French Connection

Profile

Somewhere between Marc Jacobs and Forever 21, there's French Connection. An English brand that made it big in Spain before finally coming to America, French Connection stocks an impressive variety of sharp, trendy casual wear for both men and women. The store that makes it (almost) chic to wear sweatpants sells perpetual favorites like slim cashmere sweaters, tailored blouses, snug-fitting sweatshirts and an in-house denim line all year-around. Clothes are displayed on gunmetal racks, while jeans are stacked neatly on thick white-and-wood shelves; hanging baseball caps and tank tops dot the red brick walls. Pop music flows freely from the speakers overhead, and the store’s tongue-in-chic acronym, F.C.U.K., for French Connection—United Kingdom, is displayed prominently on wall hangings, price tags and an awful lot of the T-shirts. — Faran Alexis Krentcil

Pre-spring, pre-summer, Holiday, post-Holiday