Interesting…
Make of it what you will….
Thanks, to my friend Kirk, for sending this to me…
Don’t look now, but the mass-elite customer is coming back. If three times is a trend, then we definitely have a trend of brands catering to high-end and aspiring consumers reporting impressive numbers.
On Wednesday, Polo Ralph Lauren reported that third quarter revenues rose 24 percent. Yes, sales in Asia were up. But the firm said “higher domestic and European shipments for our apparel products and increased domestic accessories shipments were the largest contributors to growth” in its wholesale sector. Sales at RalphLauren.com were up 33 percent. And in a move certain to warm the hearts of Muffy and Potter, the company announced a dividend increase and a $250 million stock buyback. It looks like more swells were donning Peccary leather gloves, a bargain at $399 (originally $599), to protect their hands as they drove in their BMWs. BMW this week reported that it sold 18,656 cars in the U.S. in January 2011, up 21 percent from January 2010.
And where were the BMW owners driving? Why, to the Whole Foods, of course. On Wednesday, Whole Foods noted that discriminating food snobs had been flocking into its stores in search of arugula, heirloom tomatoes and cheeses with lengthy names (insert your own Whole Paycheck joke here). Total sales were up 14 percent for the quarter, and identical-store sales were up 9.1 percent. Not even food inflation could deflate Whole Foods’s earnings soufflé: EBIDTA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) was up 26 percent from the prior-year quarter.
The current expansion has entered its seventh quarter, and the pace of growth is accelerating. But these businesses are growing much more rapidly than the overall economy. It’s common to speak of a two-speed recovery: the U.S. vs. emerging markets; business vs. consumers; Wall Street vs. Main Street; exporters vs. purely domestic companies; and comparatively rich vs. comparatively poor. Call them Bobos, Yuppies, elites, swells, toffs, or snobs. Just don’t call them frugal anymore.
The Panic of 2008 and the ensuing market crash were big blows to the self-worth, financial and otherwise, of high-earners. But they’ve benefited disproportionately from the policies and trajectory of this recovery. It’s always been the case that it’s better to have more money than to have less, and to have more education than to have less. But this has been particularly true in the past two years.
Lost in the 21st Century 
How to pretend to be cute like yuppies do-
This is what you can learn at fraternities and soroities:
– Wear tight clothes if you are lean and baggy clothes if you are fat. Yuppies hate fat people so you might not pull it off but try.
– Use make-up to hide your natural non-equilateral aspects. Yuppies only like symmetry.
– Keep the shine down. It is so important to keep the shine down in the ever-troublesome T-zone – the top of your nose and your forehead. While this especially important on a warm day, even the coolest among us may get a little sweaty when faced with public viewing. Yuppies hate shine.
– Use make-up to hide skin redness. Yuppies love pure white or pure tan skin tone.
– Brush your hair into place. Frizzy or loose hairs can appear messy. On the other hand, the hair should not be apparent–not slicked down thin against the skull and then behind the neck in a ponytail. Yuppies hate frizz.
– Keep your face in equilibrium. Look at your face in the mirror. That’s not actually the face which shows when people look at you. Now stare at your own reflection. After some time your face will reach its “normal” appearance, your “equilibrium” face. Now deactivate your eye region and activate your lip region. Don’t clench your teeth; just make sure that your upper and lower jaw molars touch each other. If you smile with your mouth open, don’t let your upper lip expose much of your gums, or let your lower lip cover far over the bottom of your upper teeth. Always smile if your complexion is dark or dull and your smile should be a slight one. At the same time, stress the corners of your eyes and raise your eyebrows a little. Practice this exercise every day before mirror for a few minutes. Yuppies love equilibrium.
– Arrange your body three quarters towards others with one foot in front of the other and one shoulder closer to the viewer than the other. Women tend to do this naturally, but it’s harder for men, who tend to present a square angle front-on to the other because they are animals and like to confront other men. If you turn your head slightly to the side and look straight ahead, you will appear to be looking straight at the viewer no matter the viewing angle (like George Washington on the US one dollar bill). (Yuppies love Money)
– If sitting, slightly angle yourself.
– Lean slightly toward the other person; it adds interest, improves facial definition and helps to minimize the appearance of wrinkles and flabby skin. Just keep your chin tucked down. Yuppies hate flappy chins. Get rid of a double chin. Tilt your head up slightly and try to position yourself so that the other person is a little above, or at, your eye level. This will hide a double chin effectively. You can also put one hand under your chin as though you’re resting your head on your hand (keep the thumb side of your hand out of the other person’s view, if possible). Don’t actually rest any weight on the hand, however, or you will push the skin into an unflattering position. Also, try resting your tongue against the roof of your mouth.
– Focus on your posture. Not only does this matter for how others see you but daily good posture makes everything easier in life, including your confidence. Good posture can dramatically improve your appearance in pictures. Sitting or standing up straight will make you look healthier and more alert and, if in a group setting, and more attractive than your slouching companions. Breathe normally and relax your shoulders. If you usually have bad posture, it may be difficult to stand up straight and not look stiff, so practice this in the mirror, working toward improving your posture in the long term.
– When smiling, try a relaxed closed-mouth smile or an open-mouth smile with the lower lip relaxed and down, not up for a smile that gets oddly narrower toward the middle–practice in front of a mirror. If you know a person is about to look at you, take a deep breath and exhale naturally, relaxing your arms and shoulders. As you exhale, smile or strike whatever pose is appropriate. Don’t hold your breath, either in or out, otherwise you’ll appear as though you’re tense or suffocating .If you see the other person about to look at you too late, don’t panic and try to strike a pose. Keep doing what you’re doing. It may not turn out perfectly, but you’ve got a better chance than if the other person catches you quickly trying to change your facial expression.Relax your lip (mouth) region and don’t have any delirious thoughts filled with gloom. It’s a natural way to appear fresh and appealing in life.Don’t be so relaxed that you appear distracted. Distraction or annoyance always shows to the other person.
– Don’t have any tattoos; they just show that you will have sex with anybody or do drugs all the time. If you are a girl you can get a “tramp stamp” as long as it is classy if you are only trying to be a trophy wife so you can divorce and get alimony.
– Smile with your eyes. Nothing projects happiness and beauty like smiling eyes: a happy, somewhat mischievous expression of the eyes. To achieve this effect, ALWAYS imagine that every other person is someone you have a crush on walking into the room. This will create wider open eyes and a relaxed, three-quarter smile. Think about your crush or lover; this will make you blush making your cheeks rosy red. Chances are you unconsciously do this all the time; the trick is to be able to bring it out on demand, so practice the smiling eyes in front of a mirror, and creating a smile “trigger”.Fake it till you make it. Pretend like you are hot for everybody no matter how much they disgust you.
– Try to get one eyebrow to go up whenever you pretend to be interested in what others say.
– Watch Jennifer Aniston on TV and copy every facial expression she does. She is the queen of fake facial expression. Do everything she does every chance you get.
If you do these things. Everybody will love you and you will be able to work downtown at an investment bank.
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