Buyer, beware: A hipster invasion is at hand.
Unless you missed the (giant) advertisements and the (giant) posters of provocatively posed women in the unfinished windows, you caught wind some time ago that American Apparel is coming to town - State Street, to be exact, where the Reebok store used to be.
Scheduled to open any day now, the American Apparel digs will house the requisite mountain of cotton basics as well as trendier styles, such as the unisex slim slacks ($68) and oxford button-up ($54). The rib vest ($36) is another find for the fashion-forward set.
But it is here that we come to the AA Catch-22: How much, exactly, is too much for a simple piece of cotton?
Not that I'm one to argue on the pragmatic side. My own closet is filled with high-waisted pencil skirts ($32) and comfy unisex tees and sweatshirts. And I may or may not enjoy dancing to Blondie in my bedroom in a pair of shiny nylon tricot leggings ($34).
The bottom line of American Apparel - and what makes it so appealing - is that everyone, from jogger chicks to hipster cliques, can find something exactly right to buy.
I would prefer, however, if we could put a city-wide moratorium on the lamé hotpants. For the sake of decency, and my sensitive stomach.
American Apparel
502 State St., 608-250-8100, www.americanapparel.net
