The 2nd St. District has a new addition to its ever growing array of unique local boutiques. Plain Ivey Jane is now on the list of 2nd St. District shops along with Girl Next Door, Gallery D, and Beyond Tradition to name a few. Unlike it’s neighbors though, Plain Ivey Jane is a different kind of shop offering brand name clothes at discount prices. How does this work exactly?
The clothes at Plain Ivey are mostly overstock clothing coming from high quality stores such as Anthropologie and Urban Outfitters. They also carry a f
ew higher end brands suc
h as Marc by Marc Jacobs; and I saw one Burberry coat which was originally sold at $1225 but offered at Plain Ivey Jane for $635.
Although I think the concept for Plain Ivey Jane is cool and there were some things I could see myself wearing, I’m not sure if there are as many Austinites who are that into brand name clothing as Plain Ivey Jane might be hoping; and I have to say that as an Austinite, I am actually a little confused by the slogan on their website, “Look like Dallas. Pay like Austin.” This seems to imply that people in Austin would prefer to look like people in Dallas. I can’t imagine any Austinite wanting to look like they live in Dallas.
We like high quality clothes as much as the next person, but the best thing about Austin’s fashion sense is our casual coolness. And just because a top has the name Marc Jacobs on the label doesn’t necessarily mean I am going to want to wear it. My favorite dress in the store was priced at $160, but I found a similar an
d equally cute dress for less at Feathers recently.
A redeeming aspect to this store, and one that you should note if you are looking for unique accessories, is their selection of locally designed jewelry. Trash ATX is a local jewelry line consisting of recycled and re-purposed materials. This means their jewelry is eco friendly and one of a kind.
Plain I
vey Jane is only one of three stores to carry the Trash ATX line (which I thought was beautiful and not incredibly overpriced.) Trash ATX would be one of the reasons I would come back to shop at Plain Ivey Jane.
Overall, it might not be at the top of my list of places to shop YET (it’s still only on it’s 4th week of being open so I am giving them some slack). Plain Ivey Jane might be worth checking out (if you can get past their offensive slogan) and if you are already in the 2nd St. district, which is an area where you could easily spend an entire day of good shopping and good eating.
keep austin stylish