BLANK Summer Sale: 50% Off

FINAL SUMMER SALE ! 50% sale on selected merchandise.


BLANK
445 west 49th street
NYC NY 10019

Kifka + Heller is now Blank: Up & Coming Designers' Haven

It was that time of year. And a long time coming! I visited Kifka + Heller yesterday on W. 49th St. Same location, but new name (it's now called Blank), new interior (white gravel floor!) and new retail concept.

While they are still offering some of their own best pieces, they have also opened the space up to cutting-edge up-and-coming designers who haven't yet had a chance to get their names or pieces out to the masses. Or even the minors! So since we all dwell in this real estate insane and scary talent show competition stress factory of a city, Scott and Adam decided to fling open their doors to other design talent that they think deserve an opportunity to be seen and heard.

Welcome....

Leif and Tooya (pictured)

I love this stuff! As soon as I saw it, I was reminded of the "olden" days of Soho...way back in the mid-1980s. And this was a great recollection to have...some of my favorite memories of New York when I thought that it was the greatest place on earth (a thought that has not changed to date, by the way).

Additionally, at price points that are more conducive to relatively normal people who are trying to get by in this bizarre economy, Blank should become a definite stop along your fabulous fashion shopping route.

THE DEVIL SHOULD WEAR KIFKA + HELLER

Reminiscent of any high-end Soho boutique, but right in the midst of Hell's Kitchen, dwells Kifka + Heller, where the Devil really is in the details.

Reopened this past April, K+H provide wearable, chic fashions for the men and women in and around the 10019. The current collection is designed using rich but versatile materials such as silk jersey, leather, linen and denim with the idea that fashion-forward couples can build wardrobes that are complementary and also linked via meticulously designed and styled travel bags (see photos).

So what more can be said about New York City clothing boutiques that we all haven't already heard? Well, in this case, K+H caters to an individual's tastes and desires. Want that dress in a different color? Ask. Need help figuring out how to wear those jeans and top? They'll style you from head to toe (and will lend you shoes to ensure that you can visualize the full package that is you). Feel like you need some jewelry to go with those new separates? They have a relationship with the jewelry designer next door. In the "industry" and need wardrobe? They do industry rentals. Hell, need a one-of-a kind chair for your living or bedroom? Well they make those too.

So what does the (near) future hold? For the forthcoming Summer 2009 collection, K+H are planning new designs using green fabrics comprised of bamboo / hemp and blends. Just don't roll them up and smoke 'em.

Going to K+H is more like visiting your personal stylist and having your whims catered to from the minute you walk in the door, but without price points that will send you running back to TJ Maxx (their prices generally run from $185-$950). And I can almost guarantee that if you go there now, you will one day be able to say, "Oh I used to go to Kifka+Heller back in the 2000s when they only had that small space on W. 49th St!"

See you in Hell!('s Kitchen),

GSNYC

Kifka+Heller: Open Today

It's back! I will be visiting and reporting back soon:

Kifka & Heller
445 W. 49th St. (near 9th Ave.)
NYC
Hours: 11 a.m. - 7 p.m., Monday - Sunday

Yes I Went to the Oscars (again)

I didn't get to see too much famous fashion up close this year, but it's always fun to people watch the "normal" folk too.

So this year I wore the brown side of my Kifka Heller custom dress, with the necklace I bought ages ago at Les Nanas, Kenneth Cole shoes, Estee Lauder makeup and a bag loaned to me by Scott Stargardt (the designing man behind K+H).

Hopefully I will be getting a real full length shot of myself with Oscar from the kind people at the Academy, but until then, here's a DIY shot my camera took of me in my hotel room (the Omni on Olive St. downtown - swift service, but kind of a middle management experience overall. What do you expect for $152/night?)

Kifka+Heller: The Dress that Keeps on Giving...

I have mentioned Kifka+Heller on these e-pages before. Designer Scott Stargardt designed and customized one of his best dresses for me and I busted it out at my friends' wedding last weekend. Not only was it 2-dresses-in-1 (chocolate on one side/wheat on the other), but apparently it was also made of some sort of "dude magnet" material. Or maybe it's just me ;) But I didn't have this many 20-year olds talk to me when I was a 20-year old, which was, of course, VERY recently.

While I would say the "wheat" side of the dress, which was what I wore at the reception, was more stunning...the photos of me at that point in the day were not so stunning. So you get to see the more demure side at the ceremony. Yes, that is me in between the Gaultier girl and the Flavio Castellani chick. And no I didn't wear flip flops all day. I wore the other deadly Christian Louboutin's that you sort of see in the other photo. They were HOT, but not so comfortable and not great to walk on grass with. Shocking, I know.

In between the ceremony and the reception, Gaultier girl and I stopped for a bite and while sitting on a bench outside of a clothing boutique, the owner rushed out and exclaimed, "where did you get those dresses!?" I thought she was coming out to yell at us, but she was so taken by the dress she couldn't hold back. And I was even still wearing the demure dress pictured above at this point.

So if anyone from the wedding has a photo of me in the wheat dress looking like the supermodel that I am (on Mars), send it along!

Kifka + Heller: Custom Couture

As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, I was traversing the west 40s and was struck by a little shop at 445 W. 49th St. I was lured in by the colors and designs beckoning to me through the windows.

I entered and was immediately ensnared. They had me at hello. So I thought it wise to try a few things on and quickly commissioned the lovely and talented Scott Stargardt to make me the dress that you see in the photo on the right.

It is extremely excellent and even reversible! "Wheat" on one side (pictured) and "Chocolate Brown" on the other, this little number will literally take me from day to evening with merely a quick flip around. Oh and the sash is simple and perfect - I just need him to tie it for me as I do not have the knack for such detail!

What was really so great about the whole experience was: a. they are totally cool and accommodating, b. it's not insanely expensive, c. I somehow fit into the sample size, and d. well "d" is a little secret between Scott and me but let's just say he helped me to further enhance my outfit in a ways that would have cost me extra time and money. And he didn't even know I was the Guerilla Shopper until halfway through our second meeting!

This place is legit...get over there and check it out - dresses, skirts, tops - all different colors, designs, fabrics...and it is somehow all the better for being located in the W. 40s and not a more "obvious" neighborhood.

This is what NYC is all about -- help keep New York cool.
xox GSNYC