*Sorry mon freres, but the SIGNS of modesty are much more important than actual modesty.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2009/01/15/style/15paris.php
(...)
Some French intellectuals want to go much further, calling for the death of the entire luxury industry as a sort of national ritual of purification.
"Since the ancient Greeks, luxury goods have always been stamped with the seal of immorality," said
Gilles Lipovetsky, a sociologist who has written several books about consumerism. "They represent waste, the superficial, the inequality of wealth. They have no need to exist."
The political champion for the new economic morality is a recent convert: President Nicolas
Sarkozy, formerly known as "President Bling-Bling." He entered office pledging to inject more Anglo-Saxon-style capitalism by getting the
French to "work more to earn more."
But last week in Paris,
Sarkozy and the former British Prime Minister Tony Blair hosted a conference of political leaders and Nobel Prize-winning economists to find ways to instill moral values into the global economy. The old financial order had been "perverted" by "amoral" and uncontrolled capitalism, Sarkozy said, deploring the fact that, "the signs of wealth count more than wealth itself."
He praised the "return of the state" as a regulator of capitalist excess.
Paradoxically, that sentiment may not be all that difficult for the French to accept.
France's national identity may seem wrapped up tight in the aura of luxury — elegant dress, sophisticated perfume, good food and wine, and no shortage of Champagne for the flimsiest of celebrations. But even though the French more than most Europeans appreciate the finest quality they can afford, they pride themselves on balance. France remains a deeply conservative country, one in which it traditionally has been unacceptable to show off material possessions. Most French use debit cards, not credit cards, which means they tend not to spend more than they have in their bank accounts. Getting a mortgage is a torturous process.
And so, many see in the closing of an era of free and easy spending on luxury goods — when luxury became associated with flash and ostentation around the world — the potential for a restoration of the classic French virtues of restraint and modesty. Even a bit of suffering and sacrifice might be in order.
"This whole crisis is like a big spring housecleaning — both moral and physical," Karl Lagerfeld, the designer for Chanel, said in an interview. "There is no creative evolution if you don't have dramatic moments like this. Bling is over. Red carpety covered with rhinestones is out. I call it 'the new modesty.' "
