People watching can be frightening

So I'm at the Metropolitan Museum of Art today with Granny, and we're sitting on the stairs outside waiting for her friend to meet us when something rather shiny catches my eye - yes, you guessed it; a New York woman wearing a shimmery metallic dress. Next I noticed that she was walking rather strangely, with her trendy shopping bags on her arms and her hands flipped up. She looked like a Park Avenue wife on a shopping trip with her monthly allowance. Also, there were at least four other ladies in similarly elegant (and very out-there) garb, all with their cute little shopping bags. I watched them and talked to Granny about them, both of us agreeing "There are really people like that?" While we discussed this, the ladies crossed the street again as the Walk light turned, and stopped in the middle of the street, faced the cars, and stayed there until the Don't Walk light turned on. They continued to do this, making various poses, after each light change. I was somewhat astonished when I looked around and saw that nobody was taping them for a movie or anything like that (although curious pedestrians did pull out their cameras for a few shots).

Our conclusion was that the ladies were paid by the companies of the shopping bags to parade around carrying the bags. I think the ultimate question should be: why would anybody want to be like those ladies? If I buy things from those stores, and risk becoming like them, am I doomed to walk halfway across every crosswalk and pose for taxis before crossing the entire street? And will my Park Avenue husband provide for me even when he discovers my illicit love affair with the pool boy?