Denim shorts on display at Dor L’ D’or, above, and a summer dress, below, at Emilia. Further below: a boot at Do L’ Do’r. (Photos by Lola Todman. Click to enlarge)

By LOLA TODMAN
Red Bank Charter School Intern

Women’s fashion is on the rise in downtown Red Bank. It may not be Paris or Milan, but you may have noticed new stores such as Lucki Clover and Bella Chic Boutique joining not-much-older merchants Dor L’ Dor, Rue Royale, Urban Outfitters and stalwarts Backward Glances and CoCo Pari.

Or you may even be a customer of Emilia, one of three side-by-side women’s clothing stores to open on Monmouth Street in little more than a year.

So the pressing question is: why?

“Options,” said Blaise Lucarelli, manager of Dor L’ D’or, which opened in mid-2010. “When there are different types of women, there need to be options.”

Because of that need, there are also many different stores designed around age ranges, affordability, specialty clothing and other things that may define a specific type of female, said Lucarelli.

Lucarelli said that does not view the other stores as competition. In fact, he thinks that every store adds to the options that are so important to have.

“All of these stores are fantastic, because its like each store has a different ‘girl,'” he said. “Here, I think we have three distinct types. A party girl, the classic sweetheart, and the sporty girl.”

While Dor L’ Dor entertains a crowd of fun young women, just a short distance away, Emilia is dressing Red Bank’s young mothers who may be looking for an outfit that seems a little more conservative or maybe sophisticated.

“It’s hard to get dressed nowadays. We can’t walk out of the house like Kim Kardashian does, because that’s just not reality,” said Jessy Krol, Emilia’s founder. “If you’re a mom, which most of our shoppers are, its tough to find shopping time.”

However, Krol is not just worried about making a quick sale. “When you visit a store in a town like ours, the customer service is better,” she said.

It is clear that Emilia’s goal as a store is to build customers for life by paying special attention to each individual shopper. In fact, Emilia got its name from Krol’s grandmother. Jessy wants people to leave her store and feel good about themselves, just like she felt good about herself whenever she left her grandmother’s house.

Though each of these stores offers a different type of style, one thing is for sure: they all contribute to the necessary options needed to satisfy all kinds of women in and around Red Bank. From a sporty teen on the run to a young party girl, or an intelligent young mother, every female can find a look that presents her best self and makes feel confident..

Lucarelli also said that Dor L’ Dor means generation to generation in hebrew. Maybe thats an indicator that no matter how a generation changes, this trendy store will always have enough options to satisfy their customers.