No. 6, a seven-month-old vintage shop located on an Old World strip of Lower Manhattan, is one of those rare boutiques that identifies perfectly with how modern downtown girls want to look. Which is to say, cool -- in a beautiful, soulful, somewhat hippie, and entirely unique way.

Opened by vintage collector Morgan Yakus, who held stalls at both the Portobello and Chelsea Flea Markets, and Karin Bereson (a stylist whose work has appeared in The London Times and The New York Times Magazine), this expansive, tightly-edited shop features a rich mix of high-end bohemian and bygone glamour, both old and new. You’ll find Victorian lace, Parisian Art Deco dresses, Yves Saint Laurent-spirited tunics, Jacqueline Schnabel shoes, and soon, a line of imported denim (exact brand still being determined).

“It’s a good basic – something to pair with a really beautiful top,” explains Yakus of the decision to sell jeans – even though both she and Bereson, and most of their customers, try not to wear jeans that often. But, as Yakus puts it, “Sometimes you just want to wear something comfortable.”

Here, the girls discuss their favorite jeans, and how they style them:

Bereson’s Pick: Helmut Lang medium-blue men’s jeans with paint splatters. “They’re a little bit baggy, a little high-waisted, and slightly pegged in the good-bad way.” Jerry Seinfeld-style? “That’s it.”

How She Wears Them: “I cut the hems, and never wash them. Over the years the paint has disappeared, and the color has turned grey. They keep getting better and better. I used to force myself to put them on. They look really good with a pair of Converse or old-school sneakers, or high-heel open-toe sandals. And I like them with fuller tops – blazers, or my floaty Dries Van Noten blouses that come to the top of my thighs – hippie tops. I couldn’t get away with anything tighter or shorter, or I’d have to wear Reeboks and pretend I was headed to a Saturday Broadway matinee.”

Her Style: “Slightly boyish. But always with something surprising or feminine.”

Yakus’ Pick: Dark blue peg-leg, low-cut jeans from Topshop. “They remind me of something Stella McCartney once designed, with seams across the derriere. I got them early last year in London, and recently went back and couldn’t find them again.”

How She Wears Them: “Usually with oversized tunic tops, and lots of layers. They look really good with tie-up boots with heels, or platforms. But, because they’re peg-legged, they look good with everything.”

Her Style: “Eclectic, classic, surprising, muted color mixing, slightly ‘boho’ – that’s such an annoying word. I didn’t just say that.”

Go There:

No. 6, 6 Centre Market Place, NYC; (212) 226-5759; no6store.com

Topshop peg-legged jeans, 40 pounds (US $70), topshop.com
Helmut Lang jeans, around $100, eBay.com