MAMANISTA

I had the treat of spending a part of my Sunday on train with Lila, heading back from a perfect weekend in New York (thank you, thank you to the W, Union Square for, always, making it good to be Eloise – even at my age!!!!).  So the train means coffee and reading for hours on end. And Sunday means the NYT.

Safire’svote for  (concocted) new word of the year struck a real chord with me — Frugalista. According to New Oxford American Dictionary:

It is frugalista, defined as “a person who lives a frugal lifestyle but stays fashionable and healthy by swapping clothes, buying secondhand, growing own produce, etc.” This could become the nom de guerre of the “recession warrior.”

Remind you of someone? Absolutely! This is the woman we speak to day in and day out — this is our market, our woman, our Mamaista! A woman who as significantly increased her expenses without (likely) increasing her means. Baby makes three (or four or more) and changes the economic landscape of a family forever. And so our Mamaista has been left to tackle this shift head on. She actively takes stock of her priorities, chooses where and how  to invest resources in her new life and baby based on a clear sense of self, family, community. She makes a little, trades a little, buys a little. And always keeps true to her ideals. Ultimately, she makes her way to the key essentials rather than the shinny objects.  She is not about the bling, the status or the name — she is about quality, investment and savvy. And of course, parenting her way  – surrounded by the values (and objects which reflect these values) she holds dear. She learns, edits and refines her world view on an hourly basis — fueled by a myriad of “villages” in which she raises baby.

So where does Forty Weeks fit in here? Somewhere between consumer, media and manufacturer. We help to identify a Mamaista’s priorities (which means seeing past the obvious, taking time to dig deep and get to know what is really being considered and why), we lend our understanding to manufacturers who strive to fit in with these objectives and of course, offer our insights and commentary to the media when they too want to make sense of the market.

 So, the idea, as William Saffire shares, of a frugal but fashionable and healthy lifestyle is really what we have identified in our (newly named) Mamaista. She makes choices, as we all do and will — keeping  her key priorities clear and choosing quite wisely. And even in this time of struggle and change the song remains the same. We see her, we know her, we get her…and that is the Forty Weeks way!