Sometimes, you mutineers will see a story which you practically demand we post. After New York Magazine’s “The Look Book†slyly dissed and dismissed a brownie who works in Private Equity who emphasized,
“I love to consume. Consuming is my specialty.”
…some of you started screeching louder than the Howler monkeys in the bunker—and that’s saying a LOT.
Natasha Mitra (r) was interviewed by Amy Larocca and though I was also left smirking at the catty aftermath, I immediately heard the diminutive angel on my shoulder remind me that we don’t know how many questions were asked and then not included, whether Mitra’s words were edited to paint her a certain way, etc.
Having typed that, if my little sister sounded like this, I’d beat her with my red Ferragamo loafer. Not that there’s anything wrong with…sounding…like…this. 😉
Such big accessories!
My bag was a really special purchase. I work with this woman at Louis Vuitton—she picks things out for me, sends pictures, and tells me to pick what I like. She called one day and was like, “I picked a bag for you, and I’m sending it to your house because I know you’re going to love it.†I think it’s called the Stratus.
How old are you?
I’m 26.
Was the bag expensive?
Yes—about $3,500. I guess a lot of craftsmanship goes into it. Accessories for me are the key. I have about twenty bags, and I don’t know how many shoes. But they’re Vuitton, they’re Versace, they’re Gucci, and they’re Dior.
And your sunglasses?
They’re D&G. I was really excited to find them. They’re wild and crazy and different.
What do you do for a living?
I work in private equity. I love the sector that I work in, which is the consumer and retail group. It’s an area that I’m passionate about. I love to consume. Consuming is my specialty.
You picked the right career.
I’m going to Harvard Business School in September. Moving is definitely going to be the most difficult part of the experience.
Thoughts? After reading some of your emails, I’m tempted to respond with a “Tell us what you REALLY think”, but I’m certain you will already do that. I also look forward to the inevitable, “I know her, and, and–” which will appear below at some point. TWO DEGREES of separation, people. The fact that we couldn’t prove it with two random desi models doesn’t mean the theory is invalid, aight?
::
Because one of you who should know better shamelessly suggested it AND because I already received one vague piece of hate mail which mindlessly accused me of hypocritically not putting myself out there for dissection the way I heartlessly did to Miss Mitra above, feel free to ponder my homage to Natasha, below.
Vintage Gucci sunglasses: $45
L.L. Bean Boat and Tote: $32
Mongram: $5
Not being a slave to fashion: priceless. 😉
There are some things money can’t buy (like good taste and shame– I would know, I can’t find any of the latter to purchase). For everything else at Tyson’s Galleria/Corner, there’s MasterCard.
First off, good job with that picture, Anna! I love how you even managed to duplicate Natasha’s hairdo. 🙂
I kind of agree with Rani (# 197) on this one. I thought the bag was a bit extravagant (price-wise), but that’s just her style. She admits that she likes to consume, and really, the whole retail fashion market is directed specifically at individuals just like her, so why not?
Style is a personal thing too. I don’t wear Thomas Pink shirts (they don’t look good on me), but I do shop at Old Navy (because if I’m going to buy something that doesn’t look good on me, it might as well be at 2 for $24.95). I like “accessories” and own more shoes than I have room for…but that’s just me. I imagine Natasha has more than one potentially fugly bag too. Apparently, she can afford it, so I don’t see a real problem.
thank you 🙂
i did read that part .. but i guess its a misunderstanding/interpretation of words … first of all, i don’t see why you have to defend yourself to the person about why you bought a shirt from pink and not one from the gap ? you bought it b/c you liked it … who the f cares?
i just took this as meaning gap, old navy, br suck … which is what i had a problem with …
amen, sister. a-frickin-men.
Whoa! I sure missed a lot.
I don’t know the girl, but I think I know what looks good when I see it. Yes I also understand that she is not trying to please me, but that bag just looks weird. Think of it this way, when you are walking down the street, you see someone wearing that bag (yes I went there).
Would you think
a) That looks so nice b) What the…
That is my point. It could be trendy, the next “big” thing yada yada yada, bottom line, it just does not look good. My opinion would remain the same even if I saw my mom carrying it.
But do you think the bag was FUG? THAT’S what I’m interested in knowing. 😀
Honey, I hear you. Why not indeed. One of the reasons Salil was making fun of me (which prompted my photographic homage) is because he thinks I’m the most egregious example of consumerism he knows. I prefer to call it hedonism, but whatevs.
Style IS personal, but fugly is universal as most of the comments on this thread agree. 😉 I don’t expect everyone to wear PINK or approve of it and I respect you for your common sense– I agree with your style strategy completely, that’s why I heart my little sister for buying $30 H+M jeans vs. $200 Diesels/Citizens et al…which all looked like crap on her.
Buy the best you can afford and never pay retail, that’s my motto. 😀
UPDATE: A quick poll from the boys in the office here STILL say LV and oversized, white framed shades scream high maintenance, “look at my label, not at me” style. Unanimously, Anna’s tonal frames were well received and reminiscent of a long forgotten Jackie O era. The embroidered name was sure to garner an open invitation to a light conversation, but the folded up sleeves made Anna seem like an all American casual sweetheart. rony can be so ironic: the boys says Natasha looks cheap, Anna looks sophisticated.
(Sample size = 3 Indian men, 2 British, 1 American, 1 African American, and 1 labrador, who needs to stop humping the second image).
But do you think the bag was FUG? THAT’S what I’m interested in knowing. 😀
Undeniably fug.
Buy the best you can afford and never pay retail, that’s my motto. 😀
Amen, sister! Or akka, rather 🙂
Maybe it’s a diaper bag. Maybe what she’s projecting is that she wants to settle down and have babies…with Manju. All this in a trendy designer-friendly way. What’s more important- a poo-free baby or an un-fug diaper bag?
Awesome spoof. I think a lot of people are clearly missing the point. It doesn’t matter how much the bag cost! It’s effing butt ass fugly. Yes that is my opinion and I can say that. She put herself out there in a fashion sense. The chick buys sh*t because she’s a slave to fasion. Being a slave to fasion does not mean you have style. Lighten up people.
Anna said it best:
The latter, OBVIOUSLY. Duh. I mean, LV already makes diaper bags:
http://www.bookofjoe.com/2004/12/louis_vuitton_d.html
I’d already be broke buying diapers for the baby. Why would I buy a LV diaper bag for ~1200$? And it’s not even monogrammed canvas brown LV, people will think it’s a fake!
natasha? seriously i thought that was a pic of anna! lol
Fug-bag aside, thanks!
Maybe she needs it to carry all of her welding gear.
I met an MIT girl (white) who carried an empty basmati rice bag as a purse in Boston because she thought it looks cool. She also said that basmati rice is the funniest thing EVER because it comes with zippers (???). She was odd in other ways too, such as being one of the stupidest people I’ve ever met, unlike most MIT folks.
Or ziploc bags full of aloo dum, seeing as how it’s a luxe gunnysack.
She sounds like a smart recycler-type. I find the bags to be attractive too, more so than the $3500 number.
more clever takes on the rice bag! Now this takes moxie and wit.
i love the sequins she used.
In the late 90’s, one of the business bestsellers was “The Millionaire Next Door” by Thomas J. Stanley and William D. Danko. A purely empirical research with nary an opinion, the authors discovered two distinct types of people living in America – the “Balance Sheet Affluent” (those with actual wealth, or high net-worth) and the “Income Affluent” (those with a high income, but little actual wealth, or low net-worth). The BSA’s were found to live very modestly for their means, the IA’s very extravagantly. A classic BSA was some guy who started life as an auto mechanic, raised his family in a 3-bedroom ranch house in a middle income neighborhood, then later became the owner of a repair shop netting profits in the six figures. But the guy still found it unnecessary to move to a bigger house or change the family’s lifestyle beyond comfortable. Perhaps goaded by his family, he moved to a 4-bedroom house. The IA person had a great job, lived in a McMansion with two Teutonic imports in the garage, went to the islands every winter and had 1/10th of the repair shop owner’s net worth.
Somewhere between the two extremes of Sam Walton and his beat-up pickup truck and the “executive” lifestyle that could be wiped out in the next downsizing, there definitely are two very obvious socioeconomic clusters. Most of us know a few from each group. Then there is the continuum between the two extremes. Most of us probably fall in there, skewing left or right but very seldom sitting in the dead center. The first geners, as if you didn’t know, skew highly towards the BSA. See, there is a reason why we reuse yogurt containers.
I recommended this fantastic book to a classic BSA, an uncle from India who visits his grown children living here every year. He buys his clothes at garage sales. His wife has to tell him to shut up when he starts bragging about his $5 jackets at dinner parties. He owns five or six houses in India and an apartment in NCR. Not about to cough up $15.95 at Border’s or Amazon, he found a copy of “The Millionaire Next Door” for $1 at the discard sale at the local library here. Perfect!
P.S. ANNA, I was only teasing you about your $140 shirt. I did get the humor in your post.
No sir. I’m telling she, she was stupid. Didn’t see any signs of recycling either. Maybe plain ol’ racist too (which also is in a sense, stupidity). A few of us shared housing briefly and she insisted that the Chinese in our group were making the kitchen dirty when, in fact, they were ones who used to clean the kitchen daily. She, on the other hand, never took out trash (because it involved touching the trash bag) and chucked used cans from some distance into the trash because of some OCD-something.
Anyway, dumb freshman. I hope she got better by the end of senior year.
oh well, just goes to show you that you can’t judge a gal by her handbag
Hahaha, the photo you posted of yourself in that pose is priceless, ANNA!
Jihad on Natasha Mitra!
$3500 could be the down payment towards my next Honda Accord, 1% of the cost of my home, 1 years worth of savings towards my kids’ education or screw all of that and buy a fugly bag. Long live capitalism and consumerism.
Nice.
Some tard-dipshit over on AutoAdmit.com thinks my spoof picture IS Natasha; his verdict?
Courtesy of SM indeed. Poetic justice, not that I had anything against Natasha or thought she was evil, dumb, etc. I just thought the bag was fug. Sigh.
A friend sent me this link: http://www.leveragedsellout.com/2007/05/fwd-a-suitable-girl/
Kiran,
The article on that link you sent was hilarious .
I did think that the comments here at SM were starting to push the edge of the envelope but the comments on leveraged sellout were simply horrible , misogynistic and racist.
I think I have had enough of this topic because its getting nasty
I agree, Runa. That and people are now sending pictures of me around and claiming they are of Natasha– fugly bag or not, no girl deserves the haterade.
Thanks for playing, if you were nice and if you weren’t…well…when you go to hell, you might find yourself trapped in that bag where things will keep getting dumped in (LV wallet, water bottle, flatulent lap dog) and thus, on you. 🙂 What a visual…