There’s something about how the fashion world mangles language that you either love or hate. Thanks to years of hard-won experience, here at L[A] we can do both, and appreciate this virtual store from Ralph Lauren. We can see the absurdity of sentences like “In the heart of the sculpture, the untamed allure of the West converges with the sophisticated silhouette of the RL 888 bag”. And yet we soon relax as we encounter: “Here, the rugged charm of vast landscapes whispers tales of a time before, intertwining seamlessly with the modernity of the RL logo.” And we only mildly flinch at the lack of a full-stop when we skate right through and out into a void of non-punctuation “This poetic dance of tradition and innovation is a tribute that celebrates the enduring beauty of the land and ushers in the dawn”

Those quotes are from the opening encounter with The 888 House, “a store concept by Ralph Lauren”, to be found in various places including the given URL. When you digest the wordslaw and hit “Enter”, life gets better. Welcome to the pleasuredome. This is the future as we say goodbye to the High Street, or Main Street, or wherever you are currently not buying your stuff from anymore. 888 is ready for us to live and shop in Matrix-like troglodyte conditions, glued to our screens while viewing the airy beauty enjoyed by a handbag we can only dream of. Or, just possibly, buy … although you will struggle to find the till at 888. It’s a bit like a game, perhaps way back from Mystera ingenuity. It’s chill out and, indeed, a bit chilly. But classy too in a bling kind of way. And rather like those fashiony quotes from the catwalk of crass that we started with, there’s somehow a mystery about the weirdness and clumsiness of it all. A strange beauty, almost. You might think from the critique here we didn’t like 888. We didn’t. We loved it! Shopping can still get better!