(Photo: Courtesy of alice + olivia)

The story of two friends’ coming up with a line of pants because they couldn’t find their perfect fit sounds like the kind of business plan most women daydream about during a trip to Barneys Co-op. Stacey Bendet and her then-partner, Rebecca Winn, actually did it, with alice + olivia. Now, five years in, the first Manhattan store is opening (there’s already one on Long Island), filled with a range of trendy, cheery pieces that play to the young and would-like-to-be youthful—leggings, oversize polka-dot cashmere sweaters, keyhole minidresses, and so on. Bowls of treats from Dylan’s Candy Bar seem at cross-purposes with the sometimes shrunken cuts. A men’s cashmere-sweater collection called anthony + mo will give the guys something to buy.

—alice + olivia, 80 W. 40th St., nr. Sixth Ave. (212-840-1155); opens early September.

Related:

• Archive: “Fashion and Shopping”
• Table of Contents: Sep 11, 2006 issue of New York | Subscribe!