Abercrombie topless models open shop in Savile Row

By Rachel Sanderson

LONDON (Reuters) - U.S. clothes retailer Abercrombie & Fitch brought its half-naked male models to Savile Row on Thursday shocking the discreet tailors to the well-to-do and pleasing teenage girls.

Abercrombie & Fitch took its first step outside of North America with bare chests and blaring music courting the controversy that has helped make it a top-selling teenage brand at home.

A spokesman for the clothier, Tom Lennox, confirmed the London opening was the start of a global expansion.

"In Europe and the Far East, we're aggressively looking for real estate," he said. Tokyo is expected to be next.

Tailors on "the Row", for 200 years the clothes makers to English aristocracy, were also keen to give their opinion on the newcomer pumping dance music into the narrow street.

Abercrombie & Fitch's racy advertising and merchandising -- whether billboards featuring Bruce Weber photographs of muscular young men in tight T-shirts or slipping out of their jeans -- is a departure for the upmarket shopping district.

Across the road at Ede and Ravenscroft, providers of royal garments for 12 coronations since 1689, some employees complained the store would spoil the street's cachet, while others said the $7 billion (4 billion pound) brand's arrival was positive.

Company executives hope the mix of edgy image and casual sportswear will build it a niche outside North America that rivals like Gap have struggled to find.