The Chanel store that turned away Jennifer Lopez in Turkey has a history of unchecked elitism
Jennifer Lopez will always be a diva but her little Chanel blip reads deeper than what just happened
Off late the public seems to be nursing a sort of sadistic pleasure in watching celebrities being thrown under the bus in public. And we say off late because the applause over embarrassing situations public figures find themselves in just seems to be getting louder by the hour, though celeb-bashing has always been a cherished passion of the internet.
The latest to bite the dust in this regard is Jennifer Lopez. The multi-faceted singer, 56, is currently in Turkey in lieu of her Up All Night tour. A day-off found JLo strutting through Istinye Park for some retail therapy with her narrowing down on the Chanel store for a quick visit. Well the visit was definitely quick given that she was turned away at the door. Onlooker accounts share the security guard telling her that the store was at “full capacity” and that she’d have to leave — and so she left, without creating a scene. Local media reports share that once the store employees realised who she was, they tried to get her back in, but JLo had already moved on to other spots.
The internet is split between being shook over how they possibly couldn’t recognise JLo and clapping their hands for treating a global celebrity the way they’d treat common public — and both perspectives aren’t wrong per se.
But what is truly troubling here is the rationale nestled in the latter. Luxury retail elitism, hinged on the complete in-store experience, thrives on exclusivity which in turn is fuelled by exclusion. Now while this has been the business model for decades if not generations, the real question to ask here is, ‘how much is too much?’.
The Istinye Park Chanel store in Istanbul is the perfect example of this. A glowing rating of 2.9 stars and a review section brimming with complaints of mistreatment highlights the issue mentioned above. Phrases like “very poor customer service”, “worst branch” and “rude staff” will flood your eyes but going through the icky customer stories will have you feel as if they trespassed private property.
So at what point did the act of indulging in luxury retail move away from being self-serving to desperately hanging onto in-group exclusivity?
