Anyone who’s visited this blog before knows that I am a passionate proponent of drinking local….as in, local water. Waving a bottle of Voss Water (which is schlepped some 5,500 miles from Norway to the U.S.) in front of me is the equivalent of waving a red cape in front of a bull.
I thought I was on top of this issue. So imagine my surprise this morning when I discovered, courtesy of my fellow blogger Scott Joseph in Orlando, that Evian has introduced a new (glass) bottle for its precious H2O. Dubbed the Evian Pret-A-Porter Bottle (prêt-a-porter is French for ready-to-wear, as opposed to haute couture), it’s designed by couturier Jean Paul Gaultier. It’s expected that the chi-chi bottle will cost the thirsty consumer $13.95 per bottle. www.jeanpaul-gaultier.com
“Talk about missing the wave; this idea couldn't be further behind the time,” says Joseph, who is the authority on all things edible and drinkable in Central Florida.
The debut of the bottle was timed to coincide with New York City’s Fashion Week, commencing this week, where the world’s top designers strut their stuff. In addition to the introduction of the bottle designed for 
“the masses,” Evian also unveils this week the Evian Haute Couture “Bubble” Bottle, another Gaultier
“masterpiece.” Five of these, fabricated by the House of Baccarat in France, will tour different parts of the world for display during February, then return to Paris for auction in March. Proceeds from the auction will benefit an organization dedicated to preserving wetlands.
OK. So the new “snowflake” bottle is pretty. And I guess you could bring it as a hostess gift to a dinner party of teetotalers. Moreover, for folks who are dying to own “a Gaultier” but can’t afford his blazer or bustier (that’s pronounced boooost-ee-ay…Madonna loves ‘em), this may just represent the opportunity of a lifetime.
Still, at a time when many unemployed people are struggling to pay their water bills and put milk on the family table, the idea of shelling out 14 bucks for a bottle of water seems to me to fall squarely into the fiddling-while-Rome-burns category.
Scott Joseph has it right. ”When you think about the timing, you have to wonder what they’re drinking at Evian headquarters.”
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