CITYist

We’re really good at telling a designer’s story, so customers know something about this person that’s creating the beautiful piece that you’re going to wear every day. That’s the editorial side to what we do.

It’s evening in Fort Greene, Brooklyn. The sun has just set on DeKalb Avenue near the park, and a group of neighborhood kids are playfully teasing each other, their shouts ringing out across the avenue. A car passes blasting shoddy bass, and in its wake the strains of an old Biggie track: “Spread love it’s the Brooklyn way…”

It’s a sentiment that’s right at home in one store in particular this evening, at once relaxed and dynamic, like the neighborhood itself. A trio of flirty silk dresses in the window of Thistle & Clover hint at the goods within, a virtual treasure trove of New York City’s designers on the verge. The boutique operates more like a salon for a rotating band of young designers than your typical store.

Rand Niederhoffer and Camilla Gale met while they were both East Coast girls abroad at school in Scotland. It wasn’t long after finishing university that they opened T&C, on a well-trafficked stretch of DeKalb. The neighborhood’s tradition of artists and writers (from Walt Whitman to Erykah Badu) made for a remarkably receptive public, particularly as more and more destination restaurants have blossomed in the area since they set up shop, and the bustling Brooklyn Flea brings in curious shoppers eager for new, unique finds.

From the outset, when T&C opened its doors in March 2008, Niederhoffer and Gale shared a vision for the store as a platform for young designers looking to get a foot in the door of the industry. They host quarterly open calls for independent designers, many of whom have landed their first consignment gigs with the store before going on to sell to Barneys, Anthropologie, and show at Steven Alan showroom, among others. Gale marvels at “the caliber of designers” that comes through their door during each open call. “I’m just in awe every quarter… it’s getting harder and harder for us to whittle down [our choices].” During a year when the retail industry has been shaken to its core, T&C is thriving by taking risks on previously untested designers.

“We take a very nurturing role in our relationships with our designers,” says Niederhoffer. Once they take a new designer on, the pair might work closely with them to edit collections to better suit the needs of their shoppers and keep styles at the reasonable price point their Brooklyn girl demands. Dividing duties at the counter daily, Niederhoffer and Gale also find themselves serving as an invaluable bridge between the designers and the marketplace. “We’re always here,” says Niederhoffer, “so we’re really good at telling a designer’s story, [so customers] know something about this person that’s creating the beautiful piece that you’re going to wear every day. That’s the editorial side to what we do.”

There’s a familial side too, as a network of friendships, partnerships, and collaborations has blossomed around Thistle & Clover. The girls have paired several new designers with their current showrooms, and have also introduced designers to each other. The love goes both ways as well, such as when jeweler Lauren Wimmer introduced them to Rebecca Fröberg, a Swedish jewelry designer now based in Brooklyn. Her nature-inspired designs are now among the most popular in their rapidly growing jewelry selection. Last fall, the party celebrating the launch of their Thistle & Clover Diaries, an online magazine highlighting designers like Rachel Antonoff, Edelweiss’ Sarah Seilbach, Fröberg and Wimmer, ended up being a spirited shopping fest, with designers buying each other’s clothes.

The girls casually mention, with a laugh, that when they close up shop this evening they’ll head out for a “double date.” Niederhoffer met her live-in boyfriend through Gale and her husband. As pretty young things languidly pick through racks of easy little dresses and handmade jewelry, as well as the shop’s new in-house collection of delicate gold necklaces designed by the girls themselves, their dinner plans seem like a perfect synthesis of the store’s remarkably open, and thus prolific, circle of friends.

So what defines Brooklyn style, anyway?

“Self-designed prints,” says Gale.

“Making it personal,” muses Niederhoffer, “like doing a statement necklace and finding that twist that makes it your own.”

“It’s just an easy way of being,” adds Gale. “Whether you’re on your bicycle riding from neighborhood to neighborhood, or you’re grabbing a drink, it’s something that feels special and unique, and not super expensive, either.”

Here, style is something that’s lived. Beautifully.