Dubai Bling!

Whenever I hear people talking about the sorry state of the global economy, about how expensive things have become, and about how one in three people in the UAE have lost their jobs, my attention invariably wanders to those designer boutiques, which are a dime a dozen - and that is hardly even putting any value on the cost of the items these stores stock, if you know what I mean! - Manalo Blahniks, Gucci, Fendi, Dolce & Gabbani dazzle Dubai's fashion enthusiasts and wannabes making it impossible to pass by without atleast enquiring what they actually cost! And truly, the thing with Dubai is I guess, that you get carried away - it has unwittingly or perhaps much more strategically set up for itself a reputation of being a Designer City - where you need to own designer bags and shoes and clothes, or atleast amazing imitations from your friendly neighbourhood Karama stores - to actually belong! So you see every possible imitation under the sun - it could be fake Gucci sunglasses or Chanel bags....or whatever! You always see people negotiating best prices, the Big Red Sale sign is never absent from store windows for long, and we always see tourists to the city and the local yokels bargaining cheek-by-jowl for the best designer steals......"Bling It On" seems to be the Duabi slogan......and it is just not the Europeans, or the Americans - this seems to be a classless, casteless addiction that transcends physical boundaries.......what drives them, you wonder.....I was never one of those design-tastic people.....yes, always had the shopping bug alright, but it took coming to Dubai, and becoming a veteran of these parts to see the bug manifest into a full-blown epidemic, for which there's no apparent cure! So does the average Dubai-ian actually blow up large sums of their hard-earned moolah on these its-and-bits just for a lark....well, you've heard of music being the food of love....in Dubai it appears Shopping is the food of love. And the national pastime as well....did someone say recession? funny Ha-Ha, and Funny Peculiar! :)