While I was in Charleston over the weekend I wandered into an inviting shop called Worthwhile. There was a beautifully detailed white cotton shirtwaist in the window that caught my eye and drew me in.  I suspected the price tag would be pretty detailed too. I was right. It was $429.

I told the salesgirl how charmed I was by the dress. “Oh, that piece is designed by Gary Graham. We have several more pieces by him in the back.”

Piece. As opposed to dress. Somehow it elevated it. I was no longer looking at clothing. I was viewing art. It altered the experience. I was drawn in, as to a museum show. I couldn’t get it out of my head, although the pricing and small-size-only availability cured that urge.

The takeaway from this incident was the brilliance and simplicity of a trained sales staff and quality copywriting. A writer had developed the formidable skill of turning something that goes on your back into an experience for the shopper. Part of the overhead of a designer like Graham is paying for that service. No wonder the “piece” was so expensive.