ALEXANDRA JACOBS GOES SHOPPING: Glamorous Groping Edition

We learn all sorts of things today as Critical Shopper Alexandra Jacobs hits up the recently opened Badgley Mischka boutique in the Thursday Styles. One is that she seem to have just discovered those face protectors that most better stores have been using for years to keep customers' makeup off the merchandise when they try things on. Another is that if you lowball your price range at Badgley Mischka, you won't get to see the good stuff.

I was curious about the room on the far end of the store where the four-figure “couture” frocks are kept, their spirits doubtless freshened by a view of a lovely garden, but Marcus waved me away with a well-meaning “don’t even go there” sort of motion.

This is really salesperson Marcus's fault. He is a transplant from the label's longtime Beverly Hills branch, where one would have presumed everyone learned their lesson 23 years ago from watching "Pretty Woman": When a customer wants to see something, you show it to them, because you never know. That's not the most alarming thing that happened on Jacobs' visit, however. On a return visit that gained her access to the more rarefied couture room, our shopper learns that more enthusiastic sales staff will get all kinds of handsy in their efforts to make that gown fit properly.

“And here are the boobies,” Angeline said, hustling inside the (first-tier, plush-carpeted) dressing room with a pair of foam bust boosters known in the industry as “chicken cutlets,” and plunging her hands into the corset area with the enthusiasm of a teenage boy.

Of course, the lesson here is just that everyone should always shop with their own falsies, or, depending on your mood that afternoon, maybe not.

Critical Shopper: Badgley Mischka Opens in New York By Alexandra Jacobs (NYTimes)
Badgley Mischka 24 East 64th Street between Madison & Fifth Avenues, Upper East Side