Cintra Wilson is back, and this week she takes on the increasingly disturbing prices of designer clothes, which is starting to upset even the retailers and editors who have been selling and promoting them for decades. Our Critical Shopper goes all the way to Brooklyn in today's Thursday Styles, (well really just barely into Brooklyn, really) to check out Zoë, the luxury designer boutique that operates in the shadow of the Manhattan Bridge. Never mind that it's still sort of jarring to see such a luxe retailer in such a (formerly) gritty location. Forget about the fact that young New Yorkers trying to find affordable neighborhoods to live in are being followed ever faster by developers, undeterred by current economic woes, preparing for the invasion of yuppies looking for a fresh neighborhood with character for them to erase. (Our recent visit to Williamsburg found it fairly crawling with pairs of men in blazers and loafers having animated conversations while standing on street corners and gesturing upwards.) Thanks to the still feeble dollar, La Cintra's experience at Zoë can be replicated in any borough where, as if nobody was looking, handbags have suddenly crept over the $2,000 mark, and even the simplest shoes are routinely flirting with four figure price tags. Even the most opulent retailers are worried that the tipping point is near, and they will get stuck with stockrooms full of exorbitantly priced merchandise that will cause even their most free-spending customers to balk.
The fact is, shoppers who have always felt comfortable buying the top designer labels have found themselves trading down as the brands they had become accustomed to are now wholly inaccessible except, that is, to the residents of DUMBO's newly renovated lofts, who have been keeping Zoë in business, much to the horror of local baristas.
Die hard Manhattanites will be dismayed to find that all the exclusive products they crave are also available over (or under) the bridge. La Cintra, remains unflappable:

Towering Chloé wedgies had big slices of icy Lucite embedded in the wooden heel ($945). I lusted after strappy gold Miu Miu platforms until I saw that the heels sarcastically resembled a bamboo placemat.
⿿I liked those, too,⿿ said my young sales assistant, in her deconstructed James Perse T-shirt, ⿿but I was afraid they⿿d make me look like a tranny.⿿
⿿That is something I have never been afraid of,⿿ I told her. ⿿The line between drag queens and actual women during my formative years was blurred at best.⿿

Cintra leaves the Lanvins and Miu Mius behind makes it out of there with Diane Von Furstenberg and Marc by Marc Jacobs, illustrating the trading-down trend, but she has not escaped the irony of the situation. She writes "I was reminded at Zoë of the protagonist of ⿿ÿ Rebours⿿ by Joris-Karl Huysmans ⿿ a decadent and contrary aristocrat who spends enormous amounts of money commissioning his home décor to be made out of the finest available materials, but deliberately crafted to look cheap and low-rent."
Welcome to the new Versailles. Milkmaid costumes available on the left.
Critical Shopper: Zoé ⿿ Little Hedge Fund on the Prairie By Cintra Wilson (NYTimes)
Zoë 68 Washington Street (near Front Street), Brooklyn