alice + olivia

Once upon a time, Stacy Bendet liked to make pants: skinny pants, striped pants, bell bottoms, she liked them all. Presumably, she even liked to wear pants. The founder of Theory, who also liked her pants, partnered with her, and the alice + olivia love child was born. Barney's started buying her designs in 2002 and the first-ever alice + olivia boutique opened in East Hampton in 2005. While she still likes to make good-ass-pants (sequin leggings, black-and-white-striped cropped skinny pants that make your ass look like two perfectly cleaved melon halves fighting to get out), she has added a men's collection (anthony + mo, after Moby and someone named Anthony) and also dresses, shoes and bold, funky accessories. Bendet is in Southampton now, but she's kept the pink grafittied black leather chair-slash-throne form her original East Hampton location.