The truth about the lineup
Aug. 18th, 2011 03:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
la_rainetteSo. About this lineup.
One thing I should tell you about France is that French people HATE lineups. Butting in line is almost considered a national sport in France, especially in Paris, where you have to line up for everything. You line up to see movies, to buy metro passes, to get into museums. You line up for Berthillon ice-cream (and no true Parisian would DREAM of buying their ice-cream next door where there is no lineup. No, once you're on the Ile St Louis, it's Berthillon or nothing. Hey, food is serious business in France).
We were walking down the Champs-Elysées, on our way to a lineup free museum (no, really), when we suddenly saw this utterly MONSTROUS lineup that stopped us dead in our tracks. I had a brief flashback to my childhood days in East Germany (there is a lineup! It must be for a good reason! Let's stand in line too!), and then Husband elbowed me and said, let's go.
I want to know what this is, I countered.
So we walked slowly by until we saw the sign: Abercrombie & Fitch.
Now, I have two pre-teen daughters and friends who know what's cool and what's not (I don't and I don't really care), so I knew that Abercrombie & Fitch is A Really Cool Brand of Clothes for teens. I had never seen such a lineup for a clothes shop however, and I refused to believe that it was to get into the shop.
So we went and asked.
Husband: Excuse-me, can you tell me what this lineup is for?
Cool dude with cool dark glasses *watches uncool husband pityingly*: see, this is a clothes store...
Husband *gestures to Froglet, who is wearing an Abercombie sweatshirt*: we know. But why are people lining up like that?
Cool Dude: To get into the shop. It opened in May. We expect things to stay like this until end of September.
Husband: ...
You know, I really don't mind lining up for exceptional food, but I would not lineup to get into a clothes store. So maybe I am not 100% French after all. Or maybe I just don't get what fashion is all about.
In the evening, we met up with our host in Paris, Jeanne, and told her the whole story. She wasn't surprised: in preparation for opening day, Abercrombie had 101 male models flown in over from all over the world. They dressed them in Abercrombie Jeans, oiled their pecs and abs, and posted them shirtless on the Champs Elysées in front of the shop.
Jeanne told us that she got four texts from four different girlfriends of hers in a matter of minutes: "Come to the Champs ASAP! Pretty shirtless guys galore woohoo!"
The rest is unclear. I understand that there was sufficient unrest for the police to intervene. Jeanne said that they intervened because the people who'd come to see the Pretty Guys were blocking up traffic; Jeanne's son said that the people were fine until the police ordered the models to put on some shirts. All the girls and guys who'd come to see pretty shirtless models woohoo strongly disagreed with the putting-shirts-on-NOW concept.
In any case, I thought it was hilarous. I couldn't find a confirmation for either version, but I found a video which I am now sharing with you:
(The music is obnoxious, sorry. The guys are pretty though!)
Unfortunately, the models were told to put on shirt. Fortunately, nobody said anything about buttons or zippers :D.
Apparently, all the sales people inside the shop look like this, too. And so people line up to get in.
We didn't, though. We went to our museum, and then we went to the Ile St Louis and lined up for Berthillon ice cream. Because it makes way more sense, really. ;)
One thing I should tell you about France is that French people HATE lineups. Butting in line is almost considered a national sport in France, especially in Paris, where you have to line up for everything. You line up to see movies, to buy metro passes, to get into museums. You line up for Berthillon ice-cream (and no true Parisian would DREAM of buying their ice-cream next door where there is no lineup. No, once you're on the Ile St Louis, it's Berthillon or nothing. Hey, food is serious business in France).
We were walking down the Champs-Elysées, on our way to a lineup free museum (no, really), when we suddenly saw this utterly MONSTROUS lineup that stopped us dead in our tracks. I had a brief flashback to my childhood days in East Germany (there is a lineup! It must be for a good reason! Let's stand in line too!), and then Husband elbowed me and said, let's go.
I want to know what this is, I countered.
So we walked slowly by until we saw the sign: Abercrombie & Fitch.
Now, I have two pre-teen daughters and friends who know what's cool and what's not (I don't and I don't really care), so I knew that Abercrombie & Fitch is A Really Cool Brand of Clothes for teens. I had never seen such a lineup for a clothes shop however, and I refused to believe that it was to get into the shop.
So we went and asked.
Husband: Excuse-me, can you tell me what this lineup is for?
Cool dude with cool dark glasses *watches uncool husband pityingly*: see, this is a clothes store...
Husband *gestures to Froglet, who is wearing an Abercombie sweatshirt*: we know. But why are people lining up like that?
Cool Dude: To get into the shop. It opened in May. We expect things to stay like this until end of September.
Husband: ...
You know, I really don't mind lining up for exceptional food, but I would not lineup to get into a clothes store. So maybe I am not 100% French after all. Or maybe I just don't get what fashion is all about.
In the evening, we met up with our host in Paris, Jeanne, and told her the whole story. She wasn't surprised: in preparation for opening day, Abercrombie had 101 male models flown in over from all over the world. They dressed them in Abercrombie Jeans, oiled their pecs and abs, and posted them shirtless on the Champs Elysées in front of the shop.
Jeanne told us that she got four texts from four different girlfriends of hers in a matter of minutes: "Come to the Champs ASAP! Pretty shirtless guys galore woohoo!"
The rest is unclear. I understand that there was sufficient unrest for the police to intervene. Jeanne said that they intervened because the people who'd come to see the Pretty Guys were blocking up traffic; Jeanne's son said that the people were fine until the police ordered the models to put on some shirts. All the girls and guys who'd come to see pretty shirtless models woohoo strongly disagreed with the putting-shirts-on-NOW concept.
In any case, I thought it was hilarous. I couldn't find a confirmation for either version, but I found a video which I am now sharing with you:
(The music is obnoxious, sorry. The guys are pretty though!)
Unfortunately, the models were told to put on shirt. Fortunately, nobody said anything about buttons or zippers :D.
Apparently, all the sales people inside the shop look like this, too. And so people line up to get in.
We didn't, though. We went to our museum, and then we went to the Ile St Louis and lined up for Berthillon ice cream. Because it makes way more sense, really. ;)
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no subject
Date: 2011-08-18 08:23 pm (UTC)I am kind of horrified by said lineup, though. I would totally not make it in France.
-J
no subject
Date: 2011-08-18 08:32 pm (UTC)Well, that's sort of an extreme lineup, to be honest (which is why we stopped to check it out). The lineups to get Berthillon ice cream are not as long, nor are the lineups to get into museums (most of the time).
no subject
Date: 2011-08-18 08:34 pm (UTC)-J
no subject
Date: 2011-08-18 08:41 pm (UTC)I was about to say that most French people wouldn't either and then I remembered a scene in the Elegance of the Hedgehog where two women are fighting over super-pricey pieces of lingerie on the first day of sales in France* and yeah. People don't always LINE UP for clothes, but they do fight over them occasionally.
* like Boxing day, which is a HUGE shopping day in France. There are a few sales opening days where you really WANT to avoid going shopping if you're not entirely crazy about clothes, really.
no subject
Date: 2011-08-18 08:21 pm (UTC)I don't get it, either. I would have just waddled past to Berthillon.
no subject
Date: 2011-08-18 08:24 pm (UTC)Also, while they're all stuck in the lineup to get into A&F, they're not in the lineup for Berthillon ice cream, yes? MORE ICE CREAM FOR US! :D
no subject
Date: 2011-08-18 08:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-08-18 08:35 pm (UTC)I also took a picture from the bridge between the Ile de la Cité and Ile St Louis just for you, because you can see La Tour d'Argent from there! I need to post it! (Though I did not eat at La Tour d'Argent. I can only afford La Tour De Pas Beaucoup d'Argent, I am afraid :D )
no subject
Date: 2011-08-18 08:37 pm (UTC)*swoon* someday when Noel is older we will eat around Paris. Someday...
no subject
Date: 2011-08-18 08:43 pm (UTC)Don't go to Paris unless we're going too, okay? We'll show you places! (Well, you probably know all the places already, but still, it would be super fun)
no subject
Date: 2011-08-18 08:45 pm (UTC)(We can also go to the former DDR, but I hear the food isn't as nice.)
no subject
Date: 2011-08-18 08:49 pm (UTC)Frankly, I'd rather go to France. People go strangely nuts over clothes, but at least the food is exquisite. :D