For Sale: Fashion, Art, Music With Local Flavor

Power suits with sneakers have become one of Washington's most unfashionable cliches. But a new retail store aims to show that residents of the nation's capital can help their neighbors change that stereotype.

Dekka opened this month on U Street NW, featuring merchandise from about a dozen clothing designers, artists and musicians -- all hailing from the Washington region. Owner Joshua Tiktin said he and his wife, Luciana, were surprised by the number of people seeking an outlet for their work when they moved to the area from Miami in 2006.

"People don't know these things are happening," Tiktin said. "This business has kind of brought it out."

The two-room store carries pieces including crocheted miniskirts with matching bikini tops by designer Shantelle and girly purses by Valerie Williams, who is a lobbyist by day. Tiktin, who sells his hip-hop CDs at the space, worked in accounting at his mother's financial services firm for a year and a half after he arrived in the area.

The couple, who sold their car to get start-up capital for the store, rent space to designers to showcase their goods. Tiktin said that customers have responded well to the store's local-only philosophy and that business has been brisk.

"We are generating a circle of people to kind of lift ourselves up together and say, 'Hey, what we're doing is real. It's legitimate.' "

-- Ylan Q. Mui