I love beautiful things and I’m with you if you say you have to pay more for quality. I can’t afford it, but I don’t see anything wrong with paying $2,000 for a gorgeously made bag if you can. I do still adore Balenciaga and Mulberry leather goods. But the luxury game got out of hand when the economy was booming. Prices crept up as steadily as the height of shoes. And suddenly all you can buy for $2,000 is a ghost of the past. Or a canvas bag stamped with a huge logo.

We all know what goes up must come down. Just didn’t expect everything to crash so spectacularly.

My favourite bit: Everybody is paralyzed wondering what people want, what they’re willing to spend, what’s going to dazzle us into not being able to live without certain items.” It could be, as Zac Posen remarked on Tuesday, that we are headed into a period when designers and retailers are “either stimulated and excited and challenged,” or else follow thousands of other failed American businesses into oblivion.

I certainly am curious to know what’s ahead.