03.31.19

Bergdorf Goodman's, and so on.

What I’m watching-in-the-background-while-cleaning: “Scatter My Ashes at Bergdorf’s,” a documentary about—well, I’m not going to insult you, I think you’ve figured it out.

I have never been to Bergdorf’s, even though I used to go to St. Thomas on Fifth Avenue and even though every Christmas I sort of intend to go and enjoy the displays. Not gotten into in this documentary, as far as I could tell: How do the Goodmans feel about being dropped from the name in everyday speech? Maybe they don’t care. Or maybe they’re all dead and I missed it because I was cleaning.

Actually I don’t think I’ve been to any particularly fancy department store (is “fancy” the word?), except once to Bloomingdale’s, which I sort of enjoyed. I went around trying on $500 jackets, admired how I looked, put them back, left without buying anything, and no one could stop me.

Anyway I find I am very vulnerable to the kind of aspiration expressed in places like Bergdorf’s or the Carlyle, and I enjoy encountering, in these…