At the staging area for the rescue effort at the Flushing Marina in Queens, some 250 firefighters wearing brown coveralls and carrying white plastic buckets filled with flashlights, body bags, gloves and raincoats prepared to board 11 city buses for the site.
Now the streets have a strong whiff of tourist trap, filled with boutiques flaunting Australiana -- Crocodile Dundee hats and raincoats, vibrant posters and paintings of harbor and beach by the artist Ken Done and contemporary pottery and jewelry.
My grandmother was a Biba shop girl, so tales of tight Hulanicki miniskirts, stylish 1960s plastic Biba raincoats for under £20 and celebrities flocking to the Kensington High Street shop filled my childhood.
Burberry's raincoats were originally designed for the British army, hence the name "trench coat," and men's closets are filled with khaki parkas and bomber jackets as weekend wear.
But the room was filled to capacity with the city's fashion press corps, mostly young women in neat dark dresses and belted raincoats.
"Take a raincoat, it looks like it could start".
Take a light jacket that can double as a raincoat.
