FASHION Magazine

We open with Lauren and Brody on a date… a friend date, apparently, as Lauren pouts that she hasn’t been on a “real date” in three whole weeks! Brody counsels her on what to look for in her next guy: “Somebody who’s not Mr. Perfect all the time… somebody who’s gotta be a little bit of a bad boy.” He seems to be hinting at himself here, and Lauren sweetly refrains from pointing out that bad boys neither ask her to cuddle nor cry when she breaks their fingers.

When Charles Dickens wrote, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times,” he must have been referring to the weeks leading up to the holiday season. A frazzled yet fabulous time filled with eggnog, Amex bills and excess.

So naturally, what happened while riding the subway last week (while visions of Holt Renfrew danced in my head) came as a great surprise–a divine intervention. Pasted above an ad for a shopping mall, I noticed a sticker that read, “Consumption does not fill the void.” And suddenly, standing there with my parcels (a haute hostess prezzie and a fab new pair of bejewelled strappies to deck the halls in), I wondered: When did consumption begin to consume us?