Word: maximalism
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...Travel light" is not a royal maxim. The logistics of the Queen's retinue rival that of a small army. Her luggage alone is staggering: half a dozen stout leather trunks, hat-and shoeboxes, two queen-size 6-ft. wardrobes for ball gowns. No spifty designer luggage for Her Majesty, but a motley array of well-worn pieces, some of them hand-me-downs like the slender parasol case inherited from her grandmother Queen Mary. An intricate system of labeling and cross-referencing keeps her voluminous wardrobe and matching accessories in order. The system is managed...
French Designer Pierre Cardin, 60, takes pride in having brought haute couture to the masses. Now he wants to do the same with haute cuisine. This month Cardin, who owns the famed Maxim's restaurant in Paris, opened a fast-food spinoff called Minim's for gourmet diners whose tastes are richer than their pocketbooks. Says he: "It is a democratic effort to give everybody a chance at happiness...
...little more than $3, patrons can partake of "eggplant caviar" in an avocado boat or hearts of palm peppered with paprika. While the $6 to $9 bill for a full meal may be more than at a Burger King in Paris, the price beats the $75 average at Maxim's. Diners can have orders bundled for carry-out or they can sit on stools at small wooden tables overlooked by wall murals depicting nude sculptures...
...worldwide, and 30 of the fancy fast-food shops may open in major U.S. cities by the end of 1984. Early reviews from curious Parisians and tourists who filled Minim's last week were mixed. Said one finicky Frenchwoman who thought her quiche mediocre: "Given the quality of Maxim's, I had expected more." But an American woman said of her Minim's meal, "It was a Maximizing experience...
There is a grandiose theatricality about the entire exhibition that, ultimately, gives the clothing a secondary role. For all the sensory overload-the perfume, rooms decorated (courtesy of Cardin) to look like Maxim's, the Offenbach piped in like a sound track for an ancient travelogue-"La Belle Epoque" is less an evocation of mood or an exhibition of high style than it is an exaltation of swank, of money, of society. In that sense it is about fashion, not clothes, historical re-creation without historical perspective...