We like to look good too. The following shops reflect this range from cool urban gear to sophisticated casual wear. And best of all, none of them will make you feel embarrassed if someone you know catches you leaving the store with a shopping bag. The store has been open for only a year and change, but its staff has deep roots in the LES artists' community. Alife's aesthetic is dominated by graffiti references.
Installations fill the windows, be it a crew of plastic army figures or totem sculptures.
Zip-front sweaters designed by graffiti guru ESPO, which hang from the ceiling, have the woolen weight of jackets you'd wear on a fishing trip with your boys. Japanese trendies, European tourists and homeboys from Queens and Brooklyn can be found regularly flipping through design books or trying on Tsubos, a cross between Prada shoes and orthopedic sneakers. And an in-house shoe line is in the works for February. Most of these spots run in a straight line down Lafayette Street. Skateboard accessories such as decks, trucks and wheels, and skate videos playing on TV screens in the front windows, keep it all real.