decadence!

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OK, so what with anthony talking about decadence all the time i have decided that i need more in my life. to me, decadence would be painting the walls orange, getting a BIG iron bed and a lot of fluffy pillows, and cats to sleep on the pillows, and investing in fine cognac and velvet stockings and slippers of all colours. but i can't really do any of this (apart from that i *do* own velvet slippers, hurrah!) what can i do ON THE CHEAP to add touches of decadence to my life (and i'm aware that decadence on the cheap is an oxymoron). plus, what do you do that's decadent?

― katie, Friday, 16 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

plus of course my boyfriend would be in the bed and we would snuggle all day with books and ice cream... new dandified answers!

― katie, Friday, 16 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

being a dandy means simply living for pleasure. i quit my job and spent my last pay cheque on books and cds. i ove my man but seek sex from others. i go to vancouver on a whim. it means not controlling your impulses .

― anthony, Friday, 16 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

of course anthony, i was meaning decadence in the "rowr! pleasure" sense rather than its original sense of degeneration, or falling away from. i'd love to go to Vancouver on a whim. SIGH. unfortunately my impulses are currently held in check by my bank balance...

― katie, Friday, 16 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I once spent £150 on a night out. I have also ordered a taxi for a 50 yard journey.
Decadent on the cheap? Oxfam classix; drink sparkling wine as theatrically as you might champagne. Decadence = not what you do, way you do it!

― Will, Friday, 16 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Decadence is a Nestle Crunch bar crunched underfoot as you spread eagles on rotton bread

― Mike Hanle y, Friday, 16 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Champagne flutes are certainly decadent! And they can be plastic too heh. Waaah I would love a lovely house with high ceilings and wooden floors and big snuggly rugs and fluffy pillows (ARGH I FORGOT TO BUY MORE PILLOWS TODAY) and catZoR but sadly I am a horrible mess of declassé. My walls are an awful lilac. Dear god I must decorate. Or perhaps just move. Hrmph where are my millions?

― Sarah, Friday, 16 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Oh if only the currency was the froot fly.

― Sarah, Friday, 16 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

inexpensive decadence: eating things you know you really shouldn't (e.g. a big mess of french fries for dinner followed by candy and nothing else) and laying around in bed all day with your fave bed- mate when you know you should be doing other things. Also not washing your face when you drop into bed exhausted. Height of decandence.

― Samantha, Friday, 16 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

150 quid on a night out? Jesus, I've spent that on a round of drinks before now! My most obscene time was about two years ago when I was merrily leaving 70 quid tips for a waitress I took a shine to, and blowing something like 750 quid a week on going out and getting ratarsed.

Not clever. Good fun though :)

― Ogden, Friday, 16 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Eating french fries and candy and then going to bed without washing your face isn't decadant, it's disgusting!

― Sean, Friday, 16 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

well, one man's decadence is another's disgust, or something... i am thinking that tonight my decadence is to come in the form of a few shots of cooking brandy down tha boozer, then slaving over a hot stove to make tasty curry, then eating it. and then lying in tomorrow before buying more stripey socks.

― katie, Friday, 16 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Believe it or not Sean I have lovely skin. peaches and cream.

― Samantha, Friday, 16 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Dude, I am Mr Decadence round 'ere. It's 4:15pm! I'm up and about! This is unusual.

― DG, Friday, 16 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

presumably you eat the french fries, not smear them over your skin. why do you have to wash your face afterwards?

― Menelaus Darcy, Friday, 16 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

wear disgusting green outfits like Dido, with green eyeshadow

― Menelaus Darcy, Friday, 16 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Throw a massive house party and have semi-naked fire jugglers turn up. Good ones, mind. Play anything by The Velvet Underground and Love. Serve sangria and ecstacy cocktails. This works, trust me.

― Trevor, Friday, 16 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Decadence for me = laze about, skive off work, don't do chores, ignore your responsibilities and ENJOY IT. It's this last bit I find tricky. I'm grate at the rest, mind.

― Mark C, Friday, 16 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Well according to Mark's definition I've been very decadent today, by turning in for work three hours late. But it's the guilt that gnaws at my very marrow that stops me from making this a habit.

― Trevor, Friday, 16 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

This verges on the cozy more than decadent, but something about dark chocolate (or hot chocolate) eaten or sipped in bed as you're snuggled up in flannel sheets on a rainy Saturday morning where you don't have to go anywhere is deeply pleasing. Where it becomes a little more decadent is when you have someone with you, for a start. ;-)

― Ned Raggett, Friday, 16 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

STRIPEY SOX = vvvvv decadent.

― Sarah, Friday, 16 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Stripey socks aren't decadent, they're disgusting!

― Sean, Friday, 16 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Sorry, I just wanted to say that again.

― Sean, Friday, 16 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I'd say I'm fairly decadent. Most of the time when I should be doing work, I don't. I stay in bed until at least three most days. I pad barefoot around the house (padding barefoot = v. decadent). Don't dandies constantly throw themselves down onto sofas? I do that. When I'm feeling totally decadent, I don't tuck my shirt in or shave. I sit in bed and drink cheap wine out of the bottle. Often I don't open my post for a day or two.

Most decadent thing to do is BE IGNORANT. Reading newspapers (except on Sunday mornings in bed or Sunday afternoons in smoke filled pubs is ANTI-DECADENCE. Watch cartoons instead of the news.

― jamesmichaelward, Friday, 16 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Decadent?...Buying a new 4-track. That's about it.

― james, Friday, 16 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

ILE'ing is the conductor of my seeking decadence, and hence the bane of my existence.

― Brian MacDonald, Friday, 16 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

It's very easy to be decadant on the cheap, I've come to learn how to do it very well after a full year of up and renting out v. pricey hotel rooms at hotels ONE BLOCK FROM MY HOUSE for "fun" and spending $300 a week on drinking habits and staying out all night on Wednesdays getting naked at the Works and going to Boston and D.C. for no apparent reason and then refusing to go see the sights or do anything but stay in a hotel room. This ate a giant hole in my bank account and has left me with sizable debt on my two credits cards (my AMEX is maxed out, and anyone who I've told my weirdly high limit # to will be falling dead shocked right now). So now it is time to be cheap decadent. Going and buying alcohol and having friends over your house and drinking them in lovely glasses (I have crystal hand-me- downs that I'm dying to use!) is much cheaper than going to the bar nonstop. Saving whim trips for once and a while things instead of EVERY BLOODY WEEKEND has also helped.

In terms of house things to invest in, it's easy to be decadent if you have relatives like my mom's who seem to have ENTIRE HIGH END ANTIQUE STORES underneath their house of things that they have inexplicably deemed "junk" while their actual house is filled with ginzo rubbish. I have a beautiful Tiffany ceiling lamp from the '20s that I am aching to hang in my kitchen, and will do relatively soon, me and Ramon will attempt to figure it out, I might recruit Justin too. Also, very extravgantly colored curtains and pillows help, gold and maroon and wine and maybe even blue colors - that's the shit. I also find that using low watt light bulbs (I like 25!) makes the whole house look very sexy and decadent, while actually costing you LESS than a regular 100 watt bulb! And loads of candles, which are wicked cheap, just go to Illuminations or Yankee Candle (do they have those in the UK?) and get loads and loads of those "sampler" boxes, they have the smaller candles which you can get fantastic little holders for for about $2-3 each at the same store, put them all over your house - it smells fantastic and looks all lush. I also like to get loads and loads of vintage poster prints. See, you can find them in specialty framing/art shops for like $300 in the city. OR you can go down to Chelsea (um, this is only helping NYCers) and get like 20 of them for $300, and they're good quality reproductions too, just not in personal made frames and not on as thick of stock paper. Plus they make educational books with the posters in them, buy those and you cut them out and frame them. It looks extremely decadent. Also, anything that says "Morrocco" says decadance, lots of patterned pillows are good. I have an oriental rug, too.

And if you want to splurge, get a bottle of port (Sandeman has a cool bottle! Tastes great!). That's worth it.

― Ally, Friday, 16 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

ally's decorating tips sound just like my ex's. perhaps its a girl- on-the-cheap-in-nyc thang.

in any event, its small decadences for me, no doubt. like today: calling out of work, then eating pizza in the morning, taking a long ass nap, reading in bed, then going to the record store to blow the rest of your paycheck. decadence!

― jess, Friday, 16 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Hmmmm...having read Jess's answer, I'm more decadent than I thought!

That sounds like the perfect day!

― james, Friday, 16 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Wear feather boas around. The best colors are pink, black, and black and white combined.

― Maria, Friday, 16 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Wearing fishnets in winter is pretty decadent. Also, fur coats, you can buy them at vintage stores and flea markets for cheap.

― Ally, Friday, 16 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Fishnets in winter is not too decadent if you wear nude pantyhose beneath them. This is good too b/c it keeps your fat from squishing out of the holes of the fishnet and your toes in place.

― Samantha, Friday, 16 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I tried to buy a ticket to go to San Francisco the other day, That would have been decadent, I think. Unfortunately it was not to be.

― Ally C, Friday, 16 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

according to geoff : glass heads,flowers in the foyer and salamenders ( which he never rembers and always calls them skints.

― anthony, Friday, 16 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Taking a taxi through McDonalds drive through.

― alix, Monday, 19 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Oh I am biting my tongue from saying something too controversial (is fat squishing out from fishnets a common problem??! The worst I've ever gotten is slight imprints on my thighs in a fishnet pattern), BUT I think that wearing nude hose underneath goes against the whole premise of fishnets and makes it completely undecadent or daring or exotic. If you're going to wear hose underneath, it should be in a contrasting color so it'll look a bit funky. Nude hose is like the least decadent thing ever, in fact it is the anti-decadence. I only wear them in real dire circumstance, like on Halloween, because I couldn't get away with wearing black stockings dressed up like that, but I clearly needed something since it was 35 degrees out.

― Ally, Monday, 19 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Perhaps I'm not controverisal. I do own nude hose as they are neccessary sometimes. One tends to get a little plump when you live in cities that do not encourage, nay discourage, walking. That and lots of decadent french fry dinners and morning long laying about in bed contribute as well. However this does not prevent one from being "sex on wheels". Remember, the bigger the cushion the better the pushin'.

― Samantha, Monday, 19 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Stripey tiger socks are AMAZING. Sean you FULE you will WOW! in amazement when you see them. They're so great. Over the knee stripey orange and black tiger sox raaarrrrrrrrrr!!!

― Sarah, Monday, 19 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

why is nude hose not?

― Geoff, Monday, 19 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I just think nude hose looks scary. It never matches skin color properly and gives your legs that weird mannequinized look. Which is great if you are Kim Catrall but not great for real humans in my mind.

― Ally, Tuesday, 20 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

FUR HOSE surely = height of decadence. yes i am preaching to the choir i know.

― Tracer Hand, Tuesday, 20 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

t.hand = fur hosebeast

― mark s, Tuesday, 20 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

i ended up buying some sherry that was on sale in safeways. i'm drinking it now and funnily enough not feeling very decadent... though t.hand will note that in my original question i did specify velvet hose which are at the very least fuzzy, if not actually furry!

― katie, Tuesday, 20 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

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