Let Them Wear Paste
Imelda Marcos, icon of conspicious consumption, has announced a new jewelry collection. The prices? A budget-busting $20 to $100. Remember, this is the woman whose suitcases of diamonds, emeralds, and rubies were confiscated by the government of the Philippines. She returned to the Philippines in 1991 from exile in Hawaii, where her husband died in 1989. Marcos says that the designs of her new jewelry collection are based on “flea market finds” and her old accessories and clothes. “This is more than about money because money can only buy you food and things like that, but only beauty can feed your soul and your spirit,” Marcos says. But perhaps the most amusing aspect of this whole story is that news reports on the new collection noted that, for decades, Filipinos used the phrase “Imeldific” to describe acts of excess. Imeldific: it’s so “bling.”