Surprise: Instead of Mike Albo, the Times has their female Critical Shopper, Cintral Wilson, review Brooks Brothers' new Black Fleece boutique on Bleecker Street.
The shop is focused on Thom Browne's uber-buttoned-up menswear, but does contain a smaller selection of womenswear.
Cintra finds Browne's efforts for the ladies sadly ill-fitting: "A seersucker bustle skirt seemed like a good idea, a kind of Spontaneous Gibson Girl Plays Hopscotch garment. On the body, however, an elastic patch and buttoned strap at the small of the back was strangely infantilizing, like a toddler costume designed for easy diaper access. I found, in most cases, that the proportions were a bit off. The necks were too tight, the skirts too tentlike, the busts flattening. It reminded me of the janky, angular Madonnas of Byzantine art, when the church forbade painters to actually look at genuine women." [NYT]
