IET THEM EAT ROILS-ROYCE

Is revolution, like Marie Antoinette, in season?

- AA PATAWARAN

In Paris, the whispers began not from the catwalks of haute couture but from the fields and the highways.

They spoke of a new and elegant discontent, a feeling that had little to do with hemlines and everything to do with the guillotine. For months now, French farmers have blockaded city centers. Their protests against the rollback of a diesel tax subsidy and the crush of foreign competition are a furious counterpoint to the imperturbable splendor of the Grand Palais.

In New York, the streets of Manhattan, once a theater of endless possibility, now heave under a palpable weight. The tension, the clashes with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, the shouts of protest against a federal crackdown on sanctuary policies are a discordant hum in the city’s song. It is, as the fashion editors would say, a time of paradox.