Cintra Wilson Goes Shopping: Church Of Armani Edition

This week's Thursday Styles finds Critical Shopper Cintra Wilson in a more reverent frame of mind than we have seen thus far. Our shopper has been nearly hushed into submission by the Armani|5th Avenue brand palace that opened earlier this year. Leading with a Wiliam Faulkner quote (!), she puts aside her shopping gadfly persona, recounting the history of Giorgio Armani as if transformed into an adoring acolyte —until she wasn't anymore,

Armani Casa occupies a corner of the second floor. These are unaffordable housewares in black lacquer, leather and chrome, all of which belong in Mickey Rourke’s apartment in “9 1/2 Weeks.” In that spirit, I hovered around an Art Deco tea set (teapot $1,395; creamer, $910) with the intention of beating up anyone capable of buying it.

And she's back.
La Cintra is mostly piqued about the elusive price tags on the more expensive items which would prompt the cruel, old adage, "If you you have to ask how much it costs, then you can't afford it." Of course, that discovery can't be much of a surprise chez Armani.
Ultimately, she is taken, or at least amused by, the monumental quality of the place,

Armani|5th Avenue will likely survive as long as Fifth Avenue does. Like the Pyramids, it was built as an indelible valentine to the invisible worlds ahead.

But is it destined, like the pyramids, to one day become a symbol of a mysterious culture now extinct? More importantly, is it merely a coincidence that the article will run on the very day that every label in the store will be available at a sample sale in Chelsea?
Stranger things have been known to happen.
Critical Shopper | Armani|5th Avenue: Indulging His Every Indulgence By Cintra Wilson (NYTimes)
Armani|5th Avenue 717 Fifth Avenue at 56^th Street, Midtown
Giorgio Armani Sample Sale November 19^th - 21^st, Metropolitan Pavilion 123 West 18^th Street, 4^th Floor Gallery, Chelsea