In any case, I was allowed to visit a coffee shop a couple of blocks away while my siblings were still trying on clothes.

WSJ: Raising Kids in the City

Smith's responsibilities will involve interviewing designers including Hilfiger trying on clothes, attending photo shoots, providing grooming tips and filing regular reports for the magazine's website.

WSJ: Bills WR/QB Smith goes from wildcat to catwalk

Such passes for refreshing normalcy in a country where shopping--with its rummaging through the wares and socializing while trying on the clothes--has long been a national pastime.

FORBES: Magazine Article

Hointer is trying to "combine the speed and convenience of the online shopping experience with the in-store experience of touching and trying on your clothes, " says Ms. Shouraboura, 42 years old.

WSJ: Clothing Shop Is Tailored to Digital Age

She attributes fancy menswear's growing sales figures to the fact that many men are now experimenting more with clothes--trying on new looks at a time when the old dress-for-success rules have broken down and new rules have yet to be written.

FORBES: Making Money In Style

Back in the Arbelias home, Nashatt Arbelias sifts through mounds of clothes dumped on their bed, trying to take stock of what's left, what's missing and what's destroyed.

NPR: A Christian Village in Lebanon

He would dream of himself living on the streets, sleeping on subways, trying to sell flowers to passing pedestrians dressed in elegant clothes, but to no avail.

FORBES: Santa Arrived Too Late

Mr Saravanapavan said that on Tuesday night, the editor of his Jaffna paper was beaten by plain-clothes soldiers while trying to cover the unrest and had to be admitted to hospital.

BBC: Asia