Spring 2009 Fashion Week is shaping up to be NYC’s most multicultural and globally minded in years, so it is fitting that that city’s most exciting new high fashion retailer also graces the city from exotic origins. Fashion cognoscenti worldwide are acutely fond of the Hawaiian based luxury boutique, Aloha Rag. Geographical inconvenience never stopped ambitious shoppers from ordering premium, often obscure high-end apparel and accessories directly from AlohaRag.com, but secretly, NYC girls couldn’t understand why a fashion paradise so supreme had to be so achingly abstract and physically inaccessible. Well, hold on to your (Hysteric Glamour) shirts! Aloha Rag quietly invaded the Big Apple several months ago, but is “officially” celebrating its Manhattan debut just in time for Fashion Week! They are kicking off their “grand opening” with a cocktail party on Sunday, September 7th.
Destined to send the entire Bryant Park into a manic fervor, Aloha Rag’s new 505 Greenwich Street mainland flagship store will open its hallowed doors to invited guests at 8 pm – long time A.R. loyalists probably received their e-vites last night (p.s. we got one and may be there!). The evening’s proceedings begin with an exclusive trunk show by the aforementioned cult brand Hysteric Glamour. Also on the agenda: special installations by set designer Anne Koch. H’ors dourves and cocktails follow at critically hip nightclub Don Hills.
In case you are unfamiliar with the Aloha Rag franchise, here’s a taste of the brands their NYC branch will carry this fall: 3.1 Phillip Lim, Thomas Wylde, all things Margiela, Australian streetwear heroes Ksubi, Rogan, Kitsune, Golden Goose, Tim Hamilton, and Giuseppe Zanotti. Our only minor complaint is that their e-commerce site also carries uberbrands Balenciaga, Lanvin, CDG, and more, so why the NYC store’s fall 2008 collection skipped on stocking these mighty labels mystifies us. We suspect that Aloha Rag know best: they are likely targeting their luxury specialist cachet towards a specific, nonconformist contigent of Manhattan’s elite clientele. And we’re just excited that they thought of us!
NYC readers – has Aloha Rag now officially claimed the title for the coolest boutique on the island?
