Comments (0) BEST BUTTON-DOWN OUTPOST - 2009
Steven Alan
Clean clothes. When you think Steven Alan, that's what you get: clean and casual. Button-down redefined for Saturday afternoons. A latter-day F. Scott Fitzgerald in the backyard, maybe. Zelda, relaxed for once. In ruffled panties. (Okay, maybe not but check them out: stevenalan.com/journal/?p=282.) "It's East Coast prep with an iconic twist," says Scott Sanford, SA's regional manager. "No logos, worn-in, disheveled, button-down that feels like a T-shirt." Steven Alan began as a men's shirting business 15 years ago, and now offers full men's and women's lines. The first L.A. store opened last spring (638 Robertson Blvd.), then was followed by a mainly women's shop in Brentwood Gardens (11677 San Vicente Blvd.) and an Annex in Venice (1601 Abbot Kinney). This summer they opened just their second outlet store in Los Feliz (the other is on New York's Upper West Side), offering sale items from the other L.A. stores along with a smattering of new clothes. If you can't or don't want to afford the regular prices, or simply want to get a sense of the clothes (Steven Alan doesn't advertise), or your teenage daughter is obsessed with that whole New York prep oeuvre — or, for that matter, you are — the Outpost is a good place to start. The button-down that normally goes for $168 can be yours for $129, about the cost of a latte and a bagel at the Alcove next door. 1937 ½ Hillhurst Ave., Los Feliz. (323) 667-9500, stevenalan.com.
—Tom Christie
