August 01, 2006
Girly weekend
Cartier, East 52nd Street and Fifth Avenue, New York, NY
That was a whirlwind sort of thing. I'm still processing it all. The princess and I caught a midday train at Union Station in DC and she was trying on wedding dresses within a couple hours of our arrival in New York. The shopping was the whole point of the trip, so I didn't get to do a lot of photography because we had important things to do. Also, the princess set a limit on how many times she'd hold my coffee cup while I took pictures of fancy doorways.
Would you believe? They won't let you photograph the dresses until you agree to buy one. It's a pity too, because the whole process inside the dress shops is really interesting and allowing me to shoot would have (almost) made up for the soundtrack, an endless loop of the mushiest pop songs of the last thirty years.
Our mission was ultimately successful. Even better, the princess may be having her fittings done in New York too. Not that we'd need an excuse to go back.
185 words | August 1, 2006 10:39 PM | Wish you were hereActually, I do believe it. It's in their interest to make it impossible to shop rationally, compare with other boutiques, etc....
Posted by: Jonathan Dresner at August 1, 2006 11:53 PMWell, yes and no. If you had a picture, you could take it elsewhere and try and find the same or a similar dress at a lower price. I think that's what the shops are trying to avoid. But the dresses all have model numbers and you can find photographs of all of them in bridal magazines. And the dresses aren't just commodities, the shops are trying to sell you accessories, dresses for other members of the wedding party, and especially their other services such as alterations and their relationship to the designer.
My thought was that if there's a dress you're almost sure of, a photograph of how great you look in it would be a good thing to have while you're still shopping around. We were sort of in that situation this weekend.
The first place we went was Reem Acra's boutique, so they only carried her dresses. The princess was pretty close to buying one, but she wasn't quite sure and the sales attendant wasn't being as helpful as she could have been. If she had bothered to find out what was holding the princess back and addressed that concern, she would have had a sale.
The second place we went was a bigger store that carried dresses from many different designers. Lucky for the princess, they had the Reem Acra dress she was considering in stock, so she was able to compare it directly to another dress she liked.
I suppose the lesson is that, unless you're completely committed to one designer, you should go to a place where you can comparison shop.
Posted by: 100 word minimum at August 2, 2006 08:13 AM