The Festival for Tiffany Store

Christmas is coming, and outside, the streets that border Tiffany's were raucous with cars, the sidewalks were clotted with pedestrians and the sky over Fifth Avenue and 57th Street was threatening something dire. Inside the store, however, were warmth and coziness, green swags and golden balls, red tulips, roses and amaryllis and a horde of shoppers hunched over glass display cases.
Tiffany's is the People's Palace nowadays, and frankly, the customers did not live up to their surroundings. Instead they were living testament to why clothing retailers, except those who purvey parkas, jeans and Orlon watch caps, are not a happy breed. True, there was the occasional exception -- the woman in ankle-length mink, for one, and the man who was bespoke from head to toe -- but basically these shoppers signified that today only the Pope maintains a dress code.
The biggest crowd was bent over the diamond rings, several of which had stones the size of those sported by soap-opera heroines. Christmas is prime time for the sale and bestowal of engagement rings, and there is something final, something serious about a diamond from Tiffany's. Actually, everything from the Palace, whether from prince or pauper, has a portentous air. Everything arrives in the same cloth case in the same blue box, so one never knows if the lifting of the lid will reveal a silver pillbox or something interesting in emeralds.
It was for festival time! It was a triumph for democracy!

TIFFANY & CO. Tiffany 1837 Bar drop earrings

TIFFANY & CO. Tiffany Cushion Two-row bracelet

TIFFANY & CO. Elsa Peretti's open heart pearl necklace

Tuesday, November 10, 2009