Welcome to Nouveau York City

Mike Nouveau, PAPER’s super-tight-pants-clad ad coordinator by day and the Ruff Kids’ super-tight-pants-clad DJ by night, is joining the PAPERMAG blog family! On a fairly regular basis, Mike’ll be doling out juicy tidbits from his nightlife exploits, bestowing upon us gossip from the nightlife world and keeping us up to date with men’s fashion news. Here’s his first dispatch. Take it away, Mike!

Please keep me and my maxed out MasterCard away from west SoHo this summer. Three high-end retailers are set to open up shop along Hudson St. just north of Canal.

My favorite designer EV-ER, Rick Owens is opening up his very first North American shop at 250 Hudson St. Expect to find both of Rick's women and men's main lines, in addition to his Palais Royal fur collection, Lilies woman's line, and his DRKSHDW denim line. Also expect to find me being escorted from the premises, foaming at the mouth. The scheduled opening date is mid-July. No word on whether or not the giant wax sculpture of Mr. Owens will make it to the opening.

One block over at 505 Greenwich St, Aloha Rag will open its first mainland US boutique (currently they have an extensive online shop, and a brick-and-mortar boutique in Oahu, Hawaii). Kitsune, Linda Farrow, Hysteric Glamour and PAPER favorite Tim Hamilton will adorn the shelves, along with several other brands, which previously haven't been stocked in NYC. Their opening date is April 10th.

A block south, my current favorite store in New York, Atelier moves from their Crosby St. location to a space three times the size (!) at 304 Hudson St. Changes also come in the form of two new amazing designers that Atelier has picked up, Damir Doma (former assistant to Raf Simons), and Julius, an incredibly dark and beautiful label that's almost impossible to find outside of Japan. In my eyes, Julius produces the only leather outerwear that comes close to matching the quality and high design of Rick Owens'. You can check it out for yourself when they open in late May/early June.

Have a hot item for Mike? Email him at miken@papermag.com.