Project No. 8 is potent

Image of storefront via jargol.com

This reporter is always sort of impressed when a stylish and intrepid person with intuitive business sense stumbles upon a neglected, misshapen (though probably very cheap) space in an unremarkable part of town and says, "Here. Here is where we will open our store and sell impossibly chic clothing and home goods. Never mind that it's not located in a highly-trafficked retail destination. People will come." It takes a lot of confidence to do that, and to nail the just-right edit of merchandise that indeed lures customers via word-of-mouth. Brooklyn-based couple Brian Janusiak and Elizabeth Beer have done this with their airy, trapezoid-shaped boutique called Project No. 8.

Project No. 8 is a small shop that is so-named because Janusiak and Beer systematically number each of their artistic collaborations. It carries both men and women's clothes by labels like Tom Scott, Stephan Schneider, and Anuschka Hoevener. It also sells things like angora-covered bricks, and a guide to sixteen months worth of drawing exercises in Excel. On a recent visit there, this reporter found other, equally innovative things to covet. British label Boudicca had designed a truly elegant silk sleeveless sheath dress with a built-in belt ($1500). It was spotted with big loose brown flowers and made this reporter think of perfume. Also by Boudicca was a slim white-button down shirt which had arrived in an altered state ($750). The whole shirt had been perforated and then silk-screened with royal blue roses. It would be a good shirt to wear if you work in an art gallery. Christian Wijnants, a Belgian designer, had produced a wide, black, A-line dress with kimono sleeves that was almost more of a djellaba (on sale for $180). It was made of a canvas-like material - like seersucker, but lighter. It would probably be good to wear if you have to go to a summertime cocktail party, or a funeral in Maine.

Project No. 8 also sells an unasuming line of shoes, including some bone-colored knee-high boots and fluorescent pink T-strap peep-toes. This reporter was bending over to examine the latter when her head brushed too hard against the store's plant, and knocked some of its leaves off. The salesgirl and this reporter both cracked up. This shows you how relaxed they are at Project No. 8. On their business cards is printed their slogan: "We are on your side," and they are.