Oh, that is just so L.A.
Mayor Eric Garcetti was only halfjoking when he said he would have liked for the new LA Original pop-up shop to be housed in City Hall in downtown Los Angeles.
“Only I don’t think we would have gotten quite the foot traffic,” he said.
The compact 340-square-foot retail space shouldn’t have that problem at its actual home, the newly revamped Westfield Century City, where the popup will remain open until the end of this year. Everything in it — fashion, accessories and home products — was created by Los Angeles brands and produced in the city.
“When I was running for mayor, I felt that we took our creativity for granted — when, really, Los Angeles, as a whole, is the most powerful brand in the world,” Garcetti said. “And we wanted to figure out a way to tell that story to the rest of the world.”
The pilot program is a collaboration between the Mayor’s Fund for Los Angeles and the Mayor’s Office of Economic Development. Brand management firm CAA/Global Brand Group curated local brands whose offerings most stylishly embodied the city. So there are vibrant, pop-cultureheavy nail covers from Cha Cha, lavishly embroidered phone cases from Zero Gravity and aprons from Hedley & Bennett that are pretty enough to be worn outside the kitchen.
“We wanted to create something that wasn’t prohibitively expensive,” said Clare Vivier, founder of the Clare V. handbag line. For the pop-up she produced a $65 canvas tote with a leather lip motif and her brand’s signature stripe print. The lips also appear on a sleek leather clutch, $135. “They look very much like our collection,” she said. “Our work is colorful, and the lips reflect that.”
Similarly, jewelry designer Maya Brenner took one of the things her brand is best known for — pieces that can be personalized with someone’s name or initials — and did a couple of pieces for LA Original; a delicate, sculpted “LA” inspired by the logo of the campaign, suspended from a slender chain. “We shaped the logo into something that would work beautifully on a neck and made it to scale,” Brenner said. She made the necklaces in silver and gold vermeil, priced at $48 and $68, respectively.