Women have it easier than men. If they belong to the elite class, they can easily show it with all their purse dogs, fur costs or designer handbags. Or babies fitted out with the latest expensive Western accessories, going by the newest trend.
After I got my Sony PSP, my new mobile phone and iBook, and satisfied with my VW Passat that I bought last spring, I didn't know what to buy next. Now, you might complain that all I do is talk about which things I buy, but if you remember this is what editor Ames wanted me to do here. "Don't just review club, but tell us what goes on in the minds of the Putin yuppies," he wrote me. "You guys are a mystery to us, tell us what you think about, talk about, buy, etc." So that's what I'm doing here every column, and if you don't like it, well that's too bad.
So, now you're probably wondering what new hi-tech gadget I bought for myself? If so, you're wrong. I didn't have my eye on another gadget, but rather, on jewelry. Since I'm a successful manager with a serious future, I can't go around wearing loud rapper necklaces like they do on MTV. Instead I decided to go for something sophisticated--some kind of really unique ring.
A well-educated friend of mine once told me that if you go to an American college, you can become a member of a secret community called a "fraternity," where each member gets a special ring. Also after you graduate, your university gives you a ring with an engraving of whatever subject you majored in. The ring is like a key to other similar societies, and anywhere I go, I can meet people with a similar ring, and we can help each other out like brothers. I have seen the Skulls movie and so I know how it works.
Unfortunately we didn't have this kind of secret society in my PTU (trade school) and I have never heard of anything like this in other Russian institutions. In fact, rings aren't very popular with men, especially after the early 90s red-jacketed mafia butt-heads who used to go around with vulgar showy rings.
Luckily a good friend who was just in India came back to Moscow and gave me a massive golden Bvlgari ring for just $20. Well, it wasn't 100% Bvlgari, but why pay 100 times that price for a ring that looks exactly the same?
Last weekend I had a chance to show off my new ring at a very closed and restricted "house party" that I was invited to as the eXile club reviewer. Ames passed me a word saying that a group of promoters called LABELFUCKERS was making a party at someone's penthouse--with a view over the Frunzenskaya embankment. Ames didn't want to go himself, since he said he hates leaving his apartment, so he sent me instead.
This private house party trend is very happening in Moscow--going to nightclubs is just not that cool anymore. These days, the clubbers gather at VIP parties at someone's apartment, studio or gallery. To get to the private party you need to know the right people who can tell you not just the address, but more importantly, the password. Usually these parties don't have face control because if you've got the password, you're already super-cool. The face control trend is now for gopniki and other losers pretending to be cool.
I put my ring on and dressed in my Ted Baker smart casual suit, which in my opinion perfectly fits the concept of a young Moscow gentlemen who is a part of a closed, elite social class which parties at penthouses.
The party was held at a typical residential building with a typical podyezd. The secret door inside was made of metal and had five or six locks, but when it came to being elitny, this didn't even compare to the High Society door that I saw at Most.
Once inside, I realized my expectations were a little too high. Inside it looked like a spacious one room apartment in the early stages of construction, packed with about a hundred people. Of course all of them looked beautiful (people of this group are "in the know," don't forget!) and I saw some faces I recognized from other parties.
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