Forbidden fruit at the Eaton Centre

I was walking on the top floor of the Eaton Centre when my girlfriend pointed out something interesting. It was the Banana Republic for Women store on the top floor. A few metres away was a clothing store called Mango. Across from Mango was a store called Lululemon Athletica... Banana, mango, and lemon! This pattern grew stronger today with opening of another nearby store: Apple!

We were in line at the grand opening of the Apple store at the Eaton Centre. We were promised free T-shirts to the first 1000 people. My girlfriend said there wouldn't be a crowd because it was so early... but being somewhat of a guru on free-stuff, I knew better. I knew that the savages from Red Flag Deals would probably be there. We arrived shortly after 9:30, and there was a line... but not a crazy line. It was do-able so I stood in line while my girlfriend got breakfast. It took about half an hour, but we got into the store and were each rewarded with a black XL T-shirt with the Apple logo on it. (Not as cool as the photo on this blog unfortunately.) It was a party atmosphere, and we had a lot of fun. I narrowly resisted purchasing an accessory for my iPod nano.

It had me thinking that Apple is really one of the first companies that have successfully blended technology and fashion. It's a potent combination when successful, but the danger is that what is hot in technology or fashion can quickly become yesterday's news. Still, you have to give credit where credit is due... it's not easy to make technology fashionable, and Apple has managed to pull it off rather well. How else could they have managed to get my girlfriend to suggest we stand in line for half an hour to go inside a computer store?