A complaint filed today in New York State Supreme Court in the Bronx on behalf of survivors of the fallen worker, Jdimytai Damour, claims that besides failing to provide adequate security, Wal-Mart "engaged in specific marketing and advertising techniques to specifically attract a large crowd and create an environment of frenzy and mayhem," according to published reports.

Wal-Mart's ad agency would consider that an honor! At least one of those frenzy-inducing ads was still running well after Damour's death. When framed as a cold, calculating, malicious act by Wal-Mart, the charge may sound borderline ludicrous, like something a lawyer throws in just in case; but Ad Age points out that there's been a longtime campaign to try to get stores to stock adequate merchandise on Black Friday, so shoppers don't feel the need to trample each other to get those few super-cheap TVs in the back of the store. That's not a bad idea at all. [Ad Age; pic via]

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Oprah's O magazine has a whole bunch of the billionaire cult leader's favorite under-$100 gifts. Like $99 moisturizer. For the frugal!

Or take InStyle's advice and spend your monthly gas budget on a jar of wrinkle serum!

For the truly broke, how about Ladies Home Journal's thrifty gift guide suggestion of "a cold and sinus soak." Help your loved ones maintain their holiday sinus health in anticipation of a new year filled with no health insurance! .

Everything is either outrageous or depressing. What we're oh-so-subtly getting at is the fact that magazines that have always existed for the sole purpose of pimping too-expensive items out to an aspiration audience have not even begun to change their editorial mission in response to our new, dead economy. And we're talking about a lot of magazines. Everything from Vogue to Real Simple. Any magazine based on telling people what to buy is now facing a world where the old business plan won't necessarily work; but none of them, as far as we can tell, have a great backup plan to save themselves.

It's like any rich person forced to downgrade their own lifestyle: it's hard on the ego. The same goes for magazines. Many will cling to the fading idea of their own place in the luxury hierarchy rather than start chasing after lower-class dollars. In this version of the economy, there should only be about a third as many "luxury," acquisitive titles as there were two years ago, during the boom times. The remaining two thirds can either do the smart thing and recast themselves immediately as friends to the plebes; or they can fight for the few luxury dollars left, and probably go bankrupt in the process.

"He was bum-rushed by 200 people," said Jimmy Overby, 43, a co-worker. "They took the doors off the hinges. He was trampled and killed in front of me. They took me down too...I literally had to fight people off my back."

A 28-year-old pregnant lady was also knocked down in the frenzy. The good news is that most people got that cheap XBox that Ricky wanted, and the "My First Sex Scandal" karaoke microphone/dildo that Amber was desperate for. So the young man didn't die in vain. What were we just saying?

Before police shut down the store, eager shoppers streamed past emergency crews as they worked furiously to save the store clerk's life.

"They were working on him, but you could see he was dead, said Halcyon Alexander, 29. "People were still coming through."

Only a few stopped.

"They're savages," said shopper Kimberly Cribbs, 27. "It's sad. It's terrible."

[LAT Publisher David] Hiller declined to discuss specific plans for the magazine, but said Annie Gilbar, a former editor of InStyle and L.A. Style magazines and a onetime host on the Home Shopping Network, was "the leading candidate" to be named the top editor. Gilbar is also an author of several advice books, including "Wedding Sanity Savers."

She's also the author of The Penny Whistle Christmas Party Book and The Penny Whistle Party Planner. So at least the magazine's funeral party should be decent.

[LAT]

[UPDATE: The Home Shopping Network HSN PR machine writes in: "Please update your files to note that our proper name is HSN, not Home Shopping Network and since HSN is not an abbreviation, even the first reference to our company should be HSN. Thank you for helping us to maintain consistency with regard to our name and brand." My pleasure!]

Consistency is the hobgoblin of Atoosa's small mind, however: "Chic boxes would be a great add-on to their wonderful offerings," she later says of Amazon.com's packaging. That didn't stop her from buying her husband a Kindle, however. One Kindle has been sold!

But the holiday season isn't just about buying friends and family completely useless luxuries wrapped in gaudy packaging from sites with some sort of "green component." "Drumroll please. ... The U.N. Refugee Agency is where I did 90% of my 'shopping.' As an immigrant, I realize how lucky I am to be in the United States and to be writing a column about 'luxury online shopping.' Giving this as my main gift is a way of showing my gratitude." Showing and showing and showing, yes.

The six boutiques highlighted by New York are all lovely, to be sure. They're also all favorites of Lucky—at least, they're mentioned in this month's list of the top 100 boutiques in New York (and name-checked more than often by editor Kim France, this look's poster woman, who may or may not have a big butt). You've probably been to all of them!

We certainly have. We've glanced through the racks, at the shirts by Corey Lynn Calter and the pants by Vanessa Bruno, the stylishly unstylish APC dresses, the Twinkle by Wenlan skirts. We've caressed the soft leather totes and tried on the Devotte peep-toe sandals. And sometimes, yes, we buy, knowing that doing so will just help perpetuate the pseudo-indie, Lucky-enabled fashion hegemony in this city. So if you see us wandering the streets in a Santa-appliquéd gem sweater and acid-washed jeans, it's not some sort of ironic West Bushwickian statement. It's that we're tired, and we've finally decided that Kim France is just evil Anna Wintour dressed down in clothes from Dear Fieldbinder.

The New Style Merchants [NYM]

The purpose of the article, according to Ms. Seymour, was to "understand why shopping seems to have become an acceptable hobby, even an obsession, among some young girls." It seems like it was fun to write! The girls wear skin-tight jeans. One of them in particular has a pretty shirt. Click through for more information!

The first stop for the ladies is Louis Vuitton, where little Lake notices a white mink stole. "I have to have this!" she yelps, probably like a bat. A little later, the girls see a man carrying a pink bag by Juicy Couture; this makes them excited, and "they start hissing like snakes, cheering, 'Ju-i-ccc-y! Ju-i-ccc-y!'"

A few experts and professors later, the girls jump up and down on massage chairs, and after that, Ms. Seymour starts thinking about what it means to be a tween.

Her conclusions: creatures like Lake and her friends are not quite girls and not quite women. They like brands because it makes them feel like they're part of a club. Also, "the concept of window shopping no longer exists. Going home without a bag is unthinkable. Shopping has become about buying."

All of which makes us wonder: who paid for all the stuff? Are freelancers allowed to expense stuff at the Times?—LEON

RELATED: Weekend 'Times': Fire of My Loins

Some rules: We will tally up prices for each of the items featured in this weekend's editions of Styles and Pursuits. Anything that may have intrinsic non-commercial value (books, movies, CDs) is out—the rich in question don't write rhymes; they write checks.

Pursuits, Wall Street Journal

• Travel—Panama City (p.1): Round trip flight from Miami ( $600 on Expedia) + 7 nights at The Bristol Hotel ($2100) = $2700
  
• Chandelier Chic (p. 5): Neues Light Scintilla ($2790, "can work under water") + Roast Design Spirit Balls (!) ($2000) + En Pieza Volivik Lamp ($1000) = $5790
  
• Lessons with newfangled "Golfing Machine" (p. 6): Three hours, $300
  
• Shopping with: Alain Mikli; Winter Sunglasses: Bulgari with Swarovski crystals ($469) + Chanel with double-C arms ($335) + Ray-Ban Junior Aviators ($60) + Dior Parabole 2 ($375) = $1239

Sunday Styles, New York Times

• Pulse (p.3): Tod D-bag ($1495) + Le Flash patent case ($105) + Reptile House Belts ($248) + Ted Rossi cuff bangle ($78) + Marc Jacobs mini-watch ($150) + Tory Burch trench coat ($495) + Zac Posen evening bag ($1275) + Prada flats ($390) = $4236
  
• Bottle service power! (p.6): Average night, $3500
  
• Possessed (p.10 ): Le Corbusier Grand Comfort Chair, $2965 for a licensed reproduction on the Internet

Highly suspicious! Let's call it a draw this week. But does anyone out there know why ten grand seems to be the common assumption for weekly disposable income?


EARLIER: Trip Gabriel: Not about Getting and Spending

• Finally, an ultra-expensive boutique opens in Fort Greene, offering $550 peacoats and $658 boots. The latter are perfect for swiftly walking past the few remaining minorities who, thank God, probably won't be around long. The Observer also looks at Bird and Butter, two other ridiculously expensive Brooklyn boutiques that bring Manhattan prices across the river. The point? Your wonderfully twee borough is long gone. [NYO]

• Speaking of the caste system, the National Fair Housing Alliance alleges that the Corcoran Group is racially biased, discriminating against African-Americans and steering white customers away from black neighborhoods and towards honky-safe areas like Cobble Hill and Park Slope. The group claims that the CorcoDevil's minions even had a map outlining white neighborhoods. Doesn't everyone already know that information? Is a map really necessary? [NYT]

This story is the lead item in today's Memo Pad, which has us thinking: magazine-sponsored shopping events really don't excite us. You wait in line, you're spoon-fed some glossy bullshit, and then you and your fellow cattle are herded into a chaotic shopping corral. So maybe you'll save $6 on that Mario Badescu cleansing gel — but would you have even bought it in the first place if it weren't available in some advertising event disguised as a discount bonanza? Sample sales strike us more straightforward: no shilling, no fliers. Just you, the product, and a hundred other bitches fighting for the best items. It's pure, like conspicuous consumption should be.

Memo Pad [WWD]

But the 130-million-dollar question remains: who's the investor? Seriously, who the fuck would put down that kind of cash to validate their opinion on some fabulous little peep-toes from a Park Slope cobbler you've never heard of?

Idle and uninformed speculation is always welcome.

DailyCandy Sells Stake in Itself, Valuing Web Firm at $130 Million [WSJ]
Earlier: Like Candy From a Pittman

For all its artful arraying, though, I have not found anything I wanted to buy during the course of three visits over the last year. The company Web site describes the Bendel ethos as "youthful New York glamour at its finest." Somewhere along the way, I must have ceased to be young and glamorous. At least I'm still from New York.

Oh, Kuczynski! Oh, humanity!

Elegantly Wrapped, in Search of Itself [NYT]

Although the supermarket passed its most recent inspection on May 24, Klein said hundreds of mouse droppings were found on store shelves on multiple occasions between July 2005 and February, along with dog food defiled by gnaw marks and rodent activity throughout its deli.

Associated manager Glenn Bruno notes that the store is "above-average by Manhattan standards." And 9 out of 10 indigent dumpster divers agree.

Gritty Grocers [Metro]

Best of all, the Urbanista Rolodex is brought to you by girls who absolutely would know where to throw their money: enterprising Vanity Fair editorial assistants Jessica Flint and Cate Edwards — as in daughter of smiley would-be VP John Edwards. Daddy (and Graydon) must be so proud.

Urbanista Online
Related: A moment with Cate's suitcase: The Candidate's Daughter [NYT]

I was walking around the gleaming halls of Orange County's cultural mecca, South Coast Plaza. As I passed the DKNY store, I saw an incongruous man in a tux and a tray of champagne flutes. Next to him was a poster version of the cover of 4% Famous. Behind that, sitting forlornly at a small book-signing table in the empty store, was Deborah Schoeneman. I felt so bad for our New York girl all alone in a mid-market retail store in SoCal. I wanted to go in and say, "Listen, I'm from New York too. I feel your pain." But then it occurred to me that that would be rather embarrassing for the both of us. So, I just said to my friend, "I know who that is." He didn't give a shit.

Well, yes, we suppose that's exposure. Of a sort.

Earlier: Deborah Schoeneman for DKNY

In-Store Broadcasting Network (IBN) is betting millions it can win over Manhattan's influential media elite inside the cluttered aisles of the Duane Reade drugstore chain, where New York media buyers and planners regularly stop for basics such as milk and shampoo.

The Salt Lake City-based IBN is aiming to make a name for itself in the burgeoning world of shopper marketing and will bear the costs of the multimillion-dollar in-store marketing system of LCD screens in the 241-location drugstore chain.

Let's make sure we understand: Duane Reade and its business partners CAN take the time to install LCD screens in its stores so that some company can advertise shampoo, but they CAN'T do anything about the listlessly scattered, half-emptied boxes blocking the aisles, boxes that you must waste time searching through just to find that fucking shampoo — which really wouldn't take that long to place on the goddamned shelf, but the employees are too busy talking on their cell phones and flirting with the dude who works next door.

Duane Reade In-Store Video Ads Target NYC Media Buyers [AdAge]

A BARRELL OF ROTTEN APPLEZ
POISON APPLES ON 5TH AVE
APPLE GETS PIE IN ITS FACE
AN APPLE DAY KEEPS THE SANITY AWAY
APPLARCHY ON FIFTH AVE
NEW STORE NOT SO APPLEING
BAD APPLES SPOIL GIVEAWAY

Got better ideas? In the comments, kids. Your local tabloids' Friday-night copy editors will thank you.

New NYC Apple Store Unveiled Ahead of Schedule [Gizmodo]

Above all else, during its all-too-brief existence, Cargo's shopping recommendations resonated with Jemielity. On its suggestion, he purchased a Sony Bravia HD TV, L'Or al VIVE thickening shampoo, a "close, rough" haircut, soft Banana Republic t-shirts, sunscreen, and Levi jeans. He's not, as he says, "into a youth kick"; rather, he's just an older guy who wants to know how to buy the good stuff. Without Cargo, Jemielity is lost — and the idea of him wandering aimlessly about a JC Penney, confused and disheveled, is just heartbreaking.

72-Year-Old Explains Genius of 'Cargo' [NYO]

Making things a bit more complicated is the fact that Gallo is requiring prospective buyers to fill out an application before purchase that will presumably be approved or denied by Mr. Gallo himself.

African-Americans, Jews, and Democrats need not apply.

Vincent Gallo's $500 T-Shirt [Gridskipper]

A fashionable coincidence? Or a media conspiracy to make you long for a $795 designer death wish?

Stilt Walking Into Spring [NYT]
NY Post]

"LEGGINGS ARE BACK!" - International Herald-Tribune

"Leggings are back from the dead." - Daily Candy

"Leggings are back."
- Sun-Sentinel

"Leggings are back in a big, albeit cropped, way." - Union-Tribune

"Your leggings are no longer for the gym." - NYM

"Leggings are back." - Courier-Mail, March 15, 2006

"Thank God leggings are back in fashion!" - Mirror UK, February 15, 2006

"Believe it or not, leggings are back" - Providence Journal, February 14, 2006

The Search for Grown-Up Pants [NYT]

• Beards are back. And not the kind the dudes in Styles usually mean. (Warning: Article includes members of the douchebag contingent from Vice magazine.)
• Just because a guy likes to wear citrus or strawberry scents, that doesn't make him a fruit. Except in the smellable sense.
• Special K slums it at The Container Store, still manages to spend almost $200. This week's stunning revelation: Alex confronts the possibility that she might have too many shoes.
• Fashion blogs are the new black. Blogs, short for web logs, are frequently updated online journals that okay, you know where this one goes.
• People who have been so hurt by other human beings that they become way too fond of the animal kingdom finally find a way to combine their love of pets with their officious hatred of homo sapiens.

Thursday Styles [NYT]

On the other hand, a reader writes:

During a vacation to LA last week, I checked out the Fred Segal store where Ms. K was treated so rudely, and the (mostly friendly) sales assistants were only too happy to discuss her visit. Apparently the universal opinion of the staff is that Alex was a rude and pushy bitch and that they couldn't wait to get rid of her. And also, that the person who came in and stole away Alex's personal slave had actually been gravely ill, and had quite nearly—as Ms. K unwittingly put it—been raised from the dead.

And though there were a good number of nice cars in the parking lot, there were more Chevy sedans and Toyota minivans. Not that I would expect Alex to condescend to one.

Earlier: The Fabulous Life of Alex Kuczynski Not So Fabulous in Los Angeles

the all-black room at one side of the store, behind an explicitly nondiscreet black satin sash that reads, in sequins, "For Adults Only." Inside, gaggles of customers circulate in the darkness, fondling cupless bras ($88) and crotchless panties ($68) and giggling self-consciously. There are pink paddles, meant (I assume) for gentle spanking, and sequined pasties ($18).

In a strange way this Victoria's Secret store, which is presumably racier and more sexually explicit than any other in the country, is the most family-friendly. There is a boutique where Mom can buy her bras and silk pajamas, another where little sister can equip herself with T-shirts and cotton pants, and yet another where Dad can be secretly titillated.

Leaving Las Vegas With a Little Secret [NYT]

The entire time, a feral salesman loomed and stared but offered no help. He was the grand pooh-bah, I could tell, because he appeared to be the only clerk who was allowed to adjust the volume of the music. He spoke to me once as I circulated the boutique for an hour, which was to inform me that people weren't allowed to write in the store. He nodded at my notebook, which I usually try to conceal.

"But I'm a writer," I said. "I write notes wherever I go. What is this, a private club?"

He shrugged his shoulders and worked his face into a wince that was meant to convey both his ultimate lack of responsibility and his weary status as the true Boss Man: he would enforce the rules, and he couldn't explain them, but he stuck by them, by golly.

On the West Coast, you see, there's no such thing as "critical shopping." There is just shopping, and it is to be loved. And, my God, she brought a notebook? So very gauche. The mere suggestion of the written word is a scar upon even the smoothest face. Kuczynski may be the belle of the black AmEx ball on our island, but in Los Angeles she's no better than the rest of us plague-filled serfs.

Maybe we kind of like LA.

If You're Going Hollywood, You Need the Uniform [NYT]

After the jump, grocery porn and walls that would make Diego Rivera weep.

You've grown up, and you thought you'd gotten past it, but suddenly it's all streaming back. Suddenly, everyone in New York — everyone — has a very lucrative web property. Except you. And, once again, you've never felt so left out in your life.

So head over to former AOL exec Bob Pittman, who's the controlling investor in Daily Candy. Before he took over the chic company that chicly produces those chic shopping newsletters, Pittman was the guy who saved AOL from its era of customer-service woes. So he knows a thing or two about making a girl happy. Now he wants to sell DC, which he bought into for $3.5 million four years ago and The Wall Street Journal thinks could go for $100 million today, and he'd just love to sell it to someone like you.

Just make sure he throws in a vintage lunchbox.

Former AOL Official Pittman Puts Web Firm Daily Candy Up for Sale [WSJ]

She walks out as a 34D.

Now the bitch is just showing off.

Confidential to You: Your Bra Does Not Fit [NYT]

As a rough comparision, think of Trader Joe s as the IKEA of markets: A few funky items throughout the apartment is OK, but you probably don t want the whole damn house full of their stuff. Something as basic as eggs or milk under the TJ s label is a risky proposition. But you don t go there for milk and eggs. You go there for Trader Joe s Sparkling Blueberry Juice and Fire-roasted peppers. Butter? No. Three Layer Hummus though? Sure. White bread? Nah. Jalepeno Blue Cornbread? Absolutely. Catching on? [...] Basically, you can set up one hell of a party spread with their gear.

Now, if most Manhattanites had enough space to not only throw a party but also include a spread, this Trader Joe's thing just might catch on.

A Trader Joe's Primer for Manhattanites [losanjealous]

I tried on a shearling coat in chocolate suede. Again, it was so unlike the shearling coat I owned that it does not even belong in the same category. There were no bulky pockets; the inside was cut so that I didn't look like a sack of potatoes. It was my birthday. I bought it. (It was $5,000, and all I can say is that I'm glad I spent the last year paying off my credit cards.)

Oh, we are, too, Alex. In fact, nothing makes us glad like a multimillionaire successfully paying off her credit-card debt. And just in time to drop $5K on a coat!

A Christmas miracle.

My First Time, She Purred. The Furrier Smiled. [NYT]

Bloomingdale's Ruttenstein Dies at 69 [WWD]

Abercrombie has a long history of provocation. In 2002 the company marketed thong underpants for the 8-to-10-year-old set that bore slogans like "wink wink" and "eye candy." In 2003 it released its Christmas Field Guide, a catalog that featured naked or nearly naked young models and offered advice on oral sex, group masturbation and orgies. "Sex, as we know can involve one or two, but what about even more?" one layout proposed. Abercrombie recalled it after protest from parents' groups. Even teenagers have finally taken offense. Earlier this year a group of Pennsylvania girls organized a "girl-cott" of T-shirts with slogans like "Who needs brains when you have these?"

Now, we hate to keep going back to this well, but we must once again remind you of a W profile of the Fabulous Ms. K., which opened with a party scene at the Idaho vacation home she shares with her investor husband:

"Orgy! Orgy!" exclaims Alex Kuczynski as she raises her glass of Pinot Noir.... Aside from the masseuses, she and [hubby] Stevenson flew in a yoga instructor, three chefs and a trove of delicacies for the larder (Alaskan halibut, organic rack of lamb), all for the enjoyment of their guests at Middle Fork Lodge, an 80-acre property on the banks of the Salmon River. Situated amid 2.3 million acres of federally protected wilderness, the lodge is reachable only by small aircraft, horse or raft.

It seems in Alex's world orgy humor, like coop-board approval, is only available to those with a certain net worth. For the rest of us, it's just distasteful.

Browsing Out Loud [NYT]
Earlier: The Fabulous Life of Alex Kuczynski

The Catalog: Anthropologie Solstice 2005. Solstice is Catalog for fancy. Also online here.

The Target: Women who want their oaken headboards distressed, but their table lamps bouncing soft light off minimalist gauchos to be tear-dropped and unblemished.

So you probably know Anthropologie, and you're likely an expert in their glass flower doorknob collection. But your boyfriend certainly doesn't know your peony curtains from a blythe tie blouse, and you'd hate for him to fuck up your present.

The Bathroom Scale: Anthropologie 2005 Solstice Catalog [Consumerist]

J.Crew