Boston is going upscale. This is a reflection of modern society- fancy glitzy and ritzy shops selling useless and outragiously expensive uneccesary “needs”- to those who thrive on costlier things in life. The selfish, highly egocentric and materialistic high lifes of this world. LOL. I have this THING about people who find this stuff trendy and cool.

The opulence of the pre-opening gala will be restricted to A-list party celebrities, blue-blooded locals, and hip jeunesse doree. But when the two-floor, 45,000-square-foot store officially opens to the public on March 10 in the space that once held Copley’s movie theaters, there will be a number of celebrity amenities available to anyone who shops in the store, even those who fail to score the coveted golden ticket to the pre-opening soiree.

I wouldn’t go to this shop for anything; someone could pay me ten million and I would refuse. I’ve been to some of the higher end shops in Manhattan and they make me sick. People are so stupid- they spend huge amounts of money on items that are no better in quality than the cheaper products sold at dept. stores. BUT you can’t tell these people this. They always have a come back, a reason they wish to spend the big bucks. When it gets right down to it, they’e just freakin snobs who want it to be known they parade the ailes of these “boutiques”- it’s a status symbol. Nothing else.

An in-store concierge, similar to those found in fine hotels, will be at the disposal of shoppers to help recommend restaurants or secure event tickets. Currently, only Barneys’s Madison Avenue location offers concierge service. The centerpiece of the women’s shoe department will be a fireplace, strategically placed to ensure that customer’s toes do not grow chilly while changing their shoes. In the cosmetics department, shoppers can sniff Frederic Malle perfumes in one of two smelling columns, futuristic, phone-booth-like structures designed specifically for inhaling fragrances without environmental impurities interfering.

How pathetic. A fireplace to keep your feet warm??? And a dorky tube that smells like someone is trying cover up their rancid body odors without the interference of natural elements? Bite me.

”New Englanders are starting to throw out their wool sweaters and are expressing themselves more through clothing. You see it in the window displays of the stores on Newbury Street. You have stores like Relic that I don’t think could have existed in Boston five years ago.”

This New Englander will never throw out her wool sweaters (handmade in Maine and Ireland, THAT’s quality these shops can never copy)…I’ve been to the Relic shop in NYC and it had nothing that interested me. NOTHING. I walked in, strutted around for less than ten minutes and exited. I found it to be phoney and plastic… Kind of like the people who shop there.

A flush salary is certainly helpful for shopping at Barneys, where the Ermenegildo Zegna jeans sell for close to $200 and the Henry Cuir handbags are closing in on $2,000. But the contention, at least among those who regularly shop for luxury goods, is that Bostonians are looking for a broader selection of such stores. Unlike the Chestnut Hill store, this Barneys will sell both men’s and women’s clothing and will carry lines from designers such as Paul Smith, Proenza Schouler, and Givenchy. The Boston store will also include a 350-square-foot boutique for Goyard, the French luggage and handbag maker. Prices for the company’s suitcases and garment bags begin in the $3,000 range.

Who the hell spends $200.00 for a pair of blue jeans? I don’t care what anyone says, denim is denim. Come on people.
I don’t even own a handbag, never have and never will…who needs one of these anyway? My friends and I argue about this often, LOL…They say they can’t live without their “pocketbooks” (who came up with that name??-it’s not a book and most wouldn’t fit in any pocket I know of…)- I peek inside these secret places women everywhere claim they cannot be without: Masses of lipsticks, pieces of paper, makeup, huge obnoxious wallets, lotions, potions, dirty disgusting brushes and what not inhabit these dark places so coveted by women LOL…NOT ME. I have a backpack that I keep an extra set of clothes in, and not much else…And the day I spend over $100.00 for ANY pack will be the day the North Atlantic warms up enough to be like a hot tub…I’ll stick with LL Bean and Levi’s and other low end steerage class outlets thank you very much.

The full experience that Doonan speaks of includes Barneys’s legendary window displays. The Copley store, designed by Gensler and Jeffrey Hutchinson & Associates, does not have display windows. The facade of the store is made up of angular panes of glass that jut out into the mall like a postmodern glass mountain. But Doonan says displays will be incorporated into the store inside of large cubes that will be placed throughout the space. Although the store is currently under construction, features such as the grand staircase and massive skylight are finished, as is a parquet floor that is intended as a subtle nod to the old Boston Garden. For skeptics who don’t understand the fashionista dither over the arrival of Barneys, Sondra Grace, head of fashion at the Massachusetts College of Art, explains that not only will a bigger luxury retailer mean bigger end-of-season sales, but there are also key differences between Barneys and other retailers.

OOH sounds….dumb. “The full experience”?? What is this? Are these shops supposed be orgasmic or something? What does fancy looking glass have to do with anything? People who get turned on by this are indeed shallow and lifeless. I prefer the wooden beams and wainscotting wall of the Freeport LL Bean shop…the ocean-in-the-air scents of many of the outet shops in Kittery, and the fresh pine odors of the shops in North Conway. The scenery up there smack in the White Mountain National Forest is more my style too…

”With Neiman Marcus and Saks, you get safer collections,” Grace says. ”It’s the guaranteed color for the season. With Barneys, you’ll get the projected turn of the trend. The colors are new and different and edgy. It’s a much more fashion-forward approach. These are savvy customers that understand the purchase. It’s a purchase to augment the wardrobe.”

I don’t know. I’m not a classy dresser thats for sure…I don’t own a dress, a skirt, anything shiny or plastic. I don’t wear push up bras and other fakeness; I live in jeans or scrubs, and the wool sweaters and Tee shirts are my world.
I stick with colors that I like and could care less what others think…could care less if they’re not “my color”…These shops claim to be fashion forward. I say not. I say they’re for people who have little confidence in themselves or who crave attention. It’s how society is…we get judged by what we look like, what brands we wear, what our perfumes smell like. People in the higher classes pay attention to these things. The rest of us pay attention to the person. The rest of us have lives and aren’t so into ourselves that we cannot focus on the important things.