window dressing

the art, act, or technique of trimming the display windows of a store.

misrepresentation of something, so as to give a favorable impression: The company's list of assets included a great deal of window dressing.

Origin of window dressing

First recorded in 1780–90

This time the crime story is just window-dressing for a meditation on a father-son relationship.

Michael Connelly's Book Picks |Michael Connelly |June 2, 2009 |DAILY BEAST
I realize that the question was window-dressing, but my answer is quite serious.

The Syndic |C.M. Kornbluth
On window-dressing days he was up and down the street half the morning.

Mrs. Thompson |William Babington Maxwell
Then they turned to the shop windows, and considered the window-dressing art as displayed by these Brighton tradesmen.

Mrs. Thompson |William Babington Maxwell

The event in the airport at Salonika and the attack on the convoy were window-dressing.

The Invaders |William Fitzgerald Jenkins
It may be part of our commercial gift for window-dressing, for putting up a good front.

Atlantic Classics |Various

window-dressing

the ornamentation of shop windows, designed to attract customers

the pleasant, showy, or false aspect of an idea, policy, etc, which is stressed to conceal the real or unpleasant nature; façade