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Cheap Monday socks at Blackbird ($17)

Raf Simons x Eastpak black duffle bag at South Willard ($252)

Band of Outsiders multi-colored tie at Oak ($126)

Comme des Garçons flower socks at Browns (£20)

In the course of building a lifestyle brand, what achievement can be considered the hallmark of a job well done? Two words: underwear line. When you can get people to identify with your brand so much that they'll go out of their way to buy and wear your underwear (which presumably few others will ever see), then we say you've made it. By that accounting Comme des Garçons has arrived. Their new SHIRT line of underwear for men extends the Japanese avant-garde house's reach to new layers. Though, credit where credit is due, this is not some thoughtless brand extension. The line is made by old school Danish underwear maker HammerThor, is not priced much higher than the luxe lines at your average Macy's (we're thinking 2xist or Hugo Boss), and has that bit of CdG flair to it.

Available at Sefton

Oki-Ni is only in its second season of its reincarnation as a retailer of designer men's clothing and accessories, but they're obviously quick learners. Spring 2008 merchandise is starting to arrive and there are quite a few winners in there.

Martin Margiela

Raf by Raf Simons

Jil Sander

Jil Sander

Swims

Dries Van Noten scarf at Browns (£95)

Mulholland Brothers dopp bag at All Purpose ($145)

Sefton pirate socks at Sefton (£ 15)

Jab M.B. shoulder bag at Worthwhile ($549)

Comme des Garcons x Kaws at Dover Street Market

Henrik Vibskov piggy leggings and socks at Tres Bien

Today, kind readers, we need to tell you that you guys rock. In the past few weeks we've gotten a slew of suggestions for our guide and they've been better than we could have ever hoped for. We've gotten stores in Seattle, New York and Zurich, selling avant-garde fashion, mid-century modern furnishings and vintage jewelry and accessories; they've been a joy to research and add to the guide. Which brings us to Sefton, suggested just last week.

The pair of boutiques in the Islington neighborhood of London carry an admirable variety of men's and women's clothing and accessories. The mix of design in the shops is simply fabulous.

They have high-end fashion standards like Alexander McQueen, Stella McCartney, Paul Smith and Martin Margiela.

A-Z Collection bag at Scout

When we first found Oki-Ni it was a two storefront retail operation in London focusing on exclusive product they'd designed in collaboration with a bevy of European casualwear brands like Duffer and Maharishi. We kind of forgot about the shop for a while, filing it away in our stores-to-visit list should we ever find ourselves in London. Then we randomly typed in their address recently and lo and behold Oki-Ni has been reborn. Refocused and relaunched in August 2007, the operation shuttered its two brick and mortar stores and designed a simple, easy to use online shop focusing on high-end men's clothing and accessories. While casualwear is still a large part of the store, what we find most interesting is their expansion into the high-end realm, focusing on the casual pieces of some top notch men's designers. Menswear from Margiela, Owens, Simons and friends is not the easiest stuff in the world to find online so we expect to add Oki-Ni to our list of online shops we monitor obsessively.

Martin Margiela

Martin Margiela

Raf Simons

Raf Simons

Raf Simons

Rick Owens

Rick Owens