I had lunch with my friend Barbara at Chat Noir, E. 66th near Madison, recently. It’s teeming with ladies- who-lunch types. The east side in the 60s and 70s skews older than Carnegie Hill.In the spring, summer and early fall, New Yorkers love eating outside. They are also restaurant lovers in general and for many, the places they eat are a big part of who they are.I had lunch with my friend Barbara at Chat Noir, E. 66th near Madison, recently. It’s teeming with ladies- who-lunch types. The east side in the 60s and 70s skews older than Carnegie Hill.We popped into Charlotte Olympia, a store on E. 65th near Madison that sells shoes….and a whole lot more…For many women, shoes are part of the daily uniform but also an expression of identity. Hence this “shoe horoscope” display at the store’s entrance…If you’re a Scorpio, then this is “you”….The Charlotte Olympia brand is whimsical, luxe and not too serious. These velvet flats are like decadent bedroom slippers….that you wear outside.The saleswoman told me Charlotte was pregnant while designing this season’s collection. It shows….platform shoe and bear evening bag.Olympia knows that many women buy things for themselves with their young children in mind. Splurging on yourself induces less guilt and feels less selfish if you know you kids will like it.These “books” are actually evening bags/clutches. Charlotte Olympia is selling not just shoes but Fairy Tales, among them that motherhood is a time of glamour and enchantment.The heel of this knee-high black boot says “Happily Ever After.” Its mate’s heel reads “Once Upon a Time.”It’s not a clock. It’s a boot. With a sheer clock on the front. For real.Yes, this is the heel of a shoe. Wow. Something to wear in a Magical Forest, perhaps?A clever riff on the I Heart NY logo. Note the ribbon. The sense is that it’s not a purchase but a “gift.”The receipt comes in an envelope that is like a business card. It brings you into the fold of the Charlotte Olympia/ shoe lover tribe. And holds your copy of the bill.Just up Madison is Laduree, a purveyor of macaroons. Of course they are also selling a particular aspirational lifestyle. Hence the Laduree experience is tailored just so….Display is everything. This one harkens to Zola’s novel A Bonheur de Dames, set in the Bon Marche, the first luxury department store in Paris, in the late 19th century.Your macaroon order is “handpicked” rather than prepackaged, adding to the sense that it–and you, and the whole experience–is special.Choices, choices. Part of the luxury experience formula is to offer options + customization.Arty closeup. Or macaroon porn. You decide. Either way, conspicuous consumption never tasted better.Ribbons make it even more exquisite. You end up with something like a jewel box full of marcaroons, tied up in a bow.The Laduree bag, like the one from Charlotte Olympia, suggests that this is a sumptuous gift rather than “just” a purchase.See what I mean? I took the ribbon off. This was a box of six macaroons. I did not share them with my kids, though I had told myself I would!The “expiration date” for the macaroons makes them seem even more “precious,” in every sense.This “key” to deciphering which macaroon is which flavor comes in the bag. It suggests that the experience is more than transactional and that there is an art to consumption.Further up the block is the entrance to Chloe on Madison Ave. This brand is popular choice with the UES mothers I study, maybe because it is both “younger” and more accessible/less expensive than Chanel….Flats are popular in Manhattan, where mothers and their kids travel by foot a lot. This scalloped Chloe flat was The Shoe for a while……a sly, playful variation on the classic Chanel ballet slipper flat that is popular all over Manhattan and especially the Upper East Side.Recently the tribe I study is wearing wedge sneakers rather than just flats. These are Isabel Marant, a popular brand. They make women feel modern, cool, comfortable and, one thing flats can’t do, tall!The “Trapeze” bag in the window of Celine on Madison is ubiquitous on the Upper East Side. In communities formed from larger populations, along lines other than kinship, conformity may be highly valued.Upper East Side mothers of young children favor cross body bags, allowing them to hold a child’s hand or use the phone. The Hermes Evelyn bag became so emblematic of privileged Manhattan motherhood it was written These local ladies are dressed in the uniform of the lower Upper East Side–”understated elegance.” Note the ladylike “hand”bags. I’ll bet they were just coming from a girlfriendy lunch…
