People tend to write off the Times Thursday Style section as frivolous and surreal. But today it exposed an unjust annoyance inflicted mercilessly on the entitled rich: fashion magazines showing clothing with prices available "upon request," when in fact that very clothing cannot be purchased at all, because it doesn't exist as a product! Vogue, for example, strongly implied one could buy a Roberto Cavalli goat-fur coat with a bit of shopping, but that was terrible lie. The Times' investigative journalism:

Calls to stores over the last week to do just that revealed a more-surprising truth: most of the unpriced items were never available for purchase...


Out of 30 items for which prices were requested, 21 were not available at the stores at which they were listed.


Two editors at different fashion publications, who would not speak publicly because they did not want to embarrass their employers, said “price upon request” was usually a misnomer. It has become a euphemism used to credit designs that were never produced for sale...

At one point writer Eric Wilson almost (cue dramatic music!) had his cover blown: "To get the price of the Van Cleef & Arpels necklace, a caller had to give his full name and identify himself as either a news media member or a potential client before the details were revealed."

This sad practice is getting more and more common as people stop buying high-end fashion, due to the depression making them broke. So don't get your hopes up for those metal suspenders in Elle, or the Versace shoes in Harper's Bazaar, because you can't buy them.

Or maybe do get your hopes up, because if you still afford these sorts of products there are a great many poors who will enjoy seeing you cry, or even just get a little flustered.

(Picture: Harper's Bazaar via Times.)