Sheep's clothing dept.: babes in Burberry.(The Talk of the Town)(party to launch new products)

Burberry's West Fifty-seventh Street store gave a supremely planned party for a bunch of preschoolers and their mothers last week, to launch a new line of toiletries for children called Burberry Baby Touch. On the second floor, several long, low tables had been set with tablecloths, paper plates, and napkins, in the Baby Touch colors of baby blue, apple green, ivory, and lilac. These were piled with platters of large sugar cookies in the shape of lambs, dishes of ice cream, and little mountains of decorative sweets -- lilac and blue sprinkles, mini marshmallow dots, raisins, miniature M&M's, Gummy Bears, and cans of Reddi Wip.

The cleanest, rosiest, best-groomed, most splendidly dressed small fry in the universe wandered passively and silently in, marshalled by their mothers and greeted by Burberry staffers, who raised their voices to unnaturally high, shrill octaves to signify surprise, delight, and welcome. White-clad waiters offered trays of lemonade and inch-square cucumber and egg-salad tea sandwiches (no peanut butter and jelly, to protect against possible allergic reactions). A couple of fat, bored-looking sheep, with Burberry-classic checked cashmere scarves tied around their necks, stood around in a wire-fenced pen, in the care of a young man wearing overalls and a straw farmer's hat. Hopsack bags filled with corn were placed strategically nearby. A three-year-old named Molly, in a smocked pink dress, dipped thumb and forefinger into the corn, pulled out a kernel, and, through the wire fencing, offered it to one of the sheep. It was taken and munched. Molly watched without expression.

"Molly loves the Burberry lamb," said Molly's mother, who was clearly her spokesperson. Molly said nothing.

"I bet Molly would love to decorate a cookie," a staffer said. "Come on, Molly," she said, leading the child to a cookie table. The staffer covered a lamb cookie with Reddi Wip and stuck on about fifty marshmallows followed by globs of lilac sprinkles.

"John wants to decorate a cookie," said another spokesperson, John's mother. John, who looked to be three and a half years old, was watching a two-year-old next to him try to pick up a Gummy Bear with ...