Scotch & Soda

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This Amsterdam label’s first American outpost won’t seem too exotic to anybody who’s ever stepped into an American college dorm. The Dutch brand is something of a spiced-up Abercrombie & Fitch, offering similarly themed (and priced) casual wear spiked with flashy details�as far as the men’s clothes, think cargo shorts with mid-thigh paisley patterns, polos emblazoned with seemingly random dates and locations, and jeans with unstructured paragraphs scrawled onto the denim. And the women’s line, dubbed Maison Scotch, covers more recognizable ground, with sexy preppy standards like denim dresses, flirty rompers with lace details, plaid shorts (that are indeed very short) and skimpy string bikinis. Yet there’s also room in the small store (strategically fragranced with the in-house cologne Barfly) for some frill-free essentials, including handsome button-downs and understated chinos and blazers. — Ray Rahman