subscribe to style file blog via RSSvocabulary lesson: stall to steal
August 12, 2008 12:17 pm
Ask any old fashion assistant, those lowly magazine trolls who work 12-hour days for twenty-something thousand dollars a year, about the ethics associated with accidentally forgetting to return a sample and accidentally taking it home with them, and most will tell you it’s mere income augmentation (the publicists in charge of tracking those samples might have a different perspective, however.) At a recent cocktail party in New York, we stumbled upon a new phrase for this practice, something much kinder than “thieving.” “Stall To Steal” is an expression many use to describe the editorial song and dance between editors and their press contacts wherein a variety of excuses—”that dress is stuck in customs,” “those shoes were
assigned to another shoot,” “a celebrity wanted to wear that diamond ring out one evening” are some frequently used examples—are used to distract publicists from the obvious fact that the garment or accessory in question is clearly in an unmarked bag under their desk. Now you know.
tags:
Stealing is stealing, but Courtier Culture is the same going back to Shakespeare’s time.
By Effluvia on 08/28/08 at 11:51 am