Alex Kuczynski Does Not Approve of Abercrombie Kids
In this week's Thursday Styles, Alex Kuczynski takes her multimillions and goes shopping at the new Abercrombie & Fitch flagship store on Fifth Avenue. She doesn't much care for it — of course, being 37 years old, she's not supposed to care for it — and she fixates mostly on the fact she found the store too damned loud. But she also took a moment to turn her nose up at the store's famously oversexed shtick:
Abercrombie has a long history of provocation. In 2002 the company marketed thong underpants for the 8-to-10-year-old set that bore slogans like "wink wink" and "eye candy." In 2003 it released its Christmas Field Guide, a catalog that featured naked or nearly naked young models and offered advice on oral sex, group masturbation and orgies. "Sex, as we know can involve one or two, but what about even more?" one layout proposed. Abercrombie recalled it after protest from parents' groups. Even teenagers have finally taken offense. Earlier this year a group of Pennsylvania girls organized a "girl-cott" of T-shirts with slogans like "Who needs brains when you have these?"
Now, we hate to keep going back to this well, but we must once again remind you of a W profile of the Fabulous Ms. K., which opened with a party scene at the Idaho vacation home she shares with her investor husband:
"Orgy! Orgy!" exclaims Alex Kuczynski as she raises her glass of Pinot Noir.... Aside from the masseuses, she and [hubby] Stevenson flew in a yoga instructor, three chefs and a trove of delicacies for the larder (Alaskan halibut, organic rack of lamb), all for the enjoyment of their guests at Middle Fork Lodge, an 80-acre property on the banks of the Salmon River. Situated amid 2.3 million acres of federally protected wilderness, the lodge is reachable only by small aircraft, horse or raft.
It seems in Alex's world orgy humor, like coop-board approval, is only available to those with a certain net worth. For the rest of us, it's just distasteful.
Browsing Out Loud [NYT]
Earlier: The Fabulous Life of Alex Kuczynski