Private Stock, Paying Hard to Get Do a not-all-that-deep Google dig on Jon Koon, the owner and designer of Private Stock, and you'll happen upon pictures of him at the 2011 birthday party of the rapper Young Jeezy. Mr. Koon helped build Jeezy's clothing line, 8732, and in the photos, in a room full of people skilled at flaunting their wealth, he looks like a man at peace with his success: gold sunglasses, cigar half-smoked, Champagne bottle uncorked and gripped by the neck. But look a little closer. Check out the placket on his white shirt, which is accentuated with wings of a sort, giving the basic shirt texture and dimension. It's a slight wink, an acknowledgment that despite what you may see, money isn't the only relevant metric. This small flourish of exaggeration, this embrace of the slightly askew, is one of the hallmarks of Private Stock, Mr. Koon's luxury line, which opened its first bricks-and-mortar store in April. A polo shirt with an oversize collar (showy), a cardigan with a second layer of buttons sewn in (clever), an upscale work shirt with a shiny collar bar (sharp) - lots of times, his pieces are one tweak to the left of traditional. But don't get it twisted: money matters, too. Though little known and not widely distributed, Private Stock is a line with luxury ambitions and luxury prices. The setting, of course, is luxe, too. The SoHo space is gallerylike and, like an installation by the design firm Snarkitecture, white upon white upon white. Distressed jeans are hung like canvases (or, let's face it, rugs) on racks that slide in and out of the wall in the rear. Up front, a few accessories are displayed behind glass that only becomes transparent when you flick a light switch. The couple of times I did so to see what was behind them, a salesclerk scurried over after I'd walked away to flick them back off, as if resetting a magic trick to dupe the next mark. The koi in the pond on the store's lower level looked healthy. If you want to talk with Mr. Koon about custom pieces, you can go downstairs and see them swim up close. The store's Instagram feed has photos of the K-pop shape-shifter G-Dragon. Presumably he got to go downstairs. Private Stock comes as part of a mini-movement that can be called, for lack of a better term, indie luxury: stand-alone labels making pieces that are stylistically in keeping with what high-end brands are delivering, and are similar in price. Of New York ateliers, maybe Jay Kos comes closest in concept, but it's a spare field. There are easily 10 or so tiny shops downtown that specialize in high-end made-to-measure suits and shirts, but barely any at this price point that skew casual. That may be shifting, though, the result of the democratization of aspiration and an increased appetite for luxury and exclusivity. Why buy a leather sweatshirt at Saint Laurent when the Private Stock one, with rayon sleeves and zippers at the clavicle ($798), is rarer, and maybe even better? This idea is more of a paradigm shift in men's wear than in women's clothing. It's the sentiment behind the spate of small-designer luxury sneakers, like the $785 Buscemi high-tops with 18-karat gold hardware or, for a few hundred dollars more, the black leather Nike Air Force 1 homage by Hender Scheme I'm considering starting a Kickstarter campaign to buy. Lanvin and Balenciaga and Raf Simons cost as much, but some money wants a different home. And even though Private Stock is an attempt at fashion, it's really a power play by a wealthy young magnate with an outsize sense of chutzpah. That means great materials - thin wraparound alligator bracelets in a range of colors ($398) or strikingly soft wool pants, or tiger-eye bead bracelets - in fundamentally conservative silhouettes. Private Stock tends toward blacks and grays, with splashes of camel. Most of its fall pieces are in a wool-cashmere blend that's heavy but not onerous. A blue plaid shirt was stuffed with goose down, turning it into a light winter jacket ($698), a good idea; right next to it, another blue plaid shirt had an attached hood and scarf ($458), a less good idea. Most of the clothes were comfortable - especially the work shirt with the collar bar, which also happens to be waterproof ($458) - and, apart from the prices, not especially audacious. Where Private Stock truly gets gaudy is in its denim, much of which is violently distressed and issued in limited runs, lest you cross paths with someone else turned to shreds in exactly the same way. Of these, I thought the pair with the heaviest Woodstock vibe ($498) was the best, though only because it was the one that displayed any familiarity with modesty. The jeans, when juxtaposed against the rest of the collection, tell a different story, and suggest that Mr. Koon is still juggling competing ideas about what Private Stock should be. Is it money that whispers, or money that screams? Private Stock 76 Wooster Street, (212) 289-9889; privatestockbrand.com. Rich No expense is spared at Private Stock, which is an upstart luxury line heavy on expensive materials and expensive attitude. Loud You like details? Private Stock has details. Plenty of items are high-intensity tweaks on familiar looks. Even the business cards - thick plastic like a credit card, with embossed numbers - are a little bit extra. Pristine The staff is generous and knowledgeable and careful to maintain the gallerylike atmosphere of the store, as if to leave no trace of your visit.