Khelan has so many reasons for loving Rue 14. The clothing boutique is at 1803-A 14th Street NW. (Luis Gomez Photos)

From Khelan Bhatia. You can follow Khelan on Twitter @KhelanB. He lives in the U Street area and writes about style for Borderstan.

J’Adore Rue 14.

Greetings, Borderstanis. I’m sure many of you have been to Rue 14, a lovely clothing boutique nestled in the heart of Borderstan 14th Street just above S). If you haven’t yet, I’m going to give you several reasons why you should.  And if you have dropped by, I’m going to give you even more reasons why you need to go back. (See Rue 14 Style: Forward Thinking from Cecile Oreste, October 2010.)

As much as we love the District, can we all agree that D.C. is not most customer-service oriented city? I call it the “CVS effect,” which somehow trickles into restaurants, clothing stores, bars, coffee shops, etc. I certainly know that I’ve walked out of many an establishment wondering why my sunny disposition was met with indifference and/or mild scorn — not to mention outright incompetence.

Khelan: Rue 14 raises the fashion bar in D.C. (Luis Gomez Photos)

Great Service

Lucky for us, Rue 14 has none of that. You’ll find that folks there are friendly, attentive and knowledgeable, i.e. the holy trinity when it comes to consumerism. The boutique is run by Jiwon and her husband, Andrew, both of whom have quite a pedigree in fashion (so they totally know what they’re talking about). On their staff is Jeff, who has a savant-esque knowledge of denim. He’s the District’s premiere Denimologist. (No, that isn’t a word, but it needs to be).

Read the full story

From Khelan Bhatia. You can follow Khelan on Twitter @KhelanB. He lives in the U Street area and writes about style for Borderstan.

Happy End of the Week, Borderstanis! I hope you’ve enjoyed this gorgeous weather with a new piece of Spring-time outwear I suggested last week.

So, speaking of last week, I hinted that I was a bit of a denim addict. Did I mention that I’m also the master of the understatement?

Over the past four years, I think I’ve easily bought around 70 pairs of jeans from multiple designers in varying washes, fits and states of distress. I won’t even attempt to calculate how much I spent because that way leads to madness. And eating my feelings. Which means I won’t be able to fit into the jeans I do have.

The only cut you really need is the slim straight. Not the boot-cut, not the carrot-top, not the super-stretchy skinny (i.e. male jeggings or MaJeggings) and never, ever the “relaxed” fit. Washes? Medium blue faded, darker wash, raw selvedge and white. Black and gray are optional.

Anyway, instead of indulging in my retail-therapy insanity, I thought I’d exorcize my denim-demons through some friendly advice. In other words, do as I say, don’t do as I do.

Read the full story