Juicy/Couture, by Sally Singer, was originally published in the April 2003 issue of Vogue.
And Pamlike Gela, lithe, long-haired, elfinwears exactly the same thing, exactly.
Theirs is an ultraluxe, I’m with the band glamour.
Photo: Robert Fairer
In makeup, still no Karl, but we’re getting hotter.
Amanda Harlech, his muse, is here, dressed in black don’t-mind-me Chanel couture.
She bows to the Juicys and asks if it is their first couture.
Photo: Robert Fairer
I would miss the passion, the pride, the emotion.
I love the Juicys!
We run into Issy Blow, dressed for a Venetian ball at 10:00 A.M. in mask and cape.
Photo: Robert Fairer
And then, there he is, Herr Lagerfeld himself: lithe, long-haired, elfin.
Pam and Gela approach nervously and turn pale, pale pink when introduced.
We’ve brought you a present, they say in unison.
Photo: Robert Fairer
I love a present!
It’s a velour tracksuit, and it’s monogrammed SLIM.
and the clatter of high heels jumping for joy (really) sounded in my ear.
Photo: Robert Fairer
You are our Ed McMahon!
We’ve won the golden ticket.
The irony, of course, is that Juicy Couture is everybody else’s golden ticket.
Photo: Robert Fairer
(Answer: yes to all the above.)
But where isn’t it sold out?
And have you seen one in cashmere?
Photo: Robert Fairer
And aren’t their linen skirts fabulousand, in the eyes of one observer, not too missy?
And how many pairs of their jeans do you own?
(I don’t fit in a lot of pants, says Gwen Stefani, a huge fan.)
Photo: Robert Fairer
The Juice, it would seem, is everywhere.
And I was like, what is this, the Ashram?
This gives new meaning to uniform dressing.
Thank God, they were wearing different colors.
It’s Madonna and Lourdes in Regent’s Park.
It’s Gwyneth with a Starbucks coffee on the way to Jivamukti.
Does anyone get really dressed up anymore?
Over jeans, with T-shirts.
She’s now banned.
(Why didn’t you make a copy of it?
asks a puzzled Bryan Adams over dinner in Paris.
It’s a video.)
Now she steals friends' passwords and computers to bid for art glass.
Aren’t they cooler?
Pam buys a bunch of chandeliers, but Gela, in a rare moment of non-twindom, resists.
Vintage shopping is one area in which the Juicys are forced to go their separate ways purchase-wise.
and a delicate ivory twenties nightgown (so pretty for the summer).
A trip to Didier Ludot, Paris’s premier boutique for vintage couture, leaves both cold.
Six thousand dollars for a YSL coat from the seventies?
sniffs Pam as she tears out of the cramped treasure trove.
I’m sorry, but I wasn’t born yesterday.
The Dior show, however, brings out childlike awe and gratitude.
Afterward, it’s backstage to meet their idol John Galliano.
Then Brittany Murphy, who’s also backstage, not only screams, Oh, I love Juicy!
but is actually wearing Juicy (black turtleneck sweater).
To get in the mood for Valentino, Pam and Gela go shopping at the Valentino boutique.
It’sLegally Blondemeets Bonjour, Paris.
Nobody can resist the joie de vivre and curiosity and energy that infuse almost their every move.
Do I look like Big Bird’s child, Little Egg?
To which Gela says, Pammy, you’ve got way too much going on there.
Whatever excesses of fluffiness the two might indulge in, there is nothing fluffy about their work ethic.
My single girlfriends always ask me how to start a business, Gela says.
We learned from our experiences, and we were lucky.
We weren’t lucky, Pam says.
We worked our asses off.
The Juicys are entrancedby the clothes, the chaos, the girls.
The Juicys don’t give up the facts and figures, but the answer is clearly a lot.
At Scoop, it’s the number-one line.
It’s a cult, screams Stefanie Greenfield.
We’re selling drawstring pants and fleece hoodies to men, too.
And with Juicy Kids, you now have Juicy families.
When I mention Juicy to Gail Pisano of Saks, she simply says, It’s crazy.
It’s out of control.
The Juicys have a clear-eyed perspective on what they doand all the clearer after their magical Parisian excursion.
Pam finishes her thought: There’s nothing couture about Juicy Couture.
And she’s dead-on, and way ahead of the pack.
The Juicys are not enthusiastic for the hell of it.
(Was it the Smile?
asks Pam, who wasn’t there.
It was everything, Gela says.)
That’s low, says Pam gleefully.
If they decide to go down this road, we should watch carefully.
The questions they askWhat’s not in my closet?
If you might get your hands on any of it, that is.
