CHAPTER 1Lead-gray clouds hung threateningly close above the stone-gray austerity of Ambletts that Tuesday after Easter. From across the Hudson, thunder grumbled at noontime crowds window-worshiping at Gotham’s first temple of fashion.
Behind the block-long expanse of plate glass, the traditional decor of chick yellow and Easter-egg lavender had been succeeded by a more soigne display of June debwear arrayed on frozen-faced mannequins posturing in improbable imitation of the snooty set, at the country club, at any Ivy League prom, at a coming-out party in the Starlight Room.
But if it was already summer on the street, it was still springtime within the Store Superlative. Gay colors splashed the counters, bright bunches of flowers illuminated chaste showings of silverware, the fragrance o
