Would you rather be an icon or a billionaire?
If a genie from a bottle appeared to you and offered to grant you 3 wishes, but before doing so, you had to choose between being either an icon or a billionaire. If you choose to be an icon, then none of your wishes could pertain to money. If you choose to be a billionaire, then none of the wishes could include love. Which would you choose to be in order to be fulfill your 3 wishes? I’ll give you my answer at the end.
Living in a big city this question pops often into my frame of mind, usually when I’m walking past one of the many exuberant luxury buildings (and we’re not talking Fifth Avenue/Central Park where the doormen are consistently friendly enough to greet you with a smile when you walk by). As The Gilded Age’s Agnes Van Rhijn would say, the new money luxury buildings, you know the type. And if I was living in that exuberant high-rise luxury building, what my life would be like. Would I have the same personality, the same friends?
Not all icons accrue financial wealth. Truth is, being upheld as an icon has nothing to do with money. And not all billionaires have done anything more remarkable to make them iconic. Then, there’s the inanimate objects, places, artistic endeavors, works of art that are praised iconography. Some cost a fortune to create, while others barely did anything out of the norm to receive such stature.
When they say that money makes the world go round, I do believe it. To me, money is fluid. You have it, you give it and keep it moving. It’s one of the constant rotations of life. Of course, I also believe in saving up for a rainy day, retirement and all that, but for the most part when I think about life, money is a blessing that comes in third place. My friend once dragged me to a meditation retreat, well she didn’t really drag me, I thought it was going to be one of those silent retreats where you don’t speak a word for two days. The most memorable takeaway was the day a Buddhist monk came to teach and he taught us that if the second you wake up in the morning is for the sake of money, you have already failed that day. There’s a lot of truth in that, because too many people place a high premium on money, rather than relationships, love, community. So in that sense, imagine a billionaire waking up every morning with the mindset and goal to have more money. It’s a set up for failure, because all the money that this one billionaire is going to take that day is not meant to benefit the greater good.
When a person, place or thing reaches icon status, it is because an over abundance of society or the world loves or respects what they stand for.
Sex and the City. The series itself is an icon. When the show debuted in the late 90’s, the world discovered that oh, this is how career-driven women live in a big city. The characters, New York included, are forever embedded as the original blueprint of women led roles that became a worldwide cultural phenomena. It has always been my opinion that the SATC franchise should have kept its unique and fresh storytelling on its high shelf at the first Sex and the City movie. When I sat in the theater after watching the 2nd Sex and the City movie, watching them ride camels in the desert, I sipped my AMC cola and mumbled, that’s it for them. My only take on And Just Like That, is that I stopped watching it altogether after Big’s funeral. The thing is, you watch a drama like Succession for example, and you can tell how much the writers love that job. From what I’ve seen in Reel clips and read on socials about AJLT, only thing I got from it was that there’s no way the writers loved what they were doing on that show. I could be wrong, but the HBO ratings have spoken. But really it’s HBO’s fault and nobody else’s. They offered too much money, the producers, the writers needed that money, stuck in that billionaire’s mentality. If I was the creator, producer or Sarah Jessica Parker, I would have continued to be so proud of what Sex and the City accomplished and stayed content at being an icon. (Just to note, if you do some online research as I did, Candace Bushnell who authored the book that the series is based on and Patricia Fields, the godmother of TV costume wardrobe, both opted not to work on AJLT for those exact reasons)
American Vogue was an icon. I remember taking a cab home from the magazine shop, because the September issue was so heavy to carry on the subway. I can’t remember the last September issue I purchased, has to be close to 10 years now. I also remember the day of the Kim and Kanye cover and sitting at my fashion assistant desk mumbling to myself, that’s it for them. I figured that it was only downhill from there, not quickly, but very gradually. Similar to Sex and the City, Vogue should have kept its elitism and authority of all that was fashion, society and their creativity that was once splashed on its glossy pages (Grace Coddington, Edward Enninful days to be specific) on its high shelf. As always the money conglomerates reared its hungry head and the publishing world has never been the same again. Through the years to present day, Vogue went from aspirational to bowing down to Hollywood powers to be, at the helm of the film studios. It makes me believe even more to what the Buddhist Monk taught me, money should never be the first reason. If you’re creative enough, there’s always a way to work around money without forsaking human authenticity in art/creative direction. (I think Hommegirls is a good example as an American publication.) But if you sell your soul to the billionaire gods, then you don’t get to be an icon anymore. You’re merely a tiny cog quick to be forgotten or replaced in the machine of capitalism. (AI is the big elephant in every room these days)
You think about icons such as Jane Birkin, who genuinely didn’t care enough about a luxury bag named after her, she treated it in the same fashion as she did her straw bucket bag. Yet, even since her passing, Birkin’s personal style is her legacy that people are so willing to pay a lucrative premium just to covet the Birkin bag. .
Greta Thunberg, the youngest political activist our lifetime has known, certainly an icon because she fights harder for global causes than any one of us reading this right now.
As for any celebrity, I don’t make it a habit to ever put one so high on a pedestal since through the years we’ve witnessed so many downfalls and apology tours. They’re human by nature, but they chose the profession that overpays them too much that one mistake can cost them their career. I do have one personal famous icon, Conan O’Brien and for one specific reason only. Way back when he was fired as host for The Tonight Show (remember when that was the biggest scandal?) and in his goodbye monologue, he famously said “Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get. But if you work really hard and you’re kind, amazing things will happen.”
So, in order for the genie to grant me 3 wishes, I would choose to be an icon. Hopefully beloved for something good, that helps others in a big, meaningful way. Life can be too short, too unpredictable, and the most beautiful moments have nothing to do with money.
But there is nothing completely wrong with being a billionaire, does this world need them? No. I’d like to know about the billionaire who wants its legacy to be continuous philanthropy towards children’s cancer hospitals, sustainable living, solving the affordable housing shortages and homeless crisis, building mental health services for those without health insurance or financial aid. Show me that billionaire with enough grace and empathy to leave this world without a penny to his name, because he gave it all away for the greater good.
〰️ linked in 〰️
Author Sally Rooney publicly stands on business to support Palestine Action while it’s banned as a terrorist organization in the UK. She’ll be using her British book profits (Normal People) and royalties from the BBC to go towards the organization.
〰️ now hiring 〰️
A24 is hiring a part-time Publicity Intern (Remote) **Friday 8/22 deadline to apply
Bottega Veneta is hiring a part-time Architect + Preservation Intern (NYC)
Are you hiring?
〰️ 5 good things 〰️
Bodega etiquette - glad someone went ahead and did this, it’s been in my notes for a year now (transplants take notes)
Marina Abramovic’s (icon btw) brief but spectacular take on art, life etc…
IKEA x Gustaf Westman collaboration arrives on September 9th that will feature a 12-piece collection including the meatball plate.
Stella McCartney x Jeff Koons limited edition t-shirt, “Slippery When Wet” pulled from her first runway show in 2001
Is Autumn coming early btw?
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