225BatonRouge.com

Though a dozen unique boutiques flaunting the latest feminine fashions have sprouted in the last few years, Baton Rouge has been devoid of hip counterpart stores for men. Save for the mall, that is. But let’s face it, if you’re asking a guy to go to the mall, you might as well ask him to meet you at New York Bagel to talk about his feelings.

Cristy McNabb, wife of Better Than Ezra drummer Travis McNabb, aims to change all that by bringing her Style Lab for Men to Towne Center on Corporate Boulevard this spring. McNabb and partner Jennifer Webber have operated Style Lab on Magazine Street in uptown New Orleans for nearly three years.

That original location eases guys into the shopping experience with plush couches, a pool table, rock music and plenty to drink—elements McNabb says she will explore duplicating in Baton Rouge.

“Though it may be a Playstation rather than a pool table,” she says. “Because it’s such a college town.”

Style Lab offers men’s clothing, accessories and shoes from trendy labels like Chip & Pepper, Modern Amusement, and Penguin, all edgy pieces with a throwback feel inspired in part by her husband’s rock’n’roll taste.

“Even in New Orleans it was hard for the band to find the clothes we wanted,” Travis says of shopping before Style Lab. “We had to buy stuff on the road.”

Travis McNabb

What he and his friends like best about Style Lab is the shop’s balance of edgy, avant-garde styles with more clean, traditional lines.

McNabb and Webber had been eyeing an expansion store for some time, but plans were hastened in the weeks following Katrina. The Magazine Street location suffered no water damage from the hurricane, but was completely looted. “We sold out all merchandise!” Cristy says with a laugh. The store reopened in November, and the entrepreneur hopes to open in Baton Rouge in a few months. (stylelabformen.com)

Travis McNabb: Following his own beat

As a kid, Travis McNabb held the holy grail of youth occupations. He and fellow members of his Boy Scout troupe served as ushers at LSU football games in Tiger Stadium.

Good thing he got used to major venues. After drumming with the Athens-based Vigilantes of Love, McNabb was drafted into Better Than Ezra in January 1996 to replace the departed Cary Bonnecaze.

At the time Cristy was an LSU graduate living in New Orleans, the new home of the Baton Rouge-bred band. The two were introduced at a dinner party.

“Basically all in one three-day period I met the woman I wound up marrying, joined Better Than Ezra and moved back home to New Orleans,” he says.

The couple dated for more than three years but never got engaged. Then at 2 a.m. after a BTE concert in Las Vegas, Cristy and Travis snuck off and were married in true rock star style.

Better Than Ezra’s latest singles A Lifetime and Juicy have received heavy airplay and can be heard on ABC’s Desperate Housewives and MTV’s Laguna Beach. The band’s sixth studio album, Before The Robots, and a career-spanning greatest hits compilation are out now.