economic crisis kills fairy tales #2

One of the persons that marked the last couple of decades in Greece is definitely Petros Kostopoulos.

In fact, he gave a fast ride to Greek society, leading it- as many accuse him- to a 24-hour-party of vanity that lasted for ages. But, by my opinion, that's only one side of what this love-to-hate journalist -publisher- businessman really offered before he finally lost everything he built.

Petros Kostopoulos became well-known in Greece in the late 1980s, as the aspirator and director of "KLIK" magazine which was very successful at the time.

"KLIK" was published in 1987, by Aris Terzopoulos.

"I met Kostopoulos in 1985. At that time he was having an affair with my wife"
said Terzopoulos
in an interview to Lifo magazine.
"Everyone knew it. We've had an open marriage".

Klik introduced a new way of thinking and living.
In quite short time Athens filled with fashion victims and party animals.

"There seemed to be an extremely high analogy of eccentrically dressed party people and a weird attitude in the crowd" writes Valery Plame in "Fair Game", describing her first mission to a party in Athens of late '80s.

Amusement and show off was the new ideology led by Petros Kostopoulos.
By then, everyone's had to have an attitude, an expensive car, a club reservation, a cosy apartment and a beautiful girlfriend- or even better a beautiful model girlfriend.
(on the left: Philippa Matthews,one of Kostopoulos'girlfriends)

In the mid '90s, Petros Kostopoulos got married to Jenny Balatsinou (right) and started building his own media empire. He published several lifestyle magazines and opened at least two radio stations and a music recording company.

Following the same successful recipe he gave us more nude, more bimbos and wanna-bis, more must-haves, more cheap entertainment.

When economic crisis hit Greece, Petros Kostopoulos , like most Greeks, didn't expect that it would last long.
In the beginning of 2012 he announced his bankrupt.

"I fell in depression in just one day. I didn't want to get out of bed. After 18 years of marriage my wife saw me on the floor shaking like rabbit." he said in an interview.

"After 1995(...) the whole thing got emetic and I became part of the troupe.".

Although all these years nobody dared to touch Kostopoulos, his falling down showed once more how mean people are. The falling of the little-town-boy who ruled lifestyle for more than two decades made many people happy although it drove hundreds of others to unemployment. His falling meant the end of lifestyle. Petros Kostopoulos just didn't notice that the post-modernity he so clearly foresaw and so successfully illustrated was over along with everything else we knew as everyday life, must-haves and want-to.