Critical Shopping

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Cintra Wilson: Full of surprises! Given the Critical Shopper's usual politics, we expected her to come down hard on new Soho boutique Realm for its stratospheric prices, but Wilson was charmed by owner Randi Jacobson and dazzled by the insanely flattering black leather Jitrois dress that Jacobson helped her try on. "Realm is one of those rare shops that produce that uncanny tingling sensation that you only get in the presence of a legitimate labor of love," she writes. "The personal choices that compose the inventory is Randi Jacobson’s voice—it’s how she sings." [NYT]