Go North, Young Man

The Motorola Razr was all the craze once. It was slim. It was sexy. It was a bit pricey. Then, it became ubiquitous. People stopped ooh-ing and ah-ing and they looked for the next big thing. There's nothing like making your colleagues jealous in this age of conspicuous consumption.

Clothing is similar, though it seems to last a few years before it dies out. When I was growing up in the 80s, several brands stuck out. Nike shoes. Ocean Pacific shirts. Members Only jackets. Donnie Darko, one part odd SF and one part homage to the 80s, realized these trends though it was totally overshadowed by the main SF storyline.

Today, as wintry blasts have the country in a chill, jackets by The North Face have come out in droves. This is perhaps year three of their popularity. And it costs too. Prices seem to start at two hundred dollars and work their way up. I've been told they're nice and light (their website isn't that enlightening) and use some space age stuff (if we were doing that much in space, that is).

Point is, they're the "it" clothing of the winter, presumably migrating from the ski shops to the department stores, and like many ski paraphernalia, quite expensive.

This has to be an advertiser's dream, at least for a few years, while the getting is still good. To have a desired commodity, and today's kids and adults clamoring for the expensive stuff to wear, and to be classy.

I admit I was tempted too, but really, two hundred dollars? I'll have my discount PGA tour jacket I bought on sale at the airport (really!) for thirty bucks, thank you. I know, why does the PGA need to make winter jackets, right? Winter? Golf? Do the two really go together? Still, they don't want something too cheap, right? After all, it's the frickin' P-G-A!. Tiger Woods! Vijay Singh! Ernie Els! Phil Mickelson! Did I say Tiger Woods?

So shell out those bucks, my friends, for what's the fashion today, because you know, in a few years from now, you'll shell out even more bucks for the new style, the one you have to keep up with. I know. You're savvier now, right? It's not just the name, right? Some superior technology, right?

Baby, it's cold outside.