BUSINESS SPOTLIGHT:Let your hips be hippest

Trying to open a store in New York, Mark Werts, founder and chief executive officer of American Rag Cie, made a trip to Fashion Island and was inspired.

Opening a location in New York was getting quite expensive and so he connected with the Irvine Co. to see if it was interested in having him become a tenant.

At the end of last month, Fashion Island became home to the third U.S. American Rag Cie store and café and the flagship store in Orange County.

In 1984, Werts, a world traveler, opened his San Francisco store as a vintage clothing store. But as the company grew, the company evolved into what he calls a lifestyle retailer.

Werts was no stranger to the world of fashion retail. He opened an Amsterdam denim store in 1970. He sold the business in the early 1980s, he said, and moved to the French Riveria. There he began a homewares business.

His Fashion Island store is full of treasures, including vintage dresses and sweaters, hip accessories, fun and colorful products for home as well as high-end designer shoes next to classic slip-on Vans. They also sell music and DVDs including classics like “Endless Summer,” documentaries on Spike Jonze and old TV shows like “Pee Wee’s Playhouse.”

“We have a lot of up-and-coming brands … that in five or 10 years will be mainstream in every department store. They’re the best, but we’ve had them for three or four years and worked with companies and designers from their first collection,” he said. “As soon as it becomes mainstream, it’s no longer American Rag.”

In order to keep up that standard, he and his staff are constantly traveling the world looking for the next “it” designer. Right now they feature 17 Australian collections and two of his “girls” just got back from runway shows in Paris. They travel to Milan eight times a year, he said.

“Our clientele are busy and worldly and don’t have time to do this on their own,” he said. “We get the best, most beautiful product at correct competitive prices, which doesn’t mean cheap, some things aren’t cheap … We well style, we don’t sell price.”

And style is what his customers are looking for. On Thursday night, Walnut resident Christy Wu perused the racks of clothes, examining sweaters. Wu heard about the new store while at work in Costa Mesa and, having shopped at the Los Angeles store, was excited to come to the Fashion Island location.

“It’s great,” she said of the new store. “I really like their accessories and what they bring in to the vintage section … which inspires new trends with different concepts and inspirations.”

She said she liked the design of the store, which Werts said has been described to him as urban chic. He spun the description into flea-market industrial chic.

Some of the items are affordably priced, depending on what it is and the quality. Some vintage items are as low as $4, but other designer dresses can cost up to $600.

Café Beau Soleil occupies part of the store with Moroccan-French inspired cuisine, featuring pasta, sandwiches, salads and other specialty items.

The store is located where Barnes and Noble used to be, next to the Daily Grill and the Edwards Island Cinemas. For more information about the store, visit www.americanragcie.co.jp.