Jennifer Berg

At TK Men, there's a wireless X-Box, brass-knuckle hooks in the fitting rooms and beverages flowing freely from a--wait for it--keggerator. (As the name suggests, this contraption does double duty as a fridge and a keg.) A vintage pool table welcomes your best shot and Playboy pinups lasciviously smile down from the wall. A bachelor's paradise? You betcha.

It doesn't hurt that the store's owner is a total babe with a superior knowledge of dapper dressing. As a child, Chicago-born Lindsay McKay spent Sunday afternoons trailing her father to Ultimo: "I loved to shop with him and to understand where all the garb that completed this portrait of a gentleman was coming from," she says. After several more years of getting to know garb--McKay has done wardrobe for Italian commercials, styled the Rolling Stones and outfitted the contestants and hosts for reality TV show "Rock Star: INXS"--she finally returned to her hometown and did what she was born to do. "Lindsay knows so much about fashion and has such great style; why wouldn't she open a boutique?" says TK Men sales associate Kendra. A former Silver Cloud bartender, Kendra first got to know Lindsay as a beer-swigging regular. The store's other salesgirl, Karyn, met Lindsay on the street when she complimented McKay's eye-catching necklace. The chance meetings formed a pitch-perfect TK team; as Karyn says, "we all want to dress boys."

And dress boys the girls will, in feline-inspired (meaning sleek, not spotted) street wear from 9 Lives and funky track jackets from Blood, Sweat and Tears. On the higher end, there are close-fitting slacks from Ted Baker and slim suits from J. Lindenberg (consider yourself warned, boys--slim is it for fall). Exclusive to the store is Cadillac Hammer, a line of rock-inspired, black-leather-heavy jewelry for men. TK Men caters to males in the 20-40 age range and best suits that urban-arty-chic kind of dude. With a bit of rock star. Think Gen Art crowd with a dash of Dave Navarro.

Oh, and the store's name? It'll make daddy McKay proud: "In the seventies and eighties my father was a trader at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, so I took the initials TK from his trading badge," Lindsay explains. Totally klever.

TK Men, 1909 W. North, (773)342-9800, www.tkmen.com.

(2006-08-01)

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