Since I moved back to Spain life is teaching me a vast amount of lessons. Lately I discovered Marbella. My sister got her first job as a nurse there and now lives at this town in the coast of Malaga. My dears, I have come across a completely different world. My beloved sibling lives in a town where people are not shy to ensure everyone knows they have cash… lots of.
Let me just clarify that the entire town is not like this. There are a lot of hard working people who barely make €1000 a month. There are also the ones that make a bit more but have a family to support.
I’m merely talking about the ones with obscene fortunes, ridiculously expensive cars and a overtly flashy lifestyle. The average specimen would be as follows: a man in their 40s-50s, with gelled back hair, tanned in excess and whose kids drive in sports cars given to them as hand-me-downs. Their wives wear Louboutins to go to the supermarket, paired with extremely tight blouses that parade their fake boobs to perfection. Their collagen lips shining as brightly as the Swarovski-filled collars on their chihuahuas.
You see, this kind of people are supposed to make me jealous and anyone could say that the lines that I write are the product of an insane envy. Of course I wished I had a pair of Louboutins and would love to own a sports car – in fact any car – instead of having to travel on crowded buses.
However, forgive me if this comes as a shock, but I do not wish to live with the constant need to prove others how much cash I have in my wallet, how much I spent on my body because I am so deeply unhappy with the way I look, or how much money I waste on my pooch, who doesn’t really care for jewels or expensive pet-food, and who just smells, craps and barks like any other dog.
And as much as I dream of Choos, Chanel and Dior, I get something these people will never, ever experience: the amazing buzz when finding fantastic looking shoes at a reasonable price. An expensive label doesn’t necessarily mean quality, so who’s been the fool now?
I also won’t spend my life uselessly fretting about my looks, because at the end of it all, no one wants to look like a rubber doll, at 80.
To end this post I’m just going to repeat the words of style icon Carine Roitfield “Fashion stopped being a matter of money a long time ago; it’s a matter of taste” (Source: Spiegel)
What do you think? Is the life of the rich and famous that good?
*UPDATE: Just because I really don’t aim to upset anyone with my writing, I wish to clarify something. This is not a judgement on anyone spending their money on what makes them happy. Marbella is a special case. Spain is deeply in debt, there are no jobs and the situation is about to explode. There are parts in the lovely town of Marbella where people with a lot of money have a very nasty attitude: the one that looks at you badly for daring to enter a designer shop, the one that looks you up and down when going in a trendy club, the one that yells at the girl in the supermarket till because she doesn’t speak a second or third language. There are a lot of illegal money and nasty affairs. What I write here is just a reflection on what I saw while I stayed there for some weeks, what came across when I talked to the people working and living there.
I am not an envious person. I celebrate diversity. I may have had a tough year but I would never hate wealthier people for having more than me. I don’t believe in jealousy. I also wrote this with some sense of humour and I can only hope you will see that too.
Pictures: Fashion Limbo
fashionlimbo 
I don't think fashion is every about money. Granted there are amazing designers who create works of art and I would love to own a Valentino or something one day but I am also all about budget shopping and thrifting and seeing fashion as more about personal style and self-expression than something one should sink a ton of money into.xoxo ~ Courtneyhttp://sartorialsidelines.blogspot.com
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I feel a bit odd about this post because you seem to think that having money = caring too much about your looks (don`t you care about yours?), flaunting wealth in order to validate yourself to others, etc. when some people simply have the means to buy expensive things. You don`t know them personally, so I find it kind of insulting that you are judging their lifestyle simply because they have what you seem to want (designer shoes, sports cars, etc).I know people who have a lot of wealth and spend it accordingly because they can and they like fashion just like you. I know people who barely make ends meet but it doesn`t mean they lack style.I enjoy your blog, but this post just screams jealousy of the bad kind. Fashion doesn`t equal money but having money to spend on fashion shouldn`t be a bad thing.
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Hana, not sure how you read my post.I'm not saying that having the money to spend on expensive fashion is a bad thing, I do say I wish I could treat myself to said things.I did say I don't even have a car, so yes, if I were given a sports car do you think I would say no?It's about the attitude, the way some people look at you over there, when you walk into the expensive stores, when you sit at a table in the trendy club.What I'm talking about is what I saw in Marbella which was a lot of posers. I do think that going to the supermarket in sky-high studded Louboutin heels is a tad excessive, especially when you see how this particular lady treated the hard-working girl at the till. It's a bizarre clash, and a reflection on how unfair the world is. Spain is a country submerged in a deep crisis. A lot of the people with money there have fortunes that go non-declared to the tax man, they have shady business. They are still getting rich while my country is struggling to simply get by. Anyone from Marbella could tell you the same thing.I also think that letting your teenagers drive around in expensive cars they haven't had to pay for sets a bad example,yes. Again, no jealousy, only questioning certain parental principles.Marbella is a beautiful town, but there is a very strong "show off" attitude which I don't get.I personally don't think it's wrong, my motto is live and let live, but this is just a small essay on why I don't wish that lifestyle. Because I think that excessive plastic surgery is wrong, yes, is that bad? It's just an opinion, I cannot like everything.Because I find it mad that a lot of the people I saw there seem to think that money brings happiness, is that bad? It's the vibe I got, it's what inspired me to write this. I'm sorry you didn't enjoy this post xxx
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Hear, hear. I feel you on this one FashionLimbo. I guess that the moneyed culture in certain places, such as MArbella where the stuff is almost repulsively over-emphasized, lends itself to a particular type of consumer. And unfortunately, MArbella as a case in point suffers from a very negative brand of wealth exposure. The wealth and ability to go for the luxury brands is nothing bad in itself, but the attitude and behaviour of the wealthy, in this known hotbed of Spain's 'Corruption Coast', is disheartening to the average citizen – and in my case repulsive even. Jealousy of a bad kind, i think not. I do not sense this in your post at all. Different interpretation of the written word i guess! What these particular types of people have, you certainly wouldn't want. Keep up the fun posts Fashion Limbo xxxx
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I think if you wrote in your post what you wrote in your reply to me, then I would not have misunderstood your words.Your post does not go into the same amount of detail as your reply, so I think it is easy to misunderstand as you do paint people with "obscene" amounts of wealth in a lot of negative language(wasting money, constant need to prove to others, being unhappy with their look, fake boobs, blowup doll etc) so perhaps you can understand my view point better as I do not know the history surrounding the city (nor do I tend to think every person with money does plastic surgery). Plus, I have a penchant for language 😉 However, I don`t want you to think I am harping on your blog! Just presenting a different viewpoint and telling my opinion as-is. One thing to understand about some people who do have excessive wealth is that sometimes they do not look at money in the same way as others. Perhaps gifting a kid with a sports car is really no big deal to them. Some people give cars as presents, others give body lotion or a shirt. Is it excessive? To you or I, yes. To them? Maybe not. And who knows, maybe those kids are paying for it.People are people. Some people get happiness from money. Some people who don`t have money wish they had it…and thus aren`t happy with what they have! Some people with money are also happy…and not because of the money they have but because they enjoy and appreciate life as much as you seem to. But, like you said, some people are corrupt and care too much.Though I do wonder…aside from wearing brands, toting expensive accessories for their dogs and driving sports cars (and aside from rude checkout encounters..they could just be having a bad day!)…how do you know they are showing off? Is that your perception or are they taking part in some action to make others feel bad? If they are, truly shame on them.I have never been to Spain (though I desperately want to) but I live in Tokyo where I can see some similarities in your post with my own experience (long financial crisis, bubble burst & never recovering & shady practices abound etc). But to that end…I never really felt like people from extremely rich areas had attitude problems. I came across some, but just as many who were simply living their life in very fabulous clothes. So I really am curious about your city & how such an attitude came about. Is it only this area?PS. Thanks for answering my comment, I liked reading your opinion more in depth and it really helped me see what you wrote from your point of view. I can only imagine that seeing people like that everyday who care too much about material things would begin to weigh you down! (Heck, I often feel that way about Tokyo because it is quite a materialistic city overall but again, I never felt anyone give me an attitude or look down on me simply because I don`t deck out in brand or show off how much money I have!)
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" I do think that going to the supermarket in sky-high studded Louboutin heels is a tad excessive"Oh dear, I've totally done that 😦 I just like the shoes, and it seems wasteful to me to own them and not wear them, so I try to get as much use out of them as I possibly can, even although I don't have a glamourous lifestyle. If I can't wear the shoes I like to the supermarket (or to anywhere else, for that matter), I'd never get to wear them at all 🙂 It honestly never occured to me that people would judge me harshly for my choice of shoes, though – some food for thought, I guess!(Um, just to clarify, I don't put on studded Louboutins for the specific purpose of going to the supermarket. I just mean that if that's what I'm wearing that day and it occurs to me that I need to pop into the supermarket for something, I'm not going to go home and change my shoes first, or avoid going altogether. It just wouldn't occur to me that people might think badly of me for it 😦 )
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Shoeperwoman you SOOOOO put on Louboutins to go to Tesco, I have seen you!!!! :PAlthough you say you don't go home to change shoes, I know for a good fact that you have family members carrying flats for you ;)There is nothing wrong with wearing the heels to shop, it's more about the attitude that seems to flourish in certain areas of that lovely town. If my back would allow it I would wear heels E-V-E-R-Y-W-H-E-R-E
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I have a FLUNKY to carry my flats, you mean 😉 I would never do that kind of thing myself, that's what the servants are for, lol!
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Shoeperwoman you are my idol, you do know that, right?
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Wonderful post!The cost of a product doesn't mean it's of great value!Some have a mentality of "if it cost more,it must look/be better".Not always the case!And thank you for stopping by my site!
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I know what you mean, though I've never been to Marbella my Grandma does live in the area… a little further up the coast. Marbella is renowned for that kind of person and it being quite glam and flashy. I also completely know what you mean about tax evading business man in that part of the country as well… Blog:http://www.arashmazinani.comTwitter:@arashmazinani
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I wholeheartedly agree with you on this one. Those people are often empty inside because they derive their value in material things. It reminds me of India where families are starving in the street right at the doorstep of malls carrying every couture brand you can think of. People will make any excuse to justify their insane wealth and overspending but I believe it's irresponsible when you're exposed to such crushing poverty. If people focussed more on helping others than on what designer label they're going to wear, the world would be a better place!
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