A $100,000 year wardrobe allowance?

There is currently a defamation case going through the courts here. One of the "defendants" is a television "journalist and presenter" who was reportedly being paid, quite apart from her massive salary, a $100,000 a year wardrobe allowance. It was apparently reduced to $40,000 a year following the debacle which has led to the court case.

This person has apparently been "earning" so much that she has a multi-million dollar property in a very exclusive area of a capital city too. I am sorry but I find all that absolutely obscene. The television company in question must really be raking in the advertising dollars because of her appearance and appearances. 

I know some journalists. I don't know them well but I doubt any of them earn anything like this woman is getting. They certainly do not get a "wardrobe allowance". It is much more likely they are wearing flak jackets and risking their lives in a complex humanitarian emergency like a war zone. They are not following up "human interest" stories in comfortable suburban settings.

The "wardrobe allowance" though really got to me. Even at that meagre $40,000 it is almost twice as much as I spent on everything last year. I lived on just over half what this woman was getting as a wardrobe allowance. Yes, she has to "look good" for television, especially commercial television. I suppose she does. I don't know. I only watch television for approximately half an hour a day (and then only because I feel a need to see what other people are being told about world affairs.) 

But I know people who can "look good" for far less than that. I know a woman in a very public position, a woman who needs to "look good" because she frequently appears on television. I also know, because I once repaired a hand knitted cardigan for her, that she spends very little on her wardrobe. When she buys something it will be "classic" and the best quality she can find. She knows the rules - mix and match and so on.

I suppose I just feel disturbed, even distressed, that someone can spend so much on clothes when there are people I see in the local charity shop looking for something they can wear to an interview. There is something wrong when this happens.

And yes, most of my clothes come from such places. I can still dress appropriately when I need to - but I don't own a dress and I would not have spent $100,000 on clothes in my life time.