Boutique is naked at its opening
The exposed metal studs, the shopping-cart-sculpture-cum-display-stand and the fashion house executives from Paris were all in place. The hipster-chic customers picked their way past trash bins in an alley leading to the Hernando’s Hideaway-style entrance. Perfume bottles and brightly colored wallets were artfully arrayed and ready for sale.
The only things missing from the launch of Comme des Garcons’ first “guerrilla store” in the United States were the clothes. They were stuck in U.S. Customs at the Port of Los Angeles.
In another sign that downtown Los Angeles has arrived, Comme des Garcons, the avant-garde label started in Tokyo in 1969, Saturday opened its first temporary boutique in this country -- one intended to make a splash and then disappear. The shop is in a room with 30-foot-high ceilings in a 100-year-old former bank building on 4th Street, behind the sneaker shop Blends.
Even without the main attractions -- jeans, shirts, skirts and dresses -- the boutique created buzz among devotees who traveled from far (Rancho Palos Verdes) and near (a loft across the street). The shop is intended to have a short shelf life, one year, reflecting the fleeting nature of fashion itself.
Comme des Garcons’ strategy has been to open stores quickly and at minimal cost in cities including Beirut, Athens, Warsaw, Singapore and Reykjavik, Iceland. Customers tend to learn of the stores through word of mouth or Internet blogs. The short windows of shopping opportunity help create a sense of urgency and allow the small, privately held company to sell pieces not only from the runways but also from past seasons.
“They’re ephemeral, temporary events,” said Christian Weinecke, the Paris-based employee responsible for setting up the guerrilla store.
The brainchild of Tokyo designer Rei Kawakubo, Comme des Garcons has flagship stores in New York, Paris and Tokyo but also sells clothing in such upscale specialty stores as Saks Fifth Avenue and Ron Herman. The guerrilla concept arose from Kawakubo’s 2004 visit to Berlin, where she saw entrepreneurs opening unique cutting-edge boutiques in the heart of the city.
“People were doing their own thing,” Weinecke said. “It was a new way to look at fashion retailing.”
Andres Sigal had only to walk across the street from his downtown loft to be one of the first customers. Sporting chili-pepper-colored jeans, a geometric print jacket and Sabre sunglasses with chartreuse frames, he proclaimed himself “very excited” about having a beloved but hard-to-find clothing line in the neighborhood.
Comme des Garcons designs -- many of which feature tears, holes and frayed edges -- are the antithesis of cookie-cutter fashion, and “that’s what first attracted me to the brand,” said Brett Westfall, an artist who persuaded the company to come to downtown L.A.
The guerrilla store’s edgy interior design was created by Tak Kato, Westfall’s business partner. Kato applied 6,500 white tiles to the walls, then used a hammer to give some of them a distressed look. He installed grates to evoke factory windows. Metal studs run from floor to ceiling, with rods that, for now, feature empty hangers. Kato described the design as “very anti-Westside.”
Kato, a native of Japan, and Westfall, who grew up skateboarding in Irvine, approached the fashion house about using the space for a pop-up shop. They made the case that L.A.’s thriving downtown could draw fashion-savvy customers.
“There have been in the last three years many new businesses and lofts,” Kato said. “We thought this was a good opportunity.”
Garrett Lee, 20, traveled from Rancho Palos Verdes with his mother, who had learned of the opening from a DailyCandy e-mail that gives the scoop on fashion and other trends.
“It’s fun,” said Kathy Nakayama Lee, a hygienist who occasionally buys Comme des Garcons pieces. “I love having a reason to go downtown.”
John McDowell, dressed in skinny blue plaid pants, said he and his partner, Jimmy Walton, “have been huge fans of Japanese fashion.”
“We have always loved Rei’s aesthetic,” McDowell said. “She never stops moving. This is going to be a mega Comme des Garcons.”
Especially once the clothes get sprung from customs.
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