Kate Spade Store, Square One Mississauga
Confetti!!
[Photo By: KPA
Taken yesterday, June 9th]
The store is still open. The confetti which were up since last week (before Spade's suicide) are still there. "Live Colorfully" was also hanging and lit for several days prior to Spade's death.
The black sign, condolences for her death, is of course new.
"Kate Spade, the visionary founder of our brand, has passed. Our thoughts are with her family at this incredibly heartbreaking time. We honor all the beauty she brought into this world."
I received this comment (via my newly installed comments section on the right margin) on my post: Kate Spade's Empty Luxury
Excellent article, Miss Asrat.Yes, I understand. But this has become a general culture. Rudeness in many forms is now brushed away. People talking so loudly right next to you; pedestrians walking right into you in a crowded street without any doubt that YOU will step aside for them rather than the usual jostle of two tangoing to pass each other without damage; saleswomen just let you stand and wait and wait and wait as they perform some other duty which clearly could be interrupted briefly with: "Will you hold for just a minute?"
Just speaking for myself, whenever confronted by cold or indifferent sales
staff, I always put my faith in laziness and/or lack of proper training on
their part. It's usually the reason.
Laura Wood over at TTH has a piece up at the moment on Ms Spade that I hope
you might contribute to. Your views on style and aesthetics are always well
worth reading. Regards.
Regards,
Stephen Ippolito
We expect this kind of behaviour now and we behave accordingly (rude on the streets, in the store, at the coffee shop etc. etc.). No "please" and no "thank you."
I think it is a cosequence of several things:
The previously prevalent Anglo Saxon culture with its homogenous peoples who understand and LIKE each other would naturally behave compassionately when confronted with strangers (who act and behave like each other) and acquaintances (family and friends) alike.
Now all we have is strangers, WHO DON'T LOOK LIKE EACH OTHER, in our public spaces, and our acquaintances are within that huge multicultural bucket of strangers.
So what does a Filipino saleswoman care about that Hispanic/Arab looking woman standing in front of her? Let her wait. There are more urgent things to do like talk to this guy over the phone who could be some Anglo Saxon male.
See there are degrees of importance. Because it is now all (or mostly) about the material.
The Anglo Saxon Male then the Anglo Saxon Female would have the money (and the knowledge that Kate Spade's goods are expensive AND good) and are more likely to buy her products.
They take precedence even over her Filipino countrymen/women. What money do they have anyway? Maybe the Chinese. But even they are unreliable and less likely than tha ASM and ASF to buy things from the store.
But less so these Arabs/Hispanics. Partly because of their record of buying (or NOT buying) and also who wants to be around them anyway?
They don't belong here. She (me) doesn't belong here.
SO you see decisions are made on appearances, and no longer on human compassion. Multiculturalism and materialism has made us all into demons who dislike, and mistrust (probably quite rightly), one another.
And appearances are now everything. And one way of judging appearance is through the material, the clothing. The other of course is through skin color, hair type, eye shape, lip size, etc.
People judge me by the latter when making speedy decisions. If they have more time they put my PRESENTATION into their formula.
But people are often disoriented by me. I dress as well as I can with my very limited wardrobe. The hat you see me wearing in the profile photo cost me about $14. I've seen similar ones in some store at $150. My shoes are from Walmart for $35. I've seen women walking around in sneakers which cost $150.
(One day in Walmart when I was aggressively holding on to my spot in the very long line at the cash, the woman trying to barge in said "I've seen your $x Walmart shoes!" I.e. "Who do you think you ARE!?".)
I also don't look Arab or Hispanic (or Indian) or even mulatto once people look closer at me. I AM DIFFERENT. I also don't speak in any any of these accents but rather in a kind of a British one. I also behave reserved and a little distant. I am friendly and polite but not effusive.
And I dress very modestly. Not out of some piety but because I really don't like my butt to be showing and my decolletage to be the focus of a conversation.
But I don't dress like a nun. I love color, pattern and cut.
So the Filipino woman's very first reaction to this "Arab woman" was "Oh she can wait."
Next because I waited and waited (I'm sure she thought I would leave) and finally I bulldozed her with questions (I knew she couldn't answer), and she saw who I really was, she realizes she had a whole other kettle of fish in front of her.
I walked out of the store as she was answering me (this time I did get MAD), but I had all I needed:
- Mississauga is a racist place
- Multi-culti people DISLIKE one another (to be frank I have no rancour towards Filipinos. Many are kind, and the women are motherly, and being good Catholics they are spiritual too).
- The material supersedes any human compassion people may have
- And this inhumanness builds a city, a place, a world where the Kate Spades, who have lost even a vestige of their spiritual world and who have abandoned GOD, realize is NOTHING. All those pretty colors cannot ease the soul, they realize too late. And they commit suicide.
So there you have it: How a Kate Spade Luxury Store Explains Kate Spade's Suicide.