GA Moms, if you want hubby to take the baby out for a stroll, you have to get a stroller that appeals to the car nut in him.
I like to think the Chicago lawyer mentioned is one of our very own fashionista GAs.
Exceprts from a long NY Times Article:
Babies Are Riding High
By DAVID HOCHMAN
THE supermoms in the organic bread aisle couldn't stop staring. And who could blame them? My new baby was surely the finest-looking creation the store had ever seen, what with the adorable curves, the crimson bonnet and the ergonomically correct brushed-aluminum chassis.
So what if my wife wasn't scheduled to deliver our firstborn for another three weeks? As soon as our tricked-out red Bugaboo stroller arrived from Babystyle.com, I had to take the little addition for a spin.
Designer diaper bags do nothing for me. Sippy cups are for kids. But the $700 Dutch-engineered Bugaboo Frog had me rolling down the path of conspicuous conception. Maybe it was the 12-inch all-terrain tires or the squishy grip bar or the fact that the Bugaboo steered more like a Porsche than a pram, but there I was, wheeling an empty stroller through a grocery store for the adrenaline rush.
I wasn't alone. From Central Park West to Santa Monica's trendy Montana Avenue, the Bugaboo is the chariot of choice. Miranda has a Bugaboo on "Sex and the City." Julianne Moore showed hers off to Barbara Walters. And Noah Wyle rarely leaves home without his. "The Bugaboo's design surpasses anything that's out there," said Mr. Wyle, the star of "E.R." who has a 9-month-old named Owen. "I mean, have you seen the shocks on this thing?"
Though baby strollers have been around for more than 250 years, a new generation of exotic, expensive imports is redefining the way well-heeled parents push their kids around.
With once-prestigious brands like Peg Pérego and Aprica glutting baby stores, the strollers with cachet now come from little-known design firms in places like New Zealand and Sweden, and at prices upward of $2,000. And these aren't just chick vehicles anymore. Marketers are wooing new fathers like me (not to mention David Beckham, Matthew Broderick and David Duchovny) by packaging these ultra-prams — leather seats, pneumatic braking systems and all — as if they were little Lexuses.
"Suddenly, it's all about who's got the Techno, who's got the big wheels, who's got the limited edition," said Bryan Pulice, owner of Traveling Tikes, a Los Angeles children's store that sells four Bugaboos a day. He said he sold one to Mr. Duchovny and his wife, Téa Leoni.
The flaunt factor is definitely part of the appeal. Jim Folker, a patent lawyer from Chicago, gets stopped two or three times whenever he takes out his Bugaboo, er, his 8-month-old son, Nathaniel, for a stroll in the West Loop warehouse district. He likes that he can push the stroller with one hand, "which makes it feel less girly."
....
Maclaren is about to expand its fleet of Kate Spade prams, unveil a new line by Philippe Starck and introduce an exclusive collection of Burberry buggies. Next year, Mountain Buggy will introduce a 12-pound collapsible stroller that could carry an 85-pound child. And the French company Bébé Confort is marketing a deluxe stroller to fathers under the tagline "the paternal instinct." It even has a Web site that resembles a sports car ad at
www.la-kart.com.
