Davide G.
Yelp
If you peruse fashion blogs or magazines that try to be kewl, you probably noticed that in the past couple of years the kids have gotten into something lazily labelled as workwear, or americana, or heritage, or whatever.
One of the most popular brands within the "genre" is Engineered Garments. Previously a boys line only, EG promotes that effortless edgy-gentleman neo-grandpa aesthetic that people are starting to pick up on. Nepenthes (an umbrella company that manages EG along with more obscure brands like Needles, South2West8 and FKW, aka EG for girls) has a store in Osaka, JP and has come to New York to teach the NY preppies to be a little bit more adventurous and silly in their discovery of the styles of the past. Here you'll find the more playful Engineered Garments pieces (pretty much the only place on American soil to carry the ones you see on the Japanese blogs), hyper-floral Needles shirts and cardigans, along with expensive -but pretty much one-of-a-kind- shoes that came up by collaborating with Tricker's, McNairy or Arrow Moc.
It's always a pleasure to trek all the way to 38th street to see what the SAs are rocking. I'd say they can teach most NY kids a lesson or two. I'm partial to new boutiques opening in NYC, but Nepenthes definitely fills a spot that neither Opening Ceremony or Odin had any intention to cover (they play safe). There's always new stuff coming in, but it seems like they're being careful with their stock, so sizes are limited and the sought-after pieces go sold out really quick. Skip Soho one day and come here for something really fresh and fairly original. This is the coolest shop in NYC as of April 2011.
P.S.: They occasionally host art openings. Keep an eye on their blog to see when the next one is coming up.