The Visa Diaries

It seems that the season has *finally* changed in New York. If we didn’t all believe in global warming already, the freakishly indian summer we were “enjoying” was seriously getting a little bit disconcerting (and making Al Gore’s Nobel Prize seem very timely). Plus I absolutely love the autumn, and have been feeling seriously short-changed on the whole crisp air, colorful leaf front. So it is with glee and delight that I took in the fresh, sunny fall weather this weekend.

I imagine that the retail industry also shared similar feelings of glee and delight, if perhaps for more cynical reasons – nothing like a change in seasons to bring shoppers out in droves. Each season has its associations of activities and moods, and each of course requires proper attire and accessories to really make one feel as if she is of the moment, properly autumnal, etc.

I am currently living on the upper west side of Manhattan (the “upper best” we like to call it), dog-sitting for my friend’s lovely German Shepard, Olso, while I get settled and find my own place in New York. Just a couple of blocks from me, there is a store called Loehmann’s, which you may or may not know as part of the TJMaxx, Centry 21, labels-for-less genre. I have to walk past Loehmann’s on my way to Fairway (”A Market Like No Other”… is that good??) to get food, and so this weekend I absent-mindedly wandered in. “Absent-mindedly” is of course nothing but an excuse… “Oh did I just happen to find myself in this store? in the changing room trying on some clothes? and they just happened to fit/ be cute/ a good price/ etc etc… how could I resist??” It takes all the blame away from me, displacing it onto that modern malady of being over-whelmed, unfocused, going with the flow… which inevitable leads to a cash register, somehow.

In this blameless state, I entered Loehmann’s with rather low expectations, envisioning picked over merch from second- or third-rate brands. Of which there was plenty – lots of crap. For this I was somewhat relieved, banking on crap to let me get out of there scott-free. I wasn’t counting on the gems. Those of you who know me know that I have a weakness for Marc Jacobs (despite his recent – or perpetual? – identity crisis), and my first definitely-not-crap find was a darling military-inspired jacket by him. With a new job, a smart-yet cool jacket-like thing in which to make presentations was just what I needed. Check – just like that, sale number one made and mentally rationalized.

Fortunately or not, depending on how you look at it, the not-crap did not end the jacket. Still umm-ing and ahh-ing as to whether I really needed that, but on the on the way to the register, I passed what was easily the best discount selection of coats I have ever seen. Seriously. Missoni, Ralph Lauren, See by Chloe, italian cashmere, and many more. Not cheap, but hundreds of their original prices. I paused and looked around, to see if anybody else had noticed. I felt like what I imagine the gold miners felt when they discovered a vein, in the middle of the wilderness, all alone, but other miners in the vicinity… I felt like I had discovered a secret that others would kill for. Very protective. Almost manic. Must claim my coat before others catch on…

Totally irrational of course. Nothing that is in plain view in Loehmann’s on the upper west side of New York City is a secret. But that is how it felt as I tried on coat after coat. Despite that fact that I have absolutely nowhere to wear such a thing, the pink woven Missoni with Maribou trim was a serious contender. It just felt like too good an opportunity to pass up…

In the end I got a hooded, tweed jacket form See by Chloe. It hits at the hip, with a sweet little pleat in back. I am into Chloe, definitely a brand aimed, yet “aspirational” for me. The jacket is so cute. Not exactly low-priced, but lower than normal. And that is obviously the secret, subliminal, genius marketing-nefariousness of Loehmanns… their name! They have disguised “low” as “loeh,” priming you to think it is going to be a bargain, even if you’re not sure here that thought came from. Very clever…

Well, hood-winked I may have been. But at least it was also hood-jacketed, and now I am ready for fall.