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Downtown Stores Take Novel Approaches
Two new NoLIta stores, Ilus and Debut, are serving up plenty of ingenuity along with designer clothes.
Former Wall Street banker Linda Pratka has opened Ilus, a boutique that offers three-night rentals for designer dresses, jewelry and handbags, at 248 Elizabeth Street. Last year she came up with the eveningwear-heavy concept for Microsoft's IdeaWins competition and finished fourth. Pratka herself had bought numerous dresses for black-tie events with clients, friends' weddings and Junior League gatherings that were seldom worn more than two or three times. Aside from the limited versatility factor, women in their 20s and 30s have the expense and space issues to consider.
"I have a pretty big closet for Manhattan and it is stuffed to the hilt," Pratka said.
At this point, Ilus features current dresses from 13 designers with three-day rentals starting at $60 and going up to $250. Badgley Mischka Platinum, Nicole Miller, Abaete and Amsale...