The Beautiful People

Today during lunch we were talking about style, and one of the gang opined that if only he was incredibly rich, he’d have more style.

I disagreed: you don’t need money to have style. Having money doesn’t give you style. We all know someone that can’t rub two cents together and yet somehow manages to always be the hippest person in the room. A similarly compelling proof that money can’t buy you class can be found by looking at the in-crowd at last weekend’s Monaco Grand Prix. The richest people in the world gather to be seen not watching a race. And, oh merde, are these people ugly. Not just a surface ugly, but a deep, abiding ugly that goes all the way to the bone.

Cash is nice. But it’s not the solution to all your problems. It’s a catalyst; a magnifying glass. If you have poor taste in clothes, having a sackful of cash just lets you have poor taste in expensive clothes.

Bill Cosby had a comedy routine where he was talking to someone about cocaine, who said “I love cocaine because it intensifies your personality.” To which Cosby replied “Yes, but what if you’re an asshole?”

It’s a good question. And watching the Id Parade slouch its way through the streets of Monte Carlo, we see it answered.