A Dozen Reasons To Shop At Reason

Edited by Samantha Lim

Six years in the making, Reason Clothing (who by the way is having a killer 50% off Cyber Monday sale today) is the manifestation of best friends Jon Price Totaro and Phil Bassis.  What started out as a graphic t-shirt line out of their Lower East Side apartment has blown into a full range of men’s clothing, showcased next to their favorite vintage finds in their newly minted namesake store on 9th Street, a mere block away from where they started.  

SWEET TREAT OF THE WEEK: Sugar Sweet Sunshine’s Pumpkin Trifle

Edited by Amanda Gabriele

As we munch on mini pumpkin tarts in the FashionIndie office, our minds are on Halloween, fall and all of the tasty treats that come along with the season. Which brings us to this week’s sweet treat, a delightful decadence from everyone’s favorite Lower East Side bakery Sugar Sweet Sunshine. The Pumkin Trifle may be a sugar overload, but it’s way too good to pass up in all its cloying glory. Eggnog pudding is layered with pumpkin cake crumbles and whipped cream. Get your taste buds ready and toothbrushes on deck.

Indie Eco Pop Up Shop on the Lower East Side

Edited by Jessica Lapidos

Craving a good shopping adventure this weekend? I mean really good, to all people involved in the process. Wares that are crafted by locals worldwide, and most importantly, made beautifully. There’s a retail movement going down on the Lower East Side this Saturday and Sunday, a pop-up shop brought to us by Ahkun.org. The company that supports local production facilities across the globe is bringing together independent designers, who think and create with the world in mind. Check out some participating designers here.

Doyle Mueser’s Rites of Spring: Chuck Bass Goes to the LES

Edited by Amanda Gabriele

Last night, FashionIndie editors Lester, Mac and I joined Doyle Mueser for their Rites of Spring, a night of bespoke suits, indecent drinks and questionable company. We gathered at the not yet opened Lower East Side spot Fig 19 to view spring and summer styles on display from the designers Jake Mueser and Amber Doyle for the line. Sophisticated and classic with modern touches such as metallic thread, flat wide piping and bright accents like bow ties and pocket squares, – very Chuck Bass in the best of ways – we could not get enough of these impeccably crafted suits. Ornate cuff links adorned the suits while human and animal skulls decorated the room, all designed by Ryan Matthew. See more photos of the event and collection after the jump.

Amber Doyle & Jake Mueser in their designs

Boutique Critique:: The Reformation NYC: Look 5

Edited by Jessica Lapidos

The Reformation, named for both Martin Luther’s Reformation to a simpler approach, and for the concept of reforming vintage clothes, is a favorite among reformed shoppers like Leighton Meester, Emma Roberts, and Shenae Grimes. Their reasons for shopping The Reformation on the regular could be its low environmental impact from only using vintage clothing and dead stock fabric, or the one-of-a-kind quality of it being made by hand in-house, or the sexy effects of lace, washed silk, breezy prints and zippers. All of those points and more have driven Fashion Indie to it, making this week’s Boutique Critique sustainably sexy.

Boutique Critique:: The Reformation NYC: Look 4

Edited by Jessica Lapidos

Yael Aflalo and her business partner Chi Bui have not only filled their stores with reworked vintage, but other stores as well. They sell their one of a kind pieces at Saks Fifth Avenue, Nieman Marcus, Intermix and Bluefly (among others) and have created lines for Urban Outfitters: Reformed and Nom de Plume YaYa. Now, enjoy another look straight from their Lower East Side location: The Reformation NYC.

Boutique Critique:: The Reformation NYC: Look 3

Edited by Jessica Lapidos

Yael Aflalo founded The Reformation with her business partner Chi Bui with the initiative of finding vintage pieces to rework into cohesive collections. They scour estate sales and the likes for garments that belong together and redesign them in house. The store is brimming with washed silks, and so is look 3.

Boutique Critique:: The Reformation NYC: Look 2

Edited by Jessica Lapidos

At 20 years of age, Yael Aflalo founded her fashion empire YaYa Aflalo out in LA in 1999. Ten years into that business, she switched gears to and began reworking vintage pieces into one-of-a-kind designs. She opened The Reformation LA in 2008 with that concept, and opened this Lower East Side location a few months later.

Check here for Look 1 and more about The Reformation NYC.