I spoke with a woman today who was wearing a very beautiful coat. I complimented her on the coat, and she said she always buys three coats when she likes the style, a brown one, a black one, and a white one. She told me that if it is another garment she likes, such as a blouse, she buys it in every color available. That got me to thinking about status symbols. For this woman, it was obviously beautiful clothes.
I guess that was true when I was growing up, too. Woman bought fur coats, especially mink, when they wanted to impress. That wouldn't be so popular today, because groups like PETA would shame you, when PETA is not killing dogs at its animal shelter in Virginia.
Men bought Mustang convertibles, Corvettes, Cadillacs, or just '58 Chevys. My first new car was a VW Bug, which I guess became a status symbol in the 1960s. Nowadays here in Colorado both men and women like to drive SUVs, which have been the vehicles of choice for quite a few years now, followed closely by big honkin' pickup trucks.
Today the size of your house must be included in any list of status symbols. For women, the size and beauty of their wedding ring seems important. A new trend that is ubiquitous here in Colorado is skin tight pants, which women with beautiful legs look great in, but if they do not have beautiful legs, they should consider wearing full length skirts. Quite a few like to have some design on the back pockets of their jeans, to make their butts look more attractive.
Having your own reusable grocery bags is a status symbol here, even though those bags are huge germ spreaders, because meat gets mixed in with produce, animals sleep on the empty bags left in the car, and the bags are rarely washed.
Speaking of black coats, I am glad that colors like pink are becoming more popular. For years the status symbol here was to wear a black coat throughout the winter months. Not so much any more. The colors are getting brighter. People here also like to wear Denver Broncos and Colorado Rockies clothes, even if a tee shirt worth three dollars sells for twenty-five, and a five dollar cap sells for twenty. For Colorado men, a Carhartt shirt or jacket seems like a status trend. For older men, wearing a cap that tells which war they served in is a proudly worn status symbol.
What am I missing? What are the status symbols where you live?
2 comments:
Status symbols here in Northern Virginia:
1. Big houses with perfectly sculpted lawns -- cared for my maids and lawn services, of course. Nobody who has "enough" money does her own housework or his own yard work. People here are rattling around inside their big houses like beebees in boxcars.
2. BMW's and Lexus's and Mercedes' and huge SUV's and "green" cars.
3. Kids in the GT or AP classes in the schools.
4. Big screen TV's.
5. Every possible electronic gadget -- iPhones, iPads, etc.
6. "Designer" dogs.
7. Fountains in the front yards.
Bee bees in boxcars? I love that analogy!
Oh yeah, how could I forget the big screen t.v.s and every other electronic "must have?"
No fountains here, except the drinking fountains in Wal-Mart. People here spend huge sums of money on their dogs and other pets, but I haven't seen the designer phenomena much.
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