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A young, pretty girl with a long black braid and a beatific smile steps onto Spring Street as if she’s just been blessed by the pope himself.
In her mind, she has been — having just made a pilgrimage to the teen-girl version of the Vatican: the Dash store in SoHo, owned by the sisters Kardashian.
“I love Kim. Oh my God. I, like, have a girl-crush on her,” gushes Sarah Godwin, a 17-year-old from Yardley, Pa., whose mother good-naturedly rolls her eyes.
“She’s my role model. She’s so pretty and has so much confidence. If I met her, I would probably pass out. I watch the show all the time, so I had to come to the store and see what it looked like. It’s beautiful in there.”
Behind her, a steady stream of young girls wait with their mothers while slightly older girls and their BFFs or boyfriends stand patiently in a perma-line behind a police-style barricade, waiting to be summoned, a handful at a time, into the Holy See of reality TV.
Since Dash’s SoHO branch opened in November (shortly before the start of the newest Kardashian show, “Kourtney and Kim Take New York”), the line has rarely waned.
Outside, certain phrases play on a loop among New Yorkers walking past:
“What the f – – – is going on here?”
“It’s just the Kardashian store.”
Or this, from die-hard fans:
“I love Kim Kardashian. She’s so beautiful.”
Or this, from dutiful boyfriends:
“Kim Kardashian has a great behind.”
The voluptuous and volatile Kardashian sisters are Kourtney, Kim and Khloe, spiritual heirs to (and former BFFs of) Paris Hilton who are famous mostly because they look so good in front of cameras. Self-styled stylists, they opened their first Dash store in 2006 in Calabasas, Calif., and a second one in Miami while filming a season of their reality show there.
In addition to serving as a plot point for “Kourtney & Kim Take New York” (an E! Channel spinoff of “Kourtney & Khloe Take Miami” and “Keeping Up With the Kardashians”), the store also sells things.
Such as black lace spandex leggings for $122 and a sequined tank top for $140. On the cheaper end, there are $10 souvenir bottles of water bearing an image of the sisters on a couch. The plastic bottles are just about the only items that cost less than $40.
“It’s funky, fashion-forward clothing,” says a clerk known as a “Dash Doll.”
“It’s catered for a real person. There’s stuff for going out, and sweats for staying in. [The sisters] totally wear [it]. And the shoppers are so happy to get a piece of the girls.”
On a recent Sunday afternoon, however, shopper after shopper left empty-handed. Some sprang for a water bottle or two. But what they really want, money can’t buy: a sighting of Kim. Or Kourtney. Or Khloe. Any of them would do, really. “I thought I might get a glimpse of them,” says Lisa Maurer, 33, a nurse from Tampa, Fla. “But I was disappointed by the clothes. A T-shirt for $60?”
“I’ll be back as soon as I have $500 to spend,” says her friend, 30-year-old Melissa Peard, an NYC midwife. “The girls appeal to the masses, but their prices do not.”
Dallas resident Sheila Horner didn’t dare leave the city without bottles of Dash water for her three daughters. “My girls watch the show all the time,” she says.
“My middle daughter will just be happy to have the shopping bag.”
Her friend, Sonya Arthur, a 46-year-old who works in textile sales, says that, in her professional opinion, the fabrics don’t feel “expensive.” “Glitzy,” yes, she said. Well-made? “No.”
That most of the clothing is flashy but ultimately without substance is, well, exactly like the Kardashians. But that’s not an argument you’ll find Dash acolytes making.
Jessica Alston, 24, a furniture designer from London, simply “could not” leave NYC without something from Dash. She chose a ring for $180.
“I’m the biggest fan in the world,” she says, showing off her purchase. “It’s probably not real gold, and it’s all scratched . . . but I kept thinking, maybe one of the sisters tried it on.”
Still, the overall experience wasn’t quite what she hoped. “I thought it would be glitzier,” she says. “And it was much smaller than I imagined.”
Apparently, the camera adds 10 feet.
In Alston’s estimation, Kim is the “prettiest,” Khloe the “funniest,” and Kourtney has “the best style.”
“I don’t want to say this,” she whispers confidentially, “but Kim has an appalling dress sense.”
Not a single Kardashian makes an appearance Sunday, but there is one celeb sighting.
Ryan Seacrest, a producer of the shows, drops in to see how things look.
When asked about the store’s popularity, he shrugs and smiles. “That,” he says, “is the power of television.”