Recently in Store Openings Category

The new Banana Republic downtown flagship store at Broadway and Prince is now open.

This weekend they're having a Grand Opening on Nov. 21 and 22. They sent me a postcard about it, offering 25% off at the new store during those two days.  It's not clear if you need to bring the postcard or not.  Maybe if you don't have one, you could say you forgot it?

There is a good slide show of the new space and layout at NY Magazine, here. It kind of reminds me of J. Crew's vibe, which I doubt is what they were going for.  It looks nice for sure!

J.C. Penney has opened a store in Manhattan at Herald Square near Macy's. They are the new anchor store at the Manhattan Mall. I belive the anchor space had been empty since Stern's closed up shop there in 2001. The New York Times Critical Shopper article, 'Playing to the Middle' by Cintra Wilson on the subject sums it up quite nicely: "J.C. Penney has broken free of its suburban parking area to invade Herald Square, and the most frequent question on New York's collective lips seems to be: Why? "

(image: Donna Alberico for The New York Times)

Ha! I totally agree. Part of being in Manhattan is getting away from terrible places like J.C. Penney. Perhaps I am biased because I grew up in a rural place with only J.C. Penney, seriously there wasn't even one Gap store. I remember very well the tedious selection of run of the mill styles at pretty reasonable country-folk types of price points.

The NYT article seems to agree with me, stating that "a good 96 percent" of the inventory is made of polyester! And the racks are short on size 2s, yet 10s, 12s and 16s are aplenty. And that "it has the most obese mannequins I have ever seen".  Well good luck to them.  I guess the only positive is that the area they opened in is very heavy on tourists and b&t-ers thanks to its proximity to the Empire State Building and the PATH train.

Anyway, my verdict is hideous.

Yesterday was the launch of Kate Moss' new collection for Topshop.  You can see it all here.

Some things are sold out already.  The $510 diamante mini dress for example is sold out (online at least). 

I don't know, personally I don't love it. The collection is heavy on short dresses, little jackets and knit tops.  The only jean option, the bleached skinny jean, is heinous. And the tiny "hotpants", just ridiculous - - as we know from paparazzi photos, nearly no one can wear those and look good. Only airbrushed models and 12 year olds should be wearing shorts that short.  The price points aren't cheap either... the most flagrant example is a $70 scarf made out of POLYESTER, please, as if anyone sane would even wear a scarf made of polyester, forget about paying $70 for it.

Anyway, I still haven't been to a Topshop since ours in NYC just opened Thurs.  So I don't know how the quality is.  I'd be curious to take a look at how well they are sewn, etc. Do the high-ish prices (for Topshop) come with decent quality or is one just paying extra for the Kate Moss name?

The New York Times today has a nice article desribing the scene at the store opening, read here.

After various delays, TopShop New York is finally opening next week.

They'll be having various things going on at the store to liven things up.  DJs, free manicures and make-up application, free personal stylist advice, free magazine.... etc. etc.

You can sign up to win a trip to London on their website, here.

And if you spend over $100, you get this free British crown tank top.

Giorgio Armani is this week's guest blogger for the New York Times' "The Moment" section since he's here for his store opening and it's Fashion Week. He's posted 2 entries so far on Monday and Tuesday.

It's cool to get a glimpse into the life of someone like this.  But he does come off as a bit of a snob. About dining at Scott Conants' Scarpetta, he says "I liked the décor and the food was pretty good, but you know the service was a bit slow. I ate spaghetti con pomodoro and basilico -- and, here, I must interject something for your benefit. Americans overcook their pasta. Always. And there's too much sauce. Too much of everything! Please, try to control yourselves."  Geez.  Actually overcooked pasta is TOTALLY one of my pet peeves too, but it's not true that every single place in the U.S. overcooks the pasta.

And about going out to a club he says "I noticed that the crowd was dressed in a rather basic way. In Europe, the people you see at clubs are extremely beautiful to look at and are wearing very elegant clothes." Maybe it was a bad fashion night at Cielo, but it does seem that he is rather eager to castigate us boorish Americans. That's not very cool.