“Boutiques offer autumn must-haves for any budget”

Boutiques offer autumn must-haves for any budget

Posted: 19 Sep 2010 11:05 PM PDT

The change in season means goodbye to lightweight summer dresses and hello to the thick fabrics of fall. But while many large retailers will stock their chains with countless cool-weather offerings, smaller boutiques are more judicious about what makes their shelves. We explored some of North Jersey's independently owned clothing stores to see which fall dresses are making the cut this season.

Tenafly

At See Saw, a cozy storefront on West Railroad Avenue that will celebrate its seventh birthday next month, account executive Meghan Loebs showed us three of the many sweater dresses they carry, such as:

* The soy cashmere Lunalba Tent Sweater Dress, $299;

* White+Warren's Zip Back Dress in maroon, $345;

* And the Nightcap Clothing Army Trench Dress, $289.

Store owner Gina Curko, who styles Alexa Prisco from "Jerseylicious," goes to shows in Paris and Las Vegas, in addition to visiting vendors in Manhattan and California, to find one-of-a-kind pieces and store exclusives from Halston Heritage, Ella Luna and Mackage – all of which you'll see at See Saw. You can also find custom jewelry pieces that Curko hand-picks. Don't be surprised if you see lots of purple — it is her favorite color.

6 W. Railroad Ave., Tenafly; 201-567-5560, seesawboutique.com.

Ridgewood

Off-price downtown boutique Fox's offers designer items for less. Think Gilt Groupe or RueLaLa in a real store. Here are three we came across:

* Free People's Western Royalty Dress in blue, with a jeweled neckline (to go with the embellishment trend), $59;

* Laundry by Shelli Segal maroon off-shoulder belted sweater dress, $59;

* Calvin Klein beige short-sleeve cowl neck sweater dress, $69.

Not a bad price bracket, wouldn't you say?

230 E. Ridgewood Ave., Ridgewood; 201-444-1842, foxs.com.

Cliffside Park

We discovered Na & Blue after reading its reviews on Yelp and Google, though by most measures, this store is still unknown. It shouldn't be, though, with prices on the very friendly side and an array of apparel you won't see anywhere else. Here's one sweater dress we discovered for $49. The funky flower design comes in both mustard and magenta, while the gold-clasped belt gives it a very mod touch.

713 Anderson Ave., Cliffside Park; 201-313-9494.

Fort Lee

While we were perusing the items at Na & Blue, someone recommended we check out Belle Boutique in Fort Lee. "Already did," we replied. It seems this Lemoine Avenue mainstay, which moved from its nearby original location less than two years ago, has a reputation that precedes it. Owner Belle Goldschmidt of Fort Lee says inventory changes quickly – roughly every week and a half – and she makes a point of keeping prices on her designer pickings low (also the reason she asked that we withhold the dress brand names).

* One-shoulder blue satin dress, $96;

* Butterfly-back shirt/tunic, $75;

* Nylon shirt/dress/tunic in black, $66;

* Tempo Paris purple dress, $140.

1625 Lemoine Ave., Fort Lee; 201-592-6260.

Catherine Trautwein contributed to this article. E-mail: garciaa@northjersey.com Blog: northjersey.com/shoptalk