The Eres Phenomenon and P.S.

Last Friday, a friend of mine and I found ourselves in Eres, a lingerie and swimwear company that has few equals. Or, as I quickly discovered, few here in Paris. They had just marked down their 2010 swimwear collection and the line to get into the shop wound itself around the block. Two guards let 4 or 5 women in at a time and there were no complaints as to how long the process was taking. I now understand why.

These bathing suits are beautiful, simple and well made. Each season, they bring out similar styles in new colors or new styles in similar colors so that you can mix and match tops and bottoms. The price tags for these teeny weeny pieces of fabric are about 180 euro/each. That's 180 for the top and 180 for the bottom. Rules are, you have to buy one of each. So on a non-soldes day, you're dropping a big chunk of change for a little something. Friday, everything was 40% off which still....I was not in the market for a swimsuit but my friend was. With the crowds and grabbing and clutching of sizes and styles I opted to wait downstairs by the cash register which was quite the education in the psyche of the French woman.

Every single size, shape, age, and socioeconomic group was represented. Women carrying Hermés handbags at $10,000 a shot and women with boho fabric bags walked in. Large sized, small sized, women in their 70's and 14 year old girls with their mom's walked through the doors and headed upstairs. And guess what? Not one of them left without a swimsuit. NOT A ONE. And they were dropping no less than $200 each. One young girl looked as though she might work an administrative job in the states, her outfit simple...maybe a few things from H&M took home a bright turquoise two piece. The woman checking out after her spent 1800 euros....four suits and a sarong. She was treating herself and her daughters to new suits. The 14 year old girl was getting an explanation from mom about why you spend 60 euro for a pair of lavender colored panties. Crazy.

There was this part of me that in the moment felt very tiny, as though this was something I needed to see. I'm not one that needs to spend that kind of money on myself and I don't think it really is about the money. It felt as though it was about valuing quality over quantity and passing that idea down from generation to generation. Nurturing the value of self. The value of womanhood. You don't need a $200 bathing suit to feel good about yourself, I get that. There are some days though when it helps. It can make one sort of go....ahhh, this is nice and I deserve this!! No matter what the item is. Making those kinds of decisions where small luxuries are a part of one's daily life is what goes on here. If that is superficial then, I guess, sign me up.

Occasionally, it's all about the....ahhh.

P.S. The hair vitamins = amazing.

photo credit: vi.sualize.us