I had never even heard of this company until my friend Scott sent me this sexy RUEHL No.925 advertisement (fight club, at top) last week. When I did a little research I discovered it was an "upscale American lifestyle brand" (read: clothing store) offshoot of Abercrombie & Fitch, but aimed at an older demographic (I like). No sooner did I think I'd found a place to dress age-appropriate did I learn it was "for post-collegiate individuals aged 22 through 25" (ouch!). I hadn't experienced this unpleasant sensation since 1992 when I watched the first season of the "Real World" and discovered I was already too old to be on it. Oh, well. RUEHL is said to be "inspired by the artistic and cultural heritage of New York City's Greenwich Village" and there's even a location not far from my apartment. Maybe I'll throw on some flip-flops and a hoodie one of these days and try to see if I can get through the velvet rope. Looks like it might be kinda fun. It can't be worse than the A&F on Fifth Avenue, where the lights are so LOW and the music is so LOUD that I can't make head n'er tail of the place. (God, I AM old.)
7 comments:
So, I'm a RUEHL employee, and just want to warn you--it's still dark and has loud, bad music, but I think that it's a bit more tolerable than A&F. That's coming from someone who's worked at both establishments, too.
So be warned--the clothes are a bit overpriced, but the jeans fit like a DREAM and most of the boys working there are sexy as hell.
If A&F is worn by 40 year olds, then is Ruehl for 60 year olds?
I'm a bit confused. Ruehl is supposed to be a grown up Abercrombie? What's so much more mature about it? The layout of the store? The prices?
I'm definitely not complaining about the ads cause I love hot half-naked models, but I just don't get how they really differentiated the two brands.
Abercrombie used to be marketed to 20something frat boys, but was actually bought by 30something gay men, who then got bored with them, so they then turned the stores into gay bars by turning out half the lights so you couldn't see the merchandise, shuttering the display windows and throwing half naked male models out front, which still didn't lure the gay boys back. The Ruehl concept won't work because all the 30something gay boys, who are now 40something, are watching Gossip Girl and then marching off to the Ralph Lauren's Rugby stores so they can pretend that they are 18 year olds in prep school so they can feel younger than the fratboys they were originally trying to emulate.
As SJD says, definitely still dark with loud music, and the (only) store I've been in has a kinda maze effect wherein your'e led from room to room. My 19yo niece loves it, but for a 46yo reg joe I didn't quite get it's appeal...except of course there are beautiful guys working there. But again, when your'e 46, they all seem like your own children and impure thoughts seem so incestuous.
You have to get your triceps, traps and deltoids checked at the door before you can pass the rope. And no visiible body hair.
And the catch with "No. 925 Greenwich Street" is that the addresses on Greenwich Street stop below the 800's.
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