& Other Stories opens an L.A. atelier
H &M-owned retailer & Other Stories, which launched in 2013, is expanding its design reach to Los Angeles with the opening of its third atelier after Stockholm and Paris, on Melrose Avenue in West Hollywood. Los Angeles-based designers Dakota Solt and Caity Knox head up the apparel design, which reflects the West Coast “story” with going-out looks, ath-leisure and bohemian looks, all of which will be available in stores March 30.
The brand celebrated with a party on Wednesday night cohosted by Djuna Bell that drew Grace Gummer, Sasha Spielberg, Langley Fox Hemingway, Kate Mulleavy, Twin Shadow, Sophie Dellal and Jason Lee, among others.
“The plan from the beginning was to have three design ateliers,” said managing director Samuel Fernstrom. “We knew we needed a contrast to Paris and Stockholm and two years ago we decided it would be in Los Angeles.” The studio has been up and running for almost a year, but spring 2017 is the first collection coming to retail. The company has played with Los Angeles design before; last year, Rodarte collaborated on a successful capsule collection timed to the opening at South Coast Plaza.
“The idea is for customers to mix all three collections like primary colors to create their own looks,” Fernstrom said. Of the trendy location on Melrose, in the same building that houses Catch restaurant and adjacent to the Pacific Design Center and retailers such as Rag & Bone, Maxfield and James Perse, he said, “We see our customer here every day, whether she’s at Gracias Madre, Catch or Verve coffee house. It’s all different.”
Stateside, the company has one store in New York and two in Los Angeles (in Beverly Hills and South Coast Plaza) and is set to open a third in Caruso’s The Americana at Brand shopping center in Glendale next month. & Other Stories’ next collaboration will be with Toms on April 11.
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