The Betsey Johnson store on M Street NW is far from a calming environment for the nervous shopper. For starters, the whole place is pink. That’s before you reach the staff.

The store is led by Jenny Zinn, a veteran of the brand who refers to it simply as “Betsey” and has an affinity for Red Bull. She is an over-bubbling hostess in comparison to the rest of her staff and is a perpetually vocal member of the Georgetown business community. You can always spot Zinn in a crowd, despite the fact that she's petite.

The Betsey Johnson store is different from any of its neighbors on M Street. It sells short dresses with more tulle in one skirt than on most prom nights. It sells party bling, far from sleek corporate wear. And although the store is a part of a national chain, Zinn still has a say in what goes, from the sketchbook to the runway to the retail location.

“Betsey loves to hear ideas from her stores,” Zinn says. Her store's iconic namesake has visited the Georgetown shop, where she likes to lounge in the back garden. When I visited the store in January, associate Lolly Amons wore a sweater that first appeared before I was born, recently resurrected in a new look. In the same visit, Zinn wore a long black dress bearing a popular old pattern: rainbow trout (the shape of the fish and the color). The brand is big on patterns. While animal prints dominate, images of skulls and guns appeared in this past winter’s collection.

Zinn makes the trip to New York, like other store managers, and gets to attend the runway show after visiting the showroom earlier in the day. They preview the new line, provide feedback, and probably eat a lot of candy. When the lights come up on the runway on Valentine’s night, Zinn and the other “Betsey girls” in attendance have been promoted from standing room to some spare seats. The music thunders, but it includes the best selections this reporter has heard since the start of Fashion week.

The Black Label walks first, a high-end line of new looks. The models have lace patterns sprayed onto their pin-straight bobs. The Pink Patch, which walks after the first set of models, is out of sync with Fashion Week’s unspoken rules. Every model is a member of the Betsey Johnson company, each wearing a blond wig with bangs to channel the founder. The models include a pregnant woman and a man who whips off his wig at the end of the runway. They are obvious crowd favorites. And while most designers peek out from behind a panel to wave hello in thanks, Betsey does cartwheels down the runway in celebration.

Zinn is breathless and wide-eyed, wandering around and chatting on the runway when the lights come back up. She calls over twins Shawn and Claire Buitendorp, sweepstakes winners from Michigan who entered a contest for runway show seats after visiting the Georgetown store. They have made Betsey Johnson-themed paper dolls for Zinn, and have brought extras for other staff members. They are impressed. There is discussion of making the paper doll sheets available in the stores. The girls, whose parents have driven them all the way from a small suburb of Lansing, beam at each other.

Zinn fawns over the twins. Two new fans, maybe a couple more.

Three blocks away, Lost Boys founder Kelly Muccio spent Monday morning fitting in a few Valentine’s Day quickies in Georgetown.

The store is closed on Mondays, but “guys are so last minute,” she says, that she offered 30 minute style appointment “quickies” to get her customers ready for a night out. Christmas Eve is one of her biggest days of the year, too. The special appointments seem to be as satisfying for her as they are for the men who shop with her. “Literally, knuckle-biting looks have been leaving,” she said, and almost giggled. Almost.

Muccio, who used to work in finance, built Lost Boys in 2008 in a Georgetown row home. And when you “live, breathe, and eat men’s style” as Muccio says she does, being on top of trends is crucial.

She gets a head start by skipping the runway and instead by meeting designers in their showrooms to preview collections. Men’s fashion week is held a few weeks before the big show in February, so Muccio has already seen nearly everything that the celebrities are seeing from their front row perches this week. “Where I start is not where the designers are putting their looks on the runway,” she said. “I go through the collection and think about what the Lost Boys assortment is going to look like. What direction will it take?”

Rag and Bone is one of her favorites, and a more recent label in her store. She saw the new collection four weeks ago in the showroom, so she knew about the vintage, collegiate looks that would be discussed after the runway show. “I didn’t buy the line at all that way,” she said. “I bought the classic, quintessential pieces. I stock my store like a man should stock his wardrobe: a little bit rugged, but classic.”

That’s not to say that the retailer doesn’t follow the hot trends. “Plaid went crazy two seasons ago, but we had maybe...three pieces in the store.” So while she knows what’s popular, she knows what might make the cut for a man’s developing signature look.

Muccio has eight to 12 brands available in her store each season, ranging from trusted go-to designers to wild cards that are gaining speed. She has some big local names supporting her choices: her most recent catalogue was produced in video form, with a Reservoir Dogs-patterned video feature some of the area’s top chefs. Bryan Voltaggio, Mike Isabella, and others march around the canal in shades and blazers, constantly checking the time. If Muccio’s typical customer is mysterious, impeccably dressed, and very busy, then the video makes sense. Otherwise, it’s just plain fun.

Muccio says she once had standing weekly appointments with HR for her inability to conform to a corporate dress code; now she wears whatever she wants to work. Her Prada thigh-highs — a recent gift to herself — may not make much sense on Georgetown’s brick sidewalks once she steps out of her shop on Thomas Jefferson Street NW. But she walks the line between edgy and mysterious, D.C. and somewhere sexier. She may not follow any fashion rules, but she’s here to guide the other half. If they lack confidence, she might be willing to lend some of her own.