Eckhaus Latta has just opened its fifth LA store in Chinatown. The new store carries the brand’s Fall/Winter 2019 and Pre-Spring 2020 collection. The bi-coastal label made the decision to use the new location to further build their West Coast community and also use the street-facing windows as a space for art installations to be displayed. The designer once again turned to architect Emma Price to design and furnish the minimalist 500-square-foot store with Bondo-colored fixtures, floors, and walls. The earthy and simple interior complements the brand’s experimental and street-savvy pieces.
The store is located at 980 North Broadway, Los Angeles, CA 90012. Check out some pictures of the new space below.
Joining the ranks of Acne and Palace, John Elliott has opened its first flagship store on Melrose Avenue in West Hollywood. Since launching in 2012, the Los Angeles-based label has evolved into one of the leading brands at the intersection of street and menswear, which makes it a perfect fit for the neighborhood.
The new 3,500-square-foot space maintains the brand’s cool Californian edge throughout the interior — natural light floods the open layout, while sleek overhead lighting fixtures provide additional illumination. Merchandise is displayed on minimal fixtures, and the boutique also houses an abundance of plant life that adds freshness to the otherwise industrial space.
John Elliott is open now at 8808 Melrose Ave, CA 90069. Check out some photos of the space below.
Famed LA boutique Maxfield is getting a makeover just in time for Coachella, courtesy of luxury athleisure brand Casablanca. Starting tomorrow, the store will be transformed into a tennis court that displays a 17-piece capsule collection. Guests who need a break from the three-day festival (or just a break from the festival fashion faux-pas, let’s be real) will have the opportunity to try on the collection on the tropical-themed tennis court — the pieces retain Casablanca’s signature relaxed vibe, with loose but structured fits and airy fabrics complemented by summery fruit prints. Definitely worth the trip off the festival grounds to cop a new look before Childish Gambino and Ariana Grande take the stage.
The Casablanca x Maxfield collection will be available from April 11-25 exclusively at 8825 Melrose Avenue. Check out some of the looks below.
In a minimalist boho-heaven full complete with a minivan, tent, and of course, a bonsai, Japanese menswear brand Visvim opened its first Los Angeles store this past weekend. Founded in 2000 by Hiroki Nakamura, the cult-like brand is known for collaborations with Pharrell, A$AP Rocky, and Kanye West and unsurprisingly chose LA as their first store location in the US, after a series of successful pop-up shops.
VISVIM store opens this week in the Bradbury Building, 304 S Broadway, Los Angeles, CA 90013.
Acne Studios is opening its newest store in West Hollywood. The gallery-style space opts for maximum transparency, with windows enveloping the space and providing people a street view.
The new store has a minimal and airy feel, with freestanding stainless steel beams, glass walls, and a large-scale art installation at the center. Designed by artist Daniel Silver, the double-faced wool cashmere sculpture divides the fitting room from the main space. To celebrate the launch, Acne Studios collaborated with the artists with a limited-edition print T-shirt of his work.
The store is open now at 8902 Melrose Avenue, West Hollywood, CA 90069.
Premium denim maker FRAME opens its Los Angeles store on Melrose Place, reflecting the brand’s celebrity attraction and minimal approach to fashion. Founders Jens Grede and Erik Torstensson focused on the their European and Californian influences, developing the interiors of the brick and mortar with a design sensibility that emphasized oversized windows, warm touches of redwood, and a fireplace that enhances the stone and marble fixtures. The organic and contemporary ambience echoes an earthly sensation that adjusts to both the location and FRAME’s vision.
FRAME is now open at 8467 Melrose Place in Los Angeles, CA.
Men’s grooming suppliers The Motley present a new fall cologne, Cyprus, which features notes of dry pine needles, ambergris, ginger, shave cream, and cedar, recalling the crisp green scent of a coastal forest. The refreshing blend caters to those who prefer a refreshing, woodsy aroma to darker, heavier fragrances.
Image: The Motley.
As with all Motley colognes, Cyprus is hand-compounded and poured in LA, and available in 1 fl. oz. Splash ($50) and 2 fl. oz. Spray ($105) options, as well as in a sampling set with The Motley’s Atlas, Begamo, and Oud fragrances, for those seeking variety. If you can’t get to the Mediterranean Isle anytime soon, at least you’ll have its scent on you.
The Motley Cyprus Cologne and sample set are available online now.
Today Scalise, French manufacturer of all the outfits that you wear on the vacations you dream about at night, opened the doors to its first ever US outpost on Robertson Boulevard in Los Angeles. Because Lord knows the only thing LA needs right now is more high-end pleasant-weather ready-to-wear. We’re kidding! And yet despite these regional hang ups, the 1,300 square-foot-store is still…how do we say…beautiful. Designed to reflect its European paradise-based counterparts, the boutique boasts exposed and nature woods, beach inspired fixtures, and sand floors in parts of the space. In following the school of nature without having to deal with nature. But more than that, it’s the unique details on the the natural wood shelves that have us eagerly awaiting our next trip West. The store carries an assortment of beach attire and summer styles of shorts, chinos, and accessories, and swimwear—including our personal favorite White and Navy Trunks.
Image: Scalise.
Image: Scalise.
Image: Scalise.
Scalise’s new LA store is open now at 108 South Robertson Boulevard.
The first thing that you talk about when you call the duo behind the Los Angeles-based denim start-up, Twenty Jeans, on the phone is how you are dressed.
“Are you wearing denim right now?” asks the company’s President Mark Lynn. Because it happens to be a day in the mortal realm, I answer that “yes, yes I am wearing jeans,” but of course, he already knows that. “Denim has become the new uniform of the people,” Lynn acknowledges, happy with my response. “Everybody from Steve Jobs to Jay-Z wears denim almost everyday of their lives.” Corey Epstein—Lynn’s co-founder and the company’s CEO—re-affirms, “It is the staple of the modern wardrobe.”
Twenty Jeans Co-Founders Mark Lynn (left) and Corey Epstein (right).
With jeans over their legs and this thought on their minds, a little over a year before this, the childhood-friends turned business-partners launched Twenty Jeans out of Epstein’s bedroom with the aim to offer men well made denim—and here’s the kicker—at an affordable price. To be exact, $25-$30 per pair. The two realized this price point was available by cutting out the middleman: producing the jeans themselves, selling directly to the consumer online, and avoiding any need for behind-the-scenes mark-ups or retail resentment.
“There’s nothing wrong with spending a lot of money for something that costs a lot of money,” explains Lynn, “but there is something intrinsically upsetting about buying something that costs ten times or eight times mark up.” The 29-year-old entrepreneur credits this insight to when he first realized that the cost of production for the designer pairs he’d always worn was substantially less than the $250.00 (and plus) he was spending each time.
“What brand are you wearing right now?” He asks me. Slightly embarrassed, I tell him.
“So those probably cost $30 to make. The other $170 goes up into their marketing budget so that Helmut Lang can reinforce the message that their product is superior to other people’s people products, or at least different,” Lynn says. “And there isn’t anything wrong with that, but there’s also a new market for people that want to rock the exact same quality product in a super friendly online experience for a fraction of the cost.“
And judging from Twenty Jeans’ past year alone—with over 50,000 pairs of denim sold and the expansion into men’s shirts, accessories and outerwear—along with the popularity of similarly-modeled sunglass brand Warby Parker, it’s clear the market is hungry.
“What sells Twenty Jeans is the delta between the quality of what you’re getting and the price you’re paying. That’s such an overriding value to people,” says Lynn. “Relative to the style and comfort and longevity of the product, people are just drawn to it.”
As drawn to Twenty Jeans as I am, the New Yorker in me—always looking for a deal and then immediately suspicious to any that come up—can not still entirely get behind the idea of a company not taking in money for profit’s sake. Fortunately as Epstein explains, it comes down to the people.
“The principle difference here is that we sell directly to our customers,” says the 28-year-old former magazine editor and digital consultant. “Even when a Levi’s or a 7 is selling at their own stores they can’t undercut their primary customers—which are those department stores that carry them. By being direct, we’re able to cut out that portion of the mark-up.”
It doesn’t stop just there; the brand lives, essentially, with its customers in mind. Whether it’s keeping their products well constructed—as product designer Anh Vu describes their process, “we pay a lot of attention to finishing and stitching because we know guys care about the details”—engineering new types of fabric, testing until mastering the art of denim washing (coming soon!) or even just responding to an order inquiry on Facebook, Twenty Jeans’ mission is simple: to give guys great jeans in a great, easy way.
When asked about the future of Twenty Jeans—and in particular, a move offline—Epstein says, “Despite not having a physical space, the sheer number of customers we get to interact with right now is really great data to build a great brand from. Definitely in the future our model lends itself to doing select retail, but right now we’re laser focused on building a great e-commerce channel for our customers.” One trip to the their website, and this is undeniable.
