No, I didn't misspell anthropology. I am referring to the lifestyle catalog ANTHROPOLOGIE. I just coined this term: lifestyle catalog. What's it mean? I don't know, it just sounds very twenty-first century. It's actually a women's clothing, shoes, and home goods catalog.
I am not "a shopper." I rarely peruse department stores. On-line shopping doesn't turn me on.
However, not only do I enjoy looking at my ANTHROPOLOGIE catalog, I thrive on it. I attempt to become one with it. I have the july, august and september issues! (I didn't capitalize j,a, and s because they don't.)
I know I'm being manipulated by the marketing department. But damn, they're good! Experiencing this catalog, is like discovering my personal book of dreams that I didn't know was in my subconscious. I turn the cover page of the september edition which is matte and seems to be made out of recycled paper. Seemingly unappealing, but here it works. I'm transported to the Pampas of Patagonia with white steeds surrounding me. The model is holding the harness of one of these horses. She's stupidly clad in a ruffled, high-waisted plaid kilt complimented with a ridiculous half-cape sweater thrown over her shoulders. I've never been a horsey person, but I want to be there,on those desolate pampas, hitching up my kilt and swinging my thigh-high boot-covered leg over the bare back of this steed!
A few pages later, the model is sprawled on the ground, next to a saddle. Maybe the steed threw her off! Regardless, I want to lay on that dirt, strewn with rough-hewn blankets and caress the well-worn saddle, just like she is. I don't even know what's for sale here: the saddle, the model, the wind. All I know is I want everything on page 7, september edition--even the dirt.
Even some of the clothes are ugly. I mean, if they're ugly on a 5'10", 110 pound pre-teen model, imagine what they're going to look like on you and me! Even that is a marketing ploy, somehow! They're bordering on mind-control.
I used to visit their encampment. (Referring to it as a store is too pedestrian. It's the marketing, I tell you!) I haven't recently been there and here's why. I needed a peasant shirt. (Don't we all?!) I walked inside. To the right is clothing. To the left are home goods. I decided to make a loop around. I did not buy a shirt that day, but I do own a Guatemalan patchwork, six-cushion sofa. So now, I just do the catalog.
september edition, page 38. For sale, an Anouk shower curtain--$118. Even I draw the line. But it is imported. I wonder from where? Is Anouk in Turkey?
I turn the page and am swept from the South American pampas to a French cafe' with stained glass, old-fashioned sugar dispensers and dusty, dead butterflies displayed in cases along the paint-chipped walls. "Un cafe' du lait' et croissant, s'il vous plait," dances on my lips. (It's the only French I know. Well, that and the Father John, are you sleeping song.) The model has on a necklace with ecru curtain tassels attached to the faux over-sized pearls. It's a bit much, but still . . .
Even some of the clothes are ugly. I mean, if they're ugly on a 5'10", 110 pound pre-teen model, imagine what they're going to look like on you and me! Even that is a marketing ploy, somehow! They're bordering on mind-control.
I used to visit their encampment. (Referring to it as a store is too pedestrian. It's the marketing, I tell you!) I haven't recently been there and here's why. I needed a peasant shirt. (Don't we all?!) I walked inside. To the right is clothing. To the left are home goods. I decided to make a loop around. I did not buy a shirt that day, but I do own a Guatemalan patchwork, six-cushion sofa. So now, I just do the catalog.
september edition, page 38. For sale, an Anouk shower curtain--$118. Even I draw the line. But it is imported. I wonder from where? Is Anouk in Turkey?
I turn the page and am swept from the South American pampas to a French cafe' with stained glass, old-fashioned sugar dispensers and dusty, dead butterflies displayed in cases along the paint-chipped walls. "Un cafe' du lait' et croissant, s'il vous plait," dances on my lips. (It's the only French I know. Well, that and the Father John, are you sleeping song.) The model has on a necklace with ecru curtain tassels attached to the faux over-sized pearls. It's a bit much, but still . . .
