FAST FASHION FLAGSHIP FANFARE:

Topshop Heads To Midtown

NEW YORK FASHION WEEK FALL 2014:

Jack Spade Studies Up For Fall

ALEXANDRA JACOBS GOES SHOPPING:

Outer-Borough Indie Edition

06zCRITICAL4-superJumboIn this week's Thursday Styles, Critical Shopper Alexandra Jacobs heads to Williamsburg and spends bit of time bemoaning the turbo-charged gentrification of the neighborhood from youthful bohemian enclave to luxury hi-rise destination. Shocked to see Chanel and Prada placards in an optical window (which she shouldn't be, since designer eyewear is always the most widely distributed and least exclusive licensed product of any luxury brand) our shopper turns to Swords-Smith, a boutique ostensibly meant to be a response to the encroachment of upscale chain shopping in the neighborhood by focusing on truly independent and artisanal designers. "Swords-Smith is anti-fast fashion, a locus of the “slow clothes” movement that has for some reason not caught on like fair trade coffee beans. Its wares do not so much adorn as amuse and challenge," our shopper writes, though it sounds like something of a hollow response as its wares seem to be as expensive if not more so than the A.P.C.s and Steven Alans encroaching on Williamsburg's retailing integrity. And what does our shopper find? Leggings. Expensive ones. The lesson here? Things change, and, at least where New York is concerned, once the upscaling starts, there's no stopping it.

Critical Shopper: Hearing Its Own Drummer By Alexandra Jacobs (NYTimes)
Swords-Smith 98 South Fourth Street, Williamsburg

Comments

The comments to this entry are closed.