What Recession: Rich People Buying Lots Of $860 Shoes, $9000 Coats

The NY Times is continuing its ascent into "what rich people do with all their stinking money besides $50,000 playhouses, chartering private planes for their kids to go to camp, home bartenders, and clubs for multimillionaires" with this important information: "Nordstrom has a waiting list for a Chanel sequined tweed coat with a $9,010 price. Neiman Marcus has sold out in almost every size of Christian Louboutin “Bianca” platform pumps, at $775 a pair [pictured]. Mercedes-Benz said it sold more cars last month in the United States than it had in any July in five years." Yes, the rich are spending more, because as a retail consultant says, "If a designer shoe goes up from $800 to $860, who notices?"

Gilt Groupe general manager Jyothi Rao says, "You just can’t buy a pair of shoes for less than $1,000 in some of the luxury brands, and some of the price points have gone to $2,000. There’s absolutely a customer for it." And one facial cream has raised its price $300 since 2008—16 ounces of Crème de la Mer is now $1,650.

There's some bizarre timing, because the article says, "The rich do not spend quite as they did in the free-wheeling period before the recession, but they are closer to that level... What changed? Mostly, the stock market, retailers and analysts said, as well as a good bit of shopping psychology. Even with the sharp drop in stocks over the last week, the Dow Jones is up about 80 percent from its low in March 2009. And with the overall economy nowhere near its recession lows, buying nice, expensive things is back in vogue for people who can afford it." Maybe the global stock markets wanted to give a nice eff-you to the rich by taking a big dump today?

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By Jen Chung in News on August 4, 2011 4:15 PM

Comments [rss]

esarby

Just overdrew my bank account buying a pair of Red Wings. Cool!

Joe

Millions of human beings lose their jobs, homes, yet the filthy rich use insider info, buy politicians, write the laws and regulations to favor them and their needs, bail themselves out to the tune of trillions, but at the same time lecture the little people about responsibility, self reliance, and not expecting 'handouts'. Did I miss something?

BottomlessChips

When the rich saves money, it's pejoratively called hoarding. They should be spending so it creates retail jobs, auto jobs, real estate jobs, etc.

When the rich spends money, it's pejoratively called opulence. They should be spending it on what exactly?

Catherine Blakeney

They are supposed to be investing it. And then living off the interest.

TunaLoaf

Those poor rich people...they just can't win

higg1ns

they should be spending it on building new homes that employee people to build it to the people who supply the raw materials.

TunaLoaf

"Crème de la Mer"...is that like whale jizz?

Deejay Bubblebath

Fail, they're not "rich people" they're "job creators". Come on Gothamist.....

Guest

Besides jealousy, why do you care what people spend their money on?

Gepap

Because real resources (including labor) went into making those shoes and not doing something else, that is why.

That said, a lot of the cost of a luxury comes not from the actual resources and labor wasted on it, but because of scarcity and novelty, so expensive shoes or showercream are a relatively benieng form of this silly spending.

Catherine Blakeney

I'd be more inclined to want to spend $800 on a pair of shoes if I knew that $700 of that went to the people who actually made them. As it stands, unless you are buying haute couture from Paris, the high end goods you buy from a retail store are made in the same place that the identical $50 pumps sold in payless were made. All that cash is going straight to the brand name corporation, not the laborers who made it.

Noreaster76

For a mere $250, you can fix a Third World kid's cleft palate. That can potentially change the kid's LIFE, for the better. But instead, you'd spend more than three times that amount on a pair of shoes? Or more than thirty times that on a jacket? You'd rather have a freaking jacket than change 30 people's lives? It's just beyond me. Please, please -- if I ever get that rich and act in such a selfish and disgusting way with my money, please just kick me repeatedly in the shins.

Dead Himmler

"If a designer shoe goes up from $800 to $860, who notices?" If the federal income tax for the super wealthy went up 3%, who would notice?

diablofreak

tea party morons

Angela Safford

liberal extremist are whackos!

Len_Drexler

When people stop defining "wealthy" as making $200,000 a year there might be some progress on raising taxes on the actual "super wealthy".

Politburo

This times a million. It seems like such a simple solution to just introduce another bracket.

SeasTooFarToReach

I honestly think they should let the Bush tax cuts expire then renew them changing the 250K number with 1 million. After that amount, you probably don't need much help.