Hello Tattlers,
Long time lurker, first time poster!
I wanted to say, it's been so entertaining and validating to find this gem of a community. I got sucked in the chateauverse during the pandemic, like a lot of you I imagine! It was a form of escapism, day dreaming about restoration: I pictured myself losing immense amounts of time adding my small contribution to preservation efforts.
It started with Lalande, then the Fleuries, then branched out to smaller channels, but I have to say I'm getting chateau-ed out. While of course a lot of it felt click baity, or misaligned with what I would do (I mean at some point, there IS too much toile de Jouy), I kept watching because it still gave be that form of escapism. I started watching less and less as the CLL vlogs became more inauthentic (the forced laughs, the child-like voice, catching glimpses of people's reactions to getting a camera shoved in their faces) it reminded me of toxic workplaces that claim they're like a family. I keep watching out of morbid curiosity, and mostly to know what you're all talking about!
I felt compelled to finally write today after the Fleuries posted the candle vlog. I find of all the chateau channels out there, I'm most disappointed with theirs. I feel with Lalande, I kind of know what I'm getting, it's like a food court meal - it's not great, but it does its job. The Fleuries, I saw potential. I LOVED the humour, the DIY, the style too. Then they closed the B&B, and now the exorbitantly priced candles... it feels like I've seen behind the curtain and I'm just disgusted. Asking 110 euros for a candle you can't smell oozes of privilege.
In a way it's not entirely their fault, I think their rapid rise in popularity put them in a place where -- unless they made an effort to remain grounded -- it would be impossible to not be out of touch with the rest of us. For a lot of us 3 years of pandemic, global hardships, financial insecurities, a harsh winter ahead, and general feeling of burn out have set the scene to a feeling of great disconnect with people flaunting their wealth/possessions/travels. I wonder if we weren't experiencing these hard times, would we feel this grossed out by 110 euro candles? I still wouldn't buy them, but in our current context it feels especially insulting.
Anyway! I thought I'd add my grain of salt here.
Thank you all for the free entertainment!
