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THE RICH are different from you and me. They have better vegetables, more money and safer clothes. Thanks to Du Pont's high-density Kevlar - a lightweight, bullet-resistant fabric - it is now possible, for a mere $80,000, to obtain a stylish, floor-length wear-a-tank of genuine Russian sable. The coat is one of a line of similar garments jointly produced by Juliana Originals Inc., a New York fur designer, and Guardian Group International Corp., a security firm. No longer do Veblenesque consumers aspire to "better living through chemistry;" merely surviving will suffice.
"There is no hard sell," said Guardian Group president and former New York City police officer Stephen D'Andrilli. "Rather, those desirous of surviving an armed attack already know full well their own personal needs. Whether it is a landlord collecting rent monies, a diplomat privy to terrorist threat, a judge adjudicating legal issues or a police operative, we offer unprecedented protection in contemporary fashion."
Last Tuesday, coincidentally on the eve of the anniversary of John Lennon's assassination, the group offered an unprecedented fashion show at the United Nations Plaza Hotel - this just two hours after Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev's address across the street. Unprecedented, because the promotional handout included an actual 9mm shell used in the automatic weapons favored by drug dealers, a testimonial from an orthopedic surgeon specializing in ballistic trauma and a lecture by a gun expert who pointed various firearms at the audience,...