Little Shops With Big
Impact by Booth Moore
Los Angeles’ indie
boutiques favor local talent over big names, popularizing an eclectic West
Coast look.
There
wasn’t a drop of bubbly for the tattooed crowd, no live models, either – just
vodka cranberry cocktails served in plastic cups and a strange film running on
a loop with image after image of people knocking on doors. There were freebies – copies of Vogue
magazine – until they were commandeered by a mousy guerilla artist, who defaced
each and every Britney Spears cover with stickers that read, “Envy Me Loser,”
”Fantasy With Purchase” and “Style Beyond Your Reach.”
This
wasn’t your typical in-store fashion event, but Los Feliz’s Aero & Co.
isn’t your typical store. Neither
are Show Pony, LaborFruit, Blest or Beige. They are part of a new generation of indie boutiques helping
to nurture local design talent and popularize the one-of-a-kind, neo-Bohemian
looks that have come to define West Coast hip at this moment.
The
cranberry-soaked carouse was actually a Trunk Show for designers Katy Rodriguez
, 32, and Mark Haddaway, 33. The
owners of the popular Resurrection vintage stores on Melrose Avenue and in New
York’s East Village debuted their own line at well-established Henri Bendel in
Manhattan last year. But when it
was time to introduce it here, they approached Aero. They thought the well-edited shop was just the place for
their quirky felt coats and handbags emblazoned with and abstract tartan
created by artist friend Raymond Pettibon.
“[Aero]
has a fresh approach. You don’t
have to have been in this magazine or that one to be here, unlike stores in New
York,” says Rodriguez, dressed in one of her own designs, a gray cowl-neck dress
trimmed in Pettibon plaid. “It’s
not all about the brand.
Cynthia
Vincent, 34, a designer herself, and Alisa Loftin, 33, opened the shop two
years ago to feature talent they felt wasn’t getting its due….”The idea was to
help designers who didn’t have a voice.
There were people doing amazing things here and selling them to their
friends,” said Vincent. Just off
Vermont Avenue in an airy space that could just as well be an art gallery, the
store was among the first to feature the lines of newcomers such as Magda
Berliner, Ina Celaya and Grant Krajecki.
A few are now selling their lines to stores such as Barney’s New York….
