South St. fashionistas invade Headhouse Square

URBAN PRINCESS boutique co-owner Mary Harvey, who will join 20 other fashionistas tomorrow night for "Fashion Under the Shambles," said the South Street Headhouse District will showcase its "awesome diversity, from vintage clothes to rock 'n' roll styles to dogs wearing sweaters."

The 7 p.m. show, on Pine Street near 2nd, will be emceed by "America's Next Top Model" finalist Cory Wade Hindorff on an open-air runway. VIP seating is $25, but standing room is free.

Harvey said that Urban Princess, on 4th Street near South, "will make sure there's fringe there, because fringe is the biggest trend of the fall. And oversized, sheer kimonos are definitely big.

"We've got everything from sunglasses and sweatpants to 'What am I going to wear out with the girls for lunch?' to 'What am I going to get the girl who has everything?' "

Abir Kashani, whose 20-year-old Dudes Boutique, on South Street near 7th, is an urban-chic oasis for the girl and the guy who have everything, said, "A lot of women ask me, 'Why do you call it Dudes?'

"I tell them I wanted to call it 'Amsterdam,' but the guys in the band said call it 'Dudes' because we always called each other 'Dude' in the band."

Band? What band? "Years ago, I used to have a recording studio and we had an alternative rock band called Brothers Grimm," Kashani said. "I was the drummer. I had big, curly hair. I never made a dollar from music."

So, Kashani turned to fashion in 1994, but even though the big, curly hair has gone the way of '80s hair bands, he's never deserted his rock 'n' roll roots.

"Every Sunday, we meet at the recording studio, just a couple of old farts running away from their wives," Kashani said, laughing. "We play music. We talk politics. We go home. We've been doing this for 15 years. It's like a religion."

His Dudes Boutique is a fashion-till-you-drop temple bursting with wall-to-wall cool - from bejeweled belts that start at $300 to eye-popping shoes from every leather-bearing creature known to man.

"We have old, washed-leather, wrinkle-look jackets and shirts made of light, light denim," Kashani said. "Very hot. You can't find this stuff in the mall."

Harvey said that South Street Headhouse boutique fashions, many of them locally made, don't all come with sky-high price tags.

"If you're getting something for $28, obviously there's not only one of them in the world," she said. "But you're not going to see a lot of them on the street. I don't go to trade shows that Neiman's and Macy's go to, because then what am I? I'm a Macy's in a tight little store on 4th Street? No. That is not what I am."