Liz Ehrlich stood transfixed at the window of the Marc by Marc Jacobs store on Bleecker Street on Wednesday. Instead of a tableau of flirty spring dresses and chic round-toed pumps, it displayed a 2-foot-by-3-foot cardboard ace of spades with the image of President Bush.
Beneath that was a caption with the words, "I'm the commander - see, I don't need to explain - I do not need to explain why I say things. That's the interesting thing about being the president."
snip>....The entire window display has been given over to partisan sentiment of an intensity that seems highly unusual for a major American fashion designer. It includes blown-up playing cards of several members of the administration, reminiscent of the United States military's deck showing members of the old Iraqi regime. The caption under Colin L. Powell's card reads, "My colleagues, every statement I make today is backed up by sources, solid sources.
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"A store is supposed to be a place where you escape reality, lose yourself in the fun of fashion, buy yourself a treat," said Candace Corlett, a partner in WSL Strategic Retail, a New York consulting company. "Smacking customers in the face with a political issue - it's breaking the shopping karma."
http://nytimes.com/2004/06/04/nyregion/04marc.html"the shopping karma"? Woe is me! What will we be asked to sacrifice next?