A rustic gallery of fine cashmere
Elder Statesman opens its first store, inside a WeHo bungalow. And it’s quite the luxe little showcase.
Local cashmere label the Elder Statesman, a winner of the 2012 Council of Fashion Designers of America/Vogue Fashion Fund award, has opened its first store, a rustic luxe boutique in West Hollywood just off Melrose Avenue.
Located in a converted Huntley Drive bungalow, the store consists of 1,600 square feet of airy interior retail space framed by blond wood floors, white walls, exposed ceiling beams and round skylights. These elements are enhanced by 1,600 square feet of outdoor space that includes a stone patio, shiny copper drainpipes and roof f lashing, and a mini-desert’s worth of cactuses. A series of wall-size centerpivot doors angle open in between.
The shelves and hanging racks that display founder Greg Chait’s luxurious sweaters, blankets, beanies and accessories are simple and spare and give the space an almost gallery-like feel.
While the “retail as art” vibe is wholly appropriate when the wares being showcased include $500 teddy bears and $5,995 blankets, the wide-open feel is a tiny bit of a disconnect from the brand’s comfort-meets-cocooning aesthetic.
But it’s the exterior — and the way the indoor area leads effortlessly to the outdoors — that helps make the space feel as uniquely Southern Californian as the Elder Statesman’s striped cashmere Baja hoodies and handcrafted buffalo horn sunglass frames. (It didn’t hurt that Chait tapped West Hollywood-based Commune Design for the project — the same firm that collaborated on the recent Ace Hotel project downtown.)
The front entrance is bordered on one side by a raised cactus garden. In it stands a signpost bearing the Elder Statesman name in a single line of pink, nostalgia-inducing neon. At the sides and back, unfinished horizontal boards meet vertical rows of reclaimed railroad ties to form a sprawling patio.
Just west of the store and dominating the skyline like a cruise ship closing in on a dinghy looms the Pacific Design Center’s Blue Building. At first glance the proximity feels slightly off-putting, but the gleaming blue cube quickly morphs into something that feels sculptural and almost spiritual.
“That view is really what sold me on this place,” Chait says. “It’s really magical. The sunsets this summer are going to really be beautiful.”