Lisa Germano - The Dresses Song

So. I hate our materialistic culture! I really do.

BUT! I don't hate materialism itself. I hate that people generally have no clue how to spend money! People waste money buying stupid things. And the rich are the worst. LA's Westside is littered with boring BMWs and Mercedes, all yawn-causing wastes of money bought more for the brand than the car. The owners of such cars should be flogged and made to donate the cost of the car to charity. But Maseratis... that's different! That's a legitimate use of money. A man in my girlfriend's neighborhood has a 2004 Maserati Gransport, and I shed tears of thanksgiving every time we take a walk and he's left it in the driveway. It's the most gorgeous inanimate thing there is.

Contrast it with the Bentley Continental GT. Loads of people are driving those around LA, but how many of them really CARE about their car? Few, I bet. The Continental is a gorgeous car and it's not to blame, but it's another flavor of the month in LA, like kukui-nut necklaces, and so everyone who can get one has gotten one, and just so they can feel like they are with the trends.

The guy with the Maserati, on the other hand? See, we know he's a real car lover. An aficionado. Someone who appreciates a fine work of automotive art. And someone who doesn't mind sharing with the likes of me. Just his leaving it out in the driveway so we can all gaze at it is a wonderful mitzvah.

This is how it will be with me and my Borsolini fedora! On Saturday night my girlfriend and I were window shopping in Beverly Hills and there was a little Italian store with Borsolini hats in the window, and oh, my hat-craving soul. I'm not sure if this is the model I was fawning over, but God forgive me if it is. It would figure that the hat I really wanted would be $435.

But then again, imagine the role I would assume when I donned such a hat! I'd be an ambassador of goodfeeling and art as I strode around Los Angeles in this unparalleled object of beauty! People would be filled with a sense of wellbeing knowing such style and grace was still extant in the world. But you know, it's the line of the brim that I like, the way the brim is down in front, up in back, the way the line is like half of infinity. I can probably find a nice felt fedora I like for $40 someplace, but oh... that Borsolini.

I never knew I could be so into "fine European" anything, but look at me. Between my lust for Italian hats and my German Rotring and Lamy pens, I'm one Euro-something or other.

Not to mention my high-minded ideals wrestling with base desire. Over a hat. But what a hat.