Boutiques

A West Chester subsidiary of a French company with $1 billion in yearly sales is testing the market here for boutiques selling skin-care products made from ingredients such as camomile flowers, acacia honey and daffodil extract. Yves Rocher has opened its first American boutique in the Court at King of Prussia. It is a departure for the company, which has sold its skin-care products, fragrances and cosmetics to American customers through mail order and home-shopping networks since l985.

It is "pure stubbornness" and a love for the fashion industry, Toby Lerner says, that have kept her in business, through good times and bad, for a quarter-century. And even now, with her two namesake boutiques - internationally renowned for their quirky mix of avant-garde designs and luxury goods - facing what she calls her greatest crisis, Lerner is still confident. Lerner said a failed expansion plan, a costly computerized merchandise-tracking system and increased local competition have left the stores out of cash and unable to pay many creditors, a who's who of high fashion from Calvin Klein to Gucci and Fendi.

There's a scene in Annie Hall in which Alvy Singer gives Annie a present, a transparent pink-and-black concoction that might loosely be called underwear. "Are you kidding?" says Annie. "This is more like a present for you. " Twenty years later, that probably still explains why so many men give sexy lingerie for Valentine's Day. Especially this year. "This should be a huge holiday, because it's on a Friday and people can make plans to go away for the weekend," says Wendy Wade, owner of the Lacey Lady in Hatboro.

Monique Kelly has a fat folder full of business owners who want to bring their shops, firms and practices to Collingswood. She also has a dilemma. Vacant spots are hard to come by these days, explains the new director of the borough's business improvement district. "We're trying to accommodate them," Kelly said, "but we're going to have to build. " Housing values have soared. Hip restaurants and cool boutiques now share space with the food market and the sewing-machine shop that have been operated on Haddon Avenue for decades.

It never fails: When the Rolling Stones come to town, a wave of merchandise washes up close behind. This time around, Stones-Related Stuff to Buy includes the new Steel Wheels album, a boxed anthology of early singles, a reissued book, and rare recordings available on bootleg discs. But wait, there's more: Rolling Stones Rockwear boutiques. Can a fragrance be far behind? How about The Jagger Workout Video - a logical cross-promotion with Mick's Own Wrinkle Cream? Even Steel Wheels, the first new album from the Rolling Stones in three years, will get a savvy marketing tweak: Following the example set by U2, Bruce Springsteen and others, the Stones are taking full advantage of singles to release newly recorded songs that didn't make Steel Wheels.

Fashion has been defined by the whims of young people for years. They - not the Donnas and the Ralphs - are harbingers of style. How else can you explain denim's rise to near couture status, or luxury-priced sneakers? In Philadelphia, under-35 entrepreneurs are becoming even more influential as they set up sleek laptop-computer cash registers in their own boutiques. Their small, stylish stores are stocked with more than just cult favorites such as Trina Turk, 12th Street by Cynthia Vincent, and Evisu.

Bookcases of shoe boxes filled with barely worn pairs of embroidered Manolo Blahniks, platform Christian Louboutins, and chunky Prada boots line Janet Weitz's garage. In her Plymouth Meeting basement are 20-plus rolling racks filled with Chanel suits, puffy Moncler coats, and almost-brand-spanking-new striped Etro shirts. And let's not forget the packing table. On this particular afternoon, Weitz is planning to ship a vintage black Hermés alligator bag, a pair of Balenciaga pumps, and an Oscar de la Renta-inspired autumnal plaid taffeta dress to shoppers of her eBay-based boutique, Rodeo Drive Deals (stores.ebay.com/Rodeo-Drive-Deals)

More than a dozen kids on a recent Thursday afternoon handed T-shirts, tanks, and pajama bottoms to airbrush artist Paul Madonna.   His job: to tag their gear with graffiti. "Look at that," said Ellie Stamps, 9, as she watched Madonna spray-paint E-L-L-I-E in bold, rainbow-hued bubble letters on a tank top at Lafayette Hill's Down to Earth Kids. "When he uses the white, it looks like the letters are reflecting light. It's so cool. Nobody will have one just like this.

The timing may have been a coincidence, but the announcement during National Breast Cancer Awareness Month that a Jenkintown lingerie shop would stop selling specially made bras and prostheses to survivors of the second-most-common cancer among women in the United States seemed an unfortunate juxtaposition. Tulips Lingerie & Intimate Apparel will no longer carry the products. The shop fell victim to what owner Fran Dratch calls a complex and expensive accreditation process that she says amounts to a smackdown of such small boutiques.

SEPTA fares go up tomorrow SEPTA's first fare increases in three years will take effect tomorrow. The fare adjustments include system-wide increases averaging between 6 percent and 8 percent. These changes are expected to generate about $20.7 million in additional revenue for operating expenses. In crafting the new fare structure, SEPTA followed the recommendations of the Pennsylvania Transportation Funding and Reform Commission, which suggests modest, periodic fare increases.

Reality TV is all about trouble, so perhaps it comes as no big whoop to hear that on Saturday, a brawl erupted at the clothing boutique Porsche 2, in Ridgewood, N.J. Whose boutique? Kim DePaola of Real Housewives of New Jersey . Seems a man allegedly made fun of the autistic son of RHONJ castie Jacqueline Laurita and her hub Christopher . Joe Gorga and Albie Manzo , also of RHONJ , allegedly waded in. Three sinks were broken, one thrown through the air, there was "blood on the walls," and now Johnny Karagiorgis of Paramus has filed a citizen's complaint.

LEOPARD-PRINT pants and shiny bangles work well for Alicia DiMichele-Garofalo, but the South Jersey fashionista says that she won't be an accessory to the drama, catfights and probing cameras that a reality show about mob wives would bring. DiMichele-Garofalo, 39, might fit a producer's definition of "mob wife," but the Marlton resident said that she's not pursuing a spot on a Philadelphia spinoff of the popular VH1 series "Mob Wives. " She said that the show reached out to her several times.

SAN FRANCISCO — So why Merion, after so long? Mike Davis is the USGA's executive director. He's also the guy in charge of setting up the courses for the U.S. Open. And there was a time when even he wasn't sure that those 120-some historic acres on Philadelphia's Main Line were up to the present-day challenge of hosting what has become the game's biggest and most difficult major. For any variety of reasons, many of which had little to do with the golf itself. Still, he was well-acquainted with Merion's aura.

More than a dozen kids on a recent Thursday afternoon handed T-shirts, tanks, and pajama bottoms to airbrush artist Paul Madonna.   His job: to tag their gear with graffiti. "Look at that," said Ellie Stamps, 9, as she watched Madonna spray-paint E-L-L-I-E in bold, rainbow-hued bubble letters on a tank top at Lafayette Hill's Down to Earth Kids. "When he uses the white, it looks like the letters are reflecting light. It's so cool. Nobody will have one just like this.

Jen Green looks out at the 80-some millennials chatting it up with local designers at the art gallery studio: christensen in Rittenhouse Square. Clad in this spring's must-have brights, the guests look swank. The rhubarb cocktails are flowing. And Green couldn't be more pleased. The April soiree, featuring Germantown-based women's-wear label NIC*FISH and calligrapher/jewelry designer Danny Fox, marks the one-year anniversary of HyLo Boutiques — short for hyper-local — Green's consulting company and design collective that uses a unique-to-our-time business model to promote fashions conceived of and manufactured in Philadelphia.

Wedged between a Saladworks restaurant and a UPS store on Spruce Street, a storefront displays tony dresses in jewel tones, with a neon "Dry Cleaning Shirts" sign glowing nearby. The proximity has left some passersby scratching their heads. Is it a boutique or a dry cleaner? It's both. Run by Yoon Sook Kim and her daughter HanNa Jung, Bonded BoutiqueCleaner in University City is a seven-month-old hybrid shop that was born of both opportunity and necessity. Until October, this spot was just Bonded Cleaners, Kim's utilitarian dry cleaning business — more function than fashion — with several working sewing machines in an unadorned and largely empty interior.

Next door to the Old City fire station and Ben Franklin Park is a darling boutique with a timely fashion mission and a perfectly patriotic name. US*U.S. is a 600-square-foot designer co-op led by custom clothier Lele Tran that houses a practical mix of easy-to-wear clothing, including a boho-inspired children's line, bold-hued bikinis and a collection of Gothic couture wear featuring corsets and fitted skirts. But in addition to delivering this spring's latest colorful styles, US*U.S.

As the Hollywood glitterati gather Sunday night in Tinseltown to honor the movie industry's best, L. Di Caprio will be among those walking the red carpet. In Malvern. No, not the hunky actor - he doesn't spell his name with a space before the "C. " Starring at Malvern's Oscar Night festivities will be one Lisa Di Caprio and her business partner, Darci Henry. Owners of Kiss and Makeup cosmetics boutique on King Street, the pair have organized a black-tie Academy Awards bash with help from nearby Restaurant Alba.

Bookcases of shoe boxes filled with barely worn pairs of embroidered Manolo Blahniks, platform Christian Louboutins, and chunky Prada boots line Janet Weitz's garage. In her Plymouth Meeting basement are 20-plus rolling racks filled with Chanel suits, puffy Moncler coats, and almost-brand-spanking-new striped Etro shirts. And let's not forget the packing table. On this particular afternoon, Weitz is planning to ship a vintage black Hermés alligator bag, a pair of Balenciaga pumps, and an Oscar de la Renta-inspired autumnal plaid taffeta dress to shoppers of her eBay-based boutique, Rodeo Drive Deals (stores.ebay.com/Rodeo-Drive-Deals)

The timing may have been a coincidence, but the announcement during National Breast Cancer Awareness Month that a Jenkintown lingerie shop would stop selling specially made bras and prostheses to survivors of the second-most-common cancer among women in the United States seemed an unfortunate juxtaposition. Tulips Lingerie & Intimate Apparel will no longer carry the products. The shop fell victim to what owner Fran Dratch calls a complex and expensive accreditation process that she says amounts to a smackdown of such small boutiques.