After weeks of restraint and respectful reporting, Critical Shopper Cintra Wilson finally lets her guard down in today's Thursday Styles. She's thrown off kilter by a store and that's how we like her: swooning. The person responsible for shoving La Cintra off the middle of the road is the singularly named Temah, owner of the new Brooklyn boutique Burlap. Sure, there's a little bit of fragrance huffing involved, but everyone needs to get in the mood one way or another.

“Wait! Come here.” She marched me to a Histoire de Parfums display that looked like a row of overturned martini glasses, picked one up and inhaled it like the next fix in her continuing ether jag. She sighed, handing the glass to me.
“You haven’t seen him yet, but you know this man.”
I did a nose-drag. It was emotion-seizing: the complex, expensive scent of a civilized man. A well-shaved European — wet pine, fire, cold Sauternes. I could almost taste the clean leather and tweed. It hit with a resonant pang, right below the belt into unfair, instant, knuckle-biting yearning.

Wilson allows herself to be led around by the passionate merchant, which for some people could be a nightmare, but in this case is a dream come true. For the first time in a while, we have finished reading the Critical Shopper column thinking, "We must get to this store".
Critical Shopper | Burlap: It Is Divine to Treat Yourself By Cintra Wilson (NYTimes)
Burlap 385 Henry Street near Verandah Place, Cobble Hill, Brooklyn

So when was the last time you saw the main floor of Tiffany & Co. looking as pleasantly free of crowds as this?
We saw it this morning when the fine folks at Tiffany invited us and and a few other media over to have breakfast in the store before the doors were opened to the Holiday hordes (Truman Capote really gave them a huge gift when he wrote that novella). It's never a burden to look at shiny, sparkly things, especially when they come with mimosas, little muffins and various other nibbles being walked around. A few choice gift items were set out for our perusal ranging from sterling silver ornaments and piggy banks to a gorgeous Jean Schlumberger pink tourmaline and diamond ring to a spectacular Frank Gehry one-of-a-kind white gold mesh bib necklace, generously scattered with rough diamonds and pearls ($750,000).
This is the kind of breakfast we could get used to.
Even the genial Tiffany execs there admitted that the store took on a serenely different atmosphere without all the daily hustle and bustle, and it was genuinely a pleasure to wander amongst the cases without anyone in our way.
Here's what else we learned:
· The Elsa Peretti collection never gets old, and looks as modern as ever. Some of her classic pieces have now been recast in a sleek, charcoal metal made from ruthenium plated copper (with a new, gentler opening price point).
· Tiffany's relationship with the Swiss watchmaker Patek Philippe dates back to the 19^th century and is the longest vendor-retailer relationship on record. There is now an exclusive Patek Philippe salon tucked away on the mezzanine level including vintage museum pieces and an on-site repair studio.
· The store's famous main floor is one of the city's largest interior retail spaces constructed without any supporting columns at all.
· Nearly all of the gold Tiffany uses is tracked to a mine in Utah, avoiding sources that may finance questionable political activities overseas (such as the conflict in Congo as reported on a recent edition of "60 Minutes").
Eventually, of course, the doors had to open so the public could flood in, and as we left, we were given our own little blue bag containing a silver Tiffany keys heart key charm on a delicate chain for our time and attention. We have to admit that the store's fame and tourist-attraction quality has kept us from visiting as much as we might like. We hadn't been in the famous flagship in a while, which we regret. Once inside, we could probably spend all day looking at every single thing —so we'll be back. There's a lot to look at.
Tiffany & Co. Fifth Avenue at 57^th Street, Midtown

It's sort of like watching Roger Federer win Wimbeldon again. It's not necessarily a given, but it's never a surprise to see Bergdorf Goodman roll out the most accomplished Holiday windows. Titled "A Compendium of Curiosities", they are once again, dazzling and sumptuous, inspired this year by Lewis Carroll and including some not especially literal adaptations of scenes from the "Alice In Wonderland" books.
As usual, the windows bear extended viewing, and while children will stand in crowds to gaze at the storybook windows at Saks (which we haven't seen yet) it's not unusual to see clumps of grown adults standing thunderstruck in front of these displays, drinking in the incredibly detailed dioramas before them. Of particular interest were the figures of varying sizes all dressed in miniaturized Alexander McQueen outfits, for example. We must say that this makes it extremely hard to photograph these windows (it took two trips!), and while you may have seen some pictures already, we made sure our shots were as free and clear of reflection as possible.
Though the windows are gorgeous, Bergdorf's is not above falling back on some of its favorite tricks like the "view from above" used in the card game scene. The glittering mirrored corner window, "Reflected Reveries and Meticulous Metronomes", which has proved to be a particular favorite for the picture taking public, reminds us that every year, there is always one window, a grand finale of sorts, all in white or silver or some combination of the two. Let's just call it "working their signature looks". Nobody's complaining when everything is this beautifully executed.