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Buzz Feed
3 days ago
- Business
- Buzz Feed
23 Luxury Retail Employees Who Deal With The Ultra Rich
We recently asked people of the BuzzFeed Community who worked in luxury retail to tell us what it was really like, and they shared their juiciest work secrets and encounters with the super rich — including celebrities. Here are the most surprising responses: "I worked a call center job for Ralph Lauren. When I say the folks on the phone were entitled, I mean it. They would have full tantrums because socks in a specific color were out of stock, or if we no longer carried a particular item in the store or online. I will NEVER work luxury again." "My tippy top clients are billionaires. You'd be surprised how many there are; most are not household names. They are actually quite polite. They're either focused on having a fun shopping experience or getting their desired items as efficiently as possible. Many have personal assistants who handle the boring stuff like paying and schlepping their items home. And they'll spend thousands in one shot, easily. The lower upper class/upper middle class clients are almost always polite, but they are definitely the source of all the nightmare Karens." "It wasn't couture, but I used to have a few very rich clients when I worked in the men's section of an upscale department store. The wife or administrative assistant would call me and say that the man had however many days of travel or needed a new set of clothes for spring — here's the card. Top of the line suits, pants, sweaters, etc. No biggie to spend $7,000, and they wanted it shipped as quickly as possible." "I worked at a flagship Tiffany & Co. store in the diamond section. It wasn't unusual to see men purchase items for their wife and their side piece (giveaway is that they'd pay with their card on one item and cash on the other). I won't name names, but there was a CEO of a well-known company who openly and casually asked me to pick something for his wife and girlfriend." "I worked in a wedding dress shop where the dresses were on the higher end. Women would come in with NO underwear on and try on these dresses. Mind you, they had to have a salesperson with them to help. I saw so many private parts, it was ridiculous. And not everyone did us a solid and showered before coming in." "Worked in Hermès for a while until I just couldn't stand the entitled people anymore. Pro tip: There is no actual waiting list for a Birkin. If you really want one, you'll need to gather $6,000+ of merchandise and toss it on the counter, and then just before the cashier starts to ring you up, casually ask if they have any Birkins. They'll bring you a selection." "I worked for Michael Kors, and the theft was unreal. While working one night, a group of known offenders came into the store and started grabbing handbags while making it known that employees couldn't do anything about it. They were threatening anyone who even thought about trying to stop them, and customers were frozen in fear. After all was said and done, they got away with thousands of dollars in merchandise. I called the mall police who called in the city police, but the thieves were long gone." "I worked for a boutique retail store geared toward Maserati-driving soccer moms. Someone came in with their 80-year-old sugar daddy, who stood and pointed at everything he wanted her to wear and dropped $1,200 on outfits for her. She walked in with her husband a week or two later like we didn't recognize her from before." "I worked for a very high-end luxury department store for six years. Let me tell you every single person, including myself, is doing some shady stuff. 'Accidentally' marking down items, hiding stock, stealing, hooking up with other coworkers and clients in the back, coke in the fitting rooms, getting items delivered to the wrong address on purpose, etc. The worst was we found out our store manager was using the client book to steal credit card numbers and got arrested. Great designer clothing, though." "I worked for a high-end retailer for home decor. The amount of people who would begin the call with their job title was very high. It gave an air of 'I think I'm more important than you.' And most of the time, they did act like they thought their 💩 didn't stink. I was berated and threatened by many 'lawyers' about back orders or damaged items I had no control over, told how 'important' the order was, had people asking if they could be bumped up in the order line because they needed it for a 'VIP party,' or some other BS." "Always be nice to the associate showing you shoes. I worked at a luxury department store, and so many times a colleague of mine would come to the back stock room, not look for a shoe, and just tell the customer we didn't have it because 1) they didn't think they would end up buying it, 2) the customer would return it within a week, or 3) they just didn't like them." I worked in a high-end chain retail store for a long time on several malls. One of them pretty prominent in the Philly area. I had a few customers who would come in with their wife, and then later, their mistress. A lot of Amex black cards (this was the early 2000s) and a weekly visit — and sometimes lunch — from Bam Margera and his then-girlfriend!!" "A lot of 'luxury' items are made in Asia, but the brands use loopholes that make it look like it was made in Europe or in the US to give the illusion it wasn't mass-produced next door to the Gap sweatshops. There was a big ruckus years ago about some brands getting purses made in India and only getting them finished in Europe, but it was only spoken about in the industry — never made it to the public. Lots of high-end 'American' jewelry is made in Hong Kong." "A sugar daddy came into our store with his two 'babies' — they were sisters, by the way. They had gotten him drunk at lunch and went around the store picking out clothes, handbags, and shoes. Anytime he would ask about the price of something, they would kiss his cheek and whisper things in his ear to shut him up. It was really disturbing. In the end, he spent, like, $20K on them. Who knows what he did or how he got that money. They all looked happy in the end, so it worked out, I guess?" "I worked at Nordstrom in downtown San Francisco (which is now closing) in the designer section. A famous news reporter came in (who was married) with a younger lady friend and bought her $3K in clothes in about eight minutes. Nordstrom also has a 'million dollar sellers club' for the sales associates that obviously sell over a million a year; they get special assistants to help them sell. The busiest time was the anniversary sale where professional women from all over the country would make appointments at our store with these associates to come and pick up their clothes or have them shipped out." "I worked as the assistant to one of the in-house personal shoppers at a high-end department store in Beverly Hills. Some of these extremely wealthy clients would not purchase anything in a size that was labeled anything different than the size they thought they were in their heads. So, I would be sent to the alterations department with multiple couture items that needed their size tags 'switched.' I would take them garments in a size 8, and they would remove the inside tags and sew in a new designer tag that would say it was a size 2 instead — even though the woman buying the clothes was definitely not a size 2. I was shocked that my boss made me do this, and I felt like I was committing some type of fraud. Now, I just look back and feel sorry for those women that needed to be fed a lie in order to buy clothes." "I worked in a women's boutique in an affluent area outside of San Francisco. It was easy to distinguish the rich from the wealthy by how they treated our sales associates when the owner wasn't around. Rich customers were some of the rudest and most insufferable people I have ever encountered while working retail. I've had shoe boxes thrown at me and full glasses of wine spilled on designer handbags without as much as an apology. In contrast, the truly WEALTHY were the most unassuming and appreciative." "Not necessarily 'luxury,' but I sold high-end designer watches once and had a customer come in whose English was wanting. The associate who was helping her became frustrated at this and asked me to take over. Turned out, the customer ended up practically clearing the counters! A little patience goes a long way." "I had a client who would buy three of the same item — one for his wife, the other two for his side pieces. He said he'd buy the same things so he didn't forget who he gave which item or get confused and blow his cover. And there were many, many of these guys who would do the same. We also had a lot of cash purchases that usually still had drug residue on the bills." "I worked at Rolex for exactly 30 days during busy season as their 'ambassador,' meaning I was every sales person's sales assistant and the store manager's personal assistant. Any time someone would come in and sit down to discuss a purchase, it was my job to offer fancy coffee and sparkling water; I'd then take down the order, run across the street to the boutique coffee shop, cut the line, and pay nothing (because Rolex had a limitless tab set up). When I wasn't doing that, I would be handed the boss's Amex and car keys and told to go shopping for his holiday gifting with a vague direction of 'this high-end store, no more than this amount' (which was usually a couple grand)." "I worked at a large luxury department store in the UK, and the customers who didn't have money were so rude. We had a few regulars who would come in and buy the odd candle or designer jumper every now and then, and if you couldn't bend everything to their whim, they would become so aggressive it was unreal. The customers who would regularly do large orders with us or were shopping with us daily, however, were some of the nicest, most polite people I've ever met. One day, close to Christmas, we had a family come in with their children who proceeded to absolutely terrorize the store. When we approached them and told them they needed to control their children, they screamed that they were spending a lot of money and didn't have to do anything we asked. They spent around £200 on the cheapest things they could find in store." "There are demanding customers — especially the ones who pretend that they have the money but don't. Many of the repeat customers, especially socialites, often buy expensive outfits to wear to a fundraiser or major event and return them a few days later for all sorts of odd reasons. These ladies can't be seen in the same outfit again, so they constantly wear and return garments. One time, a lady returned an expensive designer dress and claimed that she hadn't worn it, but was caught in a lie when the salesperson showed her a picture of her in it from the society column of a newspaper. She was stunned and said that she had forgotten what she had worn to that event. I've seen women try on expensive clothes and throw them in the corner of the dressing room instead of hanging the garment back on the rack or laying it on the chair in the room. There were women who would buy the same garment somewhere else on sale and return it to store to get a full price refund." And finallly... "Working in the home department at a Nordstrom in LA, I grew to hate children. Ninety percent of the time, if someone came into our department with a kid, they would NOT watch them. I once pulled a cake knife out of a kid's hand, and the mom just rolled her eyes. Christmas was the worst because kids would regularly grab an ornament off the tree and throw it on the ground to break it." If you've worked at a luxury retail store, what was your experience like? Feel free to tell us in the comments, or use the anonymous form below.
Euronews
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Euronews
Dazzling Designs: Jewellery in Qatar
Qatar 365 went along to the 21st edition of the Doha Jewellery and Watches Exhibition. Johanna Hoes goes window shopping at the Tiffany & Co. pavilion, where a dazzling display of rare pearls celebrates the region's natural heritage. Aadel Haleem tried on cutting-edge timepieces and went across town to see the permanent jewellery collection at Doha's Museum of Islamic Art, which includes pieces tracing back as far as the 9th century. ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ
New York Post
5 days ago
- Business
- New York Post
Gilded Age apartment carved from Joseph Pulitzer's ballroom to list for $6M — and it has a rare 2-story bathroom
A rare piece of Gilded Age glamour is returning to market. A grand Upper East Side apartment fashioned from the former ballroom of Joseph Pulitzer's palatial Manhattan home is set to hit the market for $6 million. Located on East 73rd Street between Fifth and Madison avenues, the opulent residence occupies the second floor of Pulitzer's former mansion, designed by architect Stanford White in the style of a 17th-century Venetian palace. 7 An apartment carved from the former grand ballroom of Joseph Pulitzer's Gilded Age mansion on East 73rd Street has hit the market for $6 million. Douglas Elliman 7 Once home to the pioneering journalist, the Stanford White-designed mansion was outfitted with cutting-edge features for its time, including ball bearings under the floors and triple-pane windows to block out city noise. ASSOCIATED PRESS Pulitzer, the trailblazing newspaper publisher and namesake of journalism's Pulitzer Prize, who at one point owned the largest circulation newspaper in the world, lived in the home for the final eight years of his life. Commissioned with durability and peace in mind after a fire destroyed his previous home, the mansion was constructed with then-cutting-edge soundproofing features — including triple-pane windows, thick walls and even ball bearings beneath the floors to muffle the clatter of passing carriages, according to a press release. The building was converted into 17 individual residences in the 1930s and restructured as a co-op in the 1950s. 7 The building was divided into 17 units in the 1930s and became a co-op in the 1950s. Douglas Elliman 7 The seller, an 84-year-old former Tiffany & Co. accessory designer, is downsizing after spending her retirement in the apartment with her dog. Douglas Elliman This particular apartment, coming to market for the first time in 20 years, is being sold by an 84-year-old former Tiffany & Co. accessory designer who has spent much of her retirement living there with her dog, listing agent Natalie Rakowski of Douglas Elliman said in the release, first cited by Mansion Global. The two-bedroom unit retains many of its original details, including deep oak millwork that was carefully removed and reinstalled during the conversion. The main living area features oversize windows, a fireplace and soaring 19-foot ceilings — some of which are duplexed. 7 This particular two-bedroom residence — boasting 19-foot ceilings, deep oak millwork, a dramatic stone-column stairwell and even a two-story bathroom — hasn't changed hands in two decades. Douglas Elliman 7 A bedroom. Douglas Elliman 7 A den. Douglas Elliman A grand stone-column stairwell punctuates the center of the home, while one of the more eccentric features is a two-story bathroom with a staircase leading to a sunken soaking tub. A terrace runs the length of the apartment and overlooks 73rd Street. For buyers seeking even more grandeur, the building's penthouse — complete with its own squash court — is also currently for sale, listed by longtime Sotheby's auctioneer David Redden.
Vogue Singapore
6 days ago
- Business
- Vogue Singapore
A very special set of Tiffany Bird on a Rock brooches is coming
The American jeweller Tiffany & Co. has a remarkable history with gemstones. It's got a heritage of top of the line diamonds, underscored by its house treasure, the 128.54-carat yellow Tiffany diamond. And besides diamonds and the big three—sapphires, emeralds and rubies—the maison was actually a pioneering promoter of several 'modern' gemstones. As in, gemstones that were discovered and named later, and which the jeweller helped to popularise by featuring it in its collections. One of these, which Tiffany dubs its 'legacy' gemstones, is kunzite. It's named after George Frederick Kunz, the American gemologist who is considered one of the greatest in his field. Aged just 23, he joined Tiffany & Co. as its first ever chief gemologist, and stayed with the firm until his death in 1932. In that time, Kunz worked on cutting the Tiffany yellow diamond, and proposed the name of the gemstone morganite to honour friend, customer and known gemstone connoisseur J.P. Morgan. The 7,500 carat kunzite rough acquired by Tiffany & Co., destined for a set of 10 exclusive high jewellery Bird on a Rock brooches. Courtesy of Tiffany & Co. But the gemstone that George Kunz is most remembered for is kunzite, a new mineral that he identified and which was named after him. Kunzite has a unique appearance, with the best examples having vivid colour in shades of lilac to violet. The gemstone can occur in large specimens with big stones, and tend to be quite eye-clean so that its intense colour can really shine. The point of this gemstone's importance to Tiffany & Co. was underscored recently when the house announced its acquisition of an incredible 7,500 carat uncut kunzite that was unearthed over 25 years ago in Mozambique. 'This crystal's exceptional size, clarity and colour are rare testaments to Mother Nature's artistry,' said Victoria Wirth Reynolds, Tiffany & Co.'s chief gemologist and vice president of high jewellery diamond and gemstone acquisition. 'This kunzite of over 7,500 carats,' she added in a press statement, 'marks a significant moment in Tiffany's legacy of exceptional gemstones.' As for what the jeweller intends to do with this remarkable stone, the answer lies in one of its hero designs that also happens to celebrate its 60th anniversary this year: the Bird on a Rock by Jean Schlumberger. Tiffany's Bird on a Rock design is a celebrity favourite on the red carpet. Worn here by Rosie Huntington-Whiteley as a necklace. Getty Pinned to Taylor Russell's dress at the Venice Film Festival. Getty And especially on tuxedoes, in line with the trend for brooches. Michael B. Jordan wore a pair of Birds on a Rock at the Oscars. Getty Schlumberger's iconic design of a cockatiel perching on a gemstone has enjoyed a renaissance of late with Tiffany, which has made it a centrepiece of its branding and imagery. It's a genius piece of creativity that expresses all at once the strengths of Tiffany. High jewellery craftsmanship to create a highly detailed diamond-set cockatoo, as well as the simplicity of perching it atop exceptional gemstones so they get, almost nonchalantly, the spotlight. To commemorate 60 years since the first Bird on a Rock brooch was introduced, Tiffany & Co. intends to create 10 bespoke high jewellery brooches set with kunzites cut from this extraordinary rough. Each faceted and polished gemstone will, of course, vary in cut and carat weight so no two are the same. And because these are being crafted in such a limited number, top clients have the opportunity of working with Reynolds on the specifications of the design of their Birds on a Rock. Now there's something to set gem fiends and collectors aflutter.
Emirates Woman
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Emirates Woman
The most stunning jewellery at Cannes: From Angelina Jolie to Aishwarya Rai
The 2025 Cannes Film Festival once again transformed the French Riviera into a dazzling showcase of fashion and jewellery, with celebrities bringing their most glamorous looks to the red carpet. Among the standout moments, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan shone in a Manish Malhotra creation, paired with exquisite Kundan and Polki jewellery. The intricate choker, layered necklaces featured 500 carats of Mozambique rubies and uncut diamonds set in 18k gold, blending heritage with modern elegance. Angelina Jolie made a striking appearance in Chopard, wearing a white gold and diamond choker with matching drop earrings. Her choice reflected Chopard's commitment to ethical luxury, aligning with her advocacy for sustainable fashion. Here are the best jewellery piece from the Cannes Film Festival 2025 From Juliette Binoche's romantic Chopard floral designs to Natalie Portman's sleek Tiffany & Co. diamonds, the festival was a celebration of craftsmanship and individuality. Cannes Film Festival 2025: The best dressed Indians redefining red carpet glamour Irina Shayk brought bold energy with Anita Diamonds' statement cuffs, while Bella Hadid opted for Chopard's avant-garde ear cuffs. Nadine Nassib Njeim's delicate MARLI New York pieces added a touch of understated sophistication. Each look told a story, proving that jewellery is as much about personal expression as it is about brilliance. Cannes Film Festival 2025: The best dressed Arab stars celebrating Middle Eastern glamour The jewellery at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival has left a lasting impression so far . Aishwarya's traditional Indian pieces and Jolie's ethically sourced diamonds highlighted the diversity of red-carpet glamour. Whether classic or contemporary, each design showcased the artistry behind high jewellery. – For more on luxury lifestyle, news, fashion and beauty follow Emirates Woman on Facebook and Instagram Images: Instagram Feature Image: Instagram
