Much Like in the Fashion World, Theres a Great Deal of Jealousy and Rivalry in Dairy Farming Manolo Blahnik world

George Malkemus, the CEO of Manolo Blahnik, gave that quote toThe Wall Street Journal, which just published aManolo Blahnik worldn expos of one of the great secrets of the shion world: Malkemus and the other top-ranking executive at Manolo Blahnik, vice-president Tony Yurgaitis, run a dairy rm. Called Arethusa, it produces milk thats allegedly finer and certainly costlier than most. Its 23 retail accounts include Whole Foods, where you can buy a half-gallon for $4.49 or more than twice the national retail average.

Much Like in the Fashion World, Theres a Great Deal of Jealousy and Rivalry in Dairy Farming Manolo Blahnik world,What youre paying for, as with a Manolo Blahnik shoe, is quality. This isnt st milk produced without thought or imagination by ripping off another dairy rmers design this milk comes from well-bred, very well-cared-for cows that are treated like ladies.

In ct, they began racking up awards in 2004, when Melanie and Veronica won prizes in the 2004 World Dairy Expo. (ThoughVoguecontributor Andr&233; Leon Talley said, I didnt quite understand it, the PR director at the time, still nostalgic for the rural Wisconsin where he grew up, wrote them a congratulatory note.) Butof courseMelanie and Veronica won. They were looking and feeling their best that day, as always:

Arethusa cultivates an aura of haute-living heifers. A sign above their abode reads: Every cow in this barn is a lady, please treat her as such.

They munch on the finest, protein-enriched hay and rest upon soft wood shavings from Canada. Workers vacuum their bodies on a daily basis in a spa-like room. (Theres not a single fly on any cow, boasts Mr. Malkemus.)

To plump up their coats and tails, cows are treated with some of the same beauty products used by ladies who lunch. Brands like Artec shampoo are slathered on dark-haired cows, while Pantene is preferred for the blonder bovines.

One dairy rmer sneers that, while his barns may not be like the Ritz, Arethusas milk isnt even organic since the cows get antibiotics when theyre sick. So he passes Arethusas milk off as conventional. Fine. We all know theres nothing conventional about a cow that pays more attention to its choice of shampoo in relation to its hair color than the average human.