A friend reports her just-graduated son has started work at a shipping brokerage that focuses on the Middle East. A hard drinking, back slapping culture, he has been told he needs a better haircut, deference, a strong order at the bar (“Get it down you, boy!”) and the right threads. He has therefore blown his first pay check on a pair of Gucci loafers.
This is the nexus of brand status anxiety: crashingly obvious codes for the unsophisticated salesman in new markets. Sorry, Gucci: you are in your Burberry check era.
If I sound like a crashing snob, then welcome to the world of luxury and status, where my taste is better than your taste.
Poor chap, I hope he likes his shoes, (and they last).
For women, it’s handbags that semaphore the same signals.
Mentioned below: Jonathan Akeroyd, Christopher Kane, Alexa Chung, the Princess of Wales and some Herdwick Sheep
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