Famous fashion designers don't limit themselves to creating only clothes. Many start out, or later branch out, into interior design in the hopes they will become household names. They make drapes, bedspreads, five thousand dollar Versace throw pillows and even furniture or kitchenware like two thousand dollar teapots by Gucci. So here's one of my favorite stories written by a poor kid from Brooklyn window shopping on Fifth Avenue (Me!).

Sometimes you can't even tell what a store in NY is selling from the windows, but you can find bargains ocassionally if you stumble into the right place. Or you could be in for sticker shock if you're in the wrong place.

One day I glanced into the windows at a cool store on Bleecker Street. They had really nice handcarved Balinese art in the window. I wasn't shopping for woodcarvings but I dropped inside anyway. It turned out that it was a leather jacket store and they didnt sell art at all. Their prices were great though and I picked up two leather jackets at a great price.

Then I headed uptown on the Subway and wandered into Versace on 5th Avenue after seeing a few very nice throw pillows in the window. I wasn't really shopping for pillows at the time. They just caught my eye. They were very cool. I didn't know Versace made pillows, but they do, and they cost a fortune. Actually they were around five thousand dollars each.

I wandered past the display of pillows fit for King Louis throne and then over to the menswear department. I really needed a few new shirts and I always loved Versace.

I did see lots of great mens shirts. I found a set of shirts that were all identical but came in every color of the ranbow. A salesman came over and asked if he could show me a chemise. I told him I would rather just stand here and look at the shirts.