The NYTimes Style section today (The Critical Shopper) goes after the LuLu culture, focusing on the boppy, sunny, perky, happy, can-do, yes'm attitude of the staffers. The writer walks into the flagship store in Manhattan (sounds like the set-up to a joke) and "A nanosecond after I entered, a spunky girl greeted me with a “Hi!” as if she were my life coach or wife." His take is that it's all a bit culty. Not just out on the LuluLemon-covered streets (which is what New York Magazine's juicy LuLuLemon article this past summer was talking about), but in the store itself.LuluLemon works hard to create such boppy attitude in its educators, with personal growth coaching that sometimes includes a session at Landmark Forum.
This is not very “yoga,” but it is to be expected if you are to create a brand that appeals to the public on a global scale. Lululemon understands that we like our enlightenment to be results-oriented, self-esteem boosting and comfortable so that we can flop on the couch after doing our inner work and watch “Grey’s Anatomy.”
Hmm, true: how many of us like our enlightenment to be results-oriented? Many, I'd guess, though we'd never say, "Oh, checked in with Brahman, supreme cosmic spirit from Hindu Vendanta philosophy this morning, cross that off today's to-do list."Aside from using the word relentlessly relentlessly (well, twice, gad zooks! "relentlessly sunny", "relentlessly cheery"), he also does his bit to give the back story on Chip Wilson and review the clothes. He likes the selection of men's clothes. He seems to practice yoga himself. He's a fair reviewer, not beneath a bit of ribbing:
Some of the get-ups are insanely garish. Run Ultra pants have black and white swirly striped panels over purple fabric and look like something Patricia Heaton wears on one of her 14 sitcoms; cropped bottoms with green plaid fabric around the waist is fine if you want to look like a Scotch tape dispenser while you are in Uttanasana.
Any Lulu article must discuss the unusual materials in their clothes, and Albo obliges. And, like the NYMag writer, he takes a shot at the purpose of wearing those hot pants anyway (hint: it's not all about "wicking away moisture"):
The materials, with names like Silverescent and Luon, are obsessed with wicking away sweat and therefore suit the typical yoga-goer’s secret mantra: I am willing to bow to an elephant-headed god, but I refuse to look skanky when I walk to my car after class because there might be a hot guy around.
It seems we can't get enough of LuLu, even if we're making fun of her: she's an easy entree into yoga culture for, well, people who perhaps relate more to the lifestyle aspect of yoga than the, say, sutra-studying aspect. And she provides an opportunity to play in the entertaining contradictions in this yoga-saturated moment.
