionally is an escape for people, and I think no more so than right now, people will look to it as an escape,” said Kate Betts, a fashion editor.
She also said she was shocked — shocked — when she was in Milan the other day and heard there were stores that went an entire day without anyone showing up. “And remember Italians are big consumers of fashion and luxury,” she said.
Did she say Milan? Milan, where it’s fashion week this week?
This is what they’re turning out for people to wear in Milan these days:
Of course, it was another cruddy day in the economy. Unemployment numbers for February showed nearly 700,000 lost their jobs, and your retirement plan tanked again.
The good news. Things haven’t gotten bad enough to make you want to “escape” to that. Have they?
