After having examined the prices of yarn-made and textile composed items, i.e clothes, at several stores located in Mecca Mall, I felt strongly obliged to post this entry and drop you my mind.
It was a morning’s outing, I decided to wander by the glossy windows of shops and I felt a renewed love for the word “sale”. My sister came along, and as we were walking I couldn’t help but notice how scandalous prices of trendy pieces of textile were.

To provide you with an example, and this is by no means an attack on any brand name or shop in particular, merely a criticism of the price tags that mocked my intelligence, I will relate to you the following reality. I was at Michigan some two weeks ago, and I stayed there for quite some time so I managed to abuse my parents’ resources considerably by shopping. I developed a distinct skill that only good shoppers acquire, the skill of comparing prices and qualities in different stores and finding what items present the best value for the money one invests in them.

That said, I once found a black fur shrug at Charlotte Russe for less than 10 dollars. It was clearance time and by no means is the low price of the item an indication that it is out of style or damaged. All the same, I did not buy the shrug. I figured it would be better on the long run if I got a nice fur coat, and I did get one.
The odd bit of the story is yet to come, since today I saw a duplicate of the black fur shrug at Mango. The color of this Mango shrug was rather brownish. It was tagged as valuing JD 109. I stood in front of the window looking at the synthetic woman-like model that wore the expensive item, and I stared at it for some time. I rubbed my eyes and looked at the tag again; trying to make sure I was not imagining things.

I understand Mango is a brand name and markets designer clothes. Charlotte Russe is also a brand name. I understand Mango items are, as we are told, imported from Spain. But I know they can be sold for cheaper, or at the very least true to the various signs that lure one in when one reads “Sale”!. Now the fur piece was not on sale, but I imagine that even if it were, it will not be for less than JD 10.
I stepped inside the store and read the values of different items, and I was very thrilled and sad at the same time. Thrilled because I got the same items for much less, and sad because I know fashion should not be this costly. And why should it, really?

I also do understand that the majority of the Jordanian people can not afford to invest a lot of money in “stylish clothes”. There are far more important priorities in their lives. But I do not approve of the notion that states that since some can’t afford the expensive items they have to put up with low-quality ones. Isn’t that merely another form of the much debated “class division”?. Should only the elite wear trendy clothes, we will end up having a society that is layered according to appearances. It pains me much to say that we have that society already.

I handled this issue in a reversed manner. Perhaps I should’ve started by commenting on the layering of the Jordanian society then followed to the outrageous prices on clothes’ tags. But this brings me to my next prophecy. Perhaps if “Sale” signs were true to the meaning of the word, we would not have this concept of labeling people according to their apparel. A bit too optimistic a prophecy? Give it a thought.

P.S. I must stress that I am against the killing of animals for the production of fur. The fur shrug at Charlotte Russe was made up of synthetic fur.

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This entry was posted on Saturday, September 10th, 2005 at 6:07 am and is filed under Opinion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.