1) Shoulder bags branded Morgan Stanley and JPMorganChase are all the rage among twenty-somethings in Armani suits and Ferragamo ties. It used to be that media (CBS, Fox, MTV, etc.) brands were the highest status symbols in the Big Apple. No more, baby -- now it's Wall Street that's the chick magnet.
2) Cartier has opened a second store on Madison Avenue in the sixties. Who could be bothered to schlep all the way down to 54th Street to pick up those baubles that are so essential if you're really going to flaunt it?
3) Co-op prices may be flat, but condos are to da moon, amigo. The arms dealers, drug kingpins, Russian mafiosi and other all-cash buyers seeking a foothold in this capital of global consumption are unwilling to go through the board approval process that cooperative apartments require. They prefer to just show up with a gymbag full of benjamins and say, "I'll take it."
Everyone's fartin' through silk in this town, and it's all good.
