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Anthropologie Debuts 'Gowanus' Dress Selling for $188

By Leslie Albrecht | January 5, 2017 3:50pm | Updated on January 6, 2017 2:47pm

This Superfund site is ready to wear.

Anthropologie's just-released spring collection includes a $188 dress called the Gowanus V-neck tunic.

The boho chic retailer apparently thinks Brooklyn nabe names will resonate with shoppers nationwide — three other dresses in the spring line reference Park Slope, Ditmas Park and Carroll Gardens.

The "Gowanus" dress by UZI NYC that's for sale at Anthropologie. (Photo by Veronica Ibarra)

They're all by designer UZI NYC, which makes its clothes in Sunset Park and usually sells in small Brooklyn boutiques such as Bhoomki on Fifth Avenue in Park Slope, said co-designer Mari Gustafson.

This is UZI NYC's first time selling at Anthropologie, Gustafson said. UZI NYC didn't come up with the names for the dresses, Anthropologie did, she added. The store, which has more than 200 locations nationwide and is owned by Urban Outfitters, probably had no idea that her company is based in Brooklyn, she said.

A spokeswoman for Anthropologie did not respond immediately to a request for comment.

►READ MORE: $99 'West Village' Trash Can for Sale at Anthropologie

The name choice elicited at least one groan on Twitter, but Gustafson said she was happy to see Anthropologie — which doesn't have any stores in Brooklyn — recognize neighborhoods other than the ones typically named by corporations looking to capitalize on the borough's cool image.

"I'm glad they didn’t name them after Greenpoint or Williamsburg or Bushwick, because that would be cheesy," Gustafson said. "I think it's interesting that they're noticing that the hip factor of Brooklyn is south of Atlantic Avenue. I think it's good for Brooklyn."

UZI (which stands for Underground Zeitgeist of Iconoclasm and isn't a reference to the Israeli submachine gun) designs its clothes with "young Brooklyn moms" in mind, said Gustafson, so the place-based names feel appropriate.

The Gowanus dress is black and has a slightly goth vibe, which reminds Gustafson of the recently closed Morbid Anatomy Museum, one of her favorite places in Gowanus, she said.

Anthropologie's nod to the industrial neighborhood famed for its polluted canal comes as the area is getting attention from real estate analysts who predict it will be one of the city's "hot neighborhoods" in 2017.

The New York Times travel section paid a visit to Gowanus last month and apparently liked what it saw — the paper followed up two weeks later with a real estate story about what it's like to live in Gowanus.