Pop-up shop salutes the city with L.A.-inspired items that won’t break the bank
Mayor Eric Garcetti was only half-joking 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 pop-up 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.
Garcetti said the idea for LA Original has been percolating for years, and he feels especially connected to the project given his own background. His grandfather ran a local suit company.
“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,” he 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, and the retail component had to pack a punch. Brand management firm CAA/Global Brand Group curated a handful of local brands whose offerings most stylishly embodied the city. So there are vibrant, pop-culture-heavy 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.
The offerings are an upscale yet affordable antidote to the cheap, imported tchotchkes found in souvenir shops, a way for visitors to remember the city after they’ve left or for locals to wear or use with pride.
“We wanted to create something that wasn’t prohibitively expensive,” said Clare Vivier, founder of the popular 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, which goes for $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.
Garcetti said he hopes that the creativity of the retail showcase at Westfield Century City will serve as a reminder that Los Angeles is more than a hotbed of entertainment talent.
“Most people have had a superficial interpretation of our superficiality, that Los Angeles is wacky, nutty,” he said. “Everything is skin-deep. It’s just Hollywood stars. People have forgotten the depth of creativity here — from aerospace to car design, fashion, art, music. It’s a place where people around the world go to shop, and this is a way to showcase some of our makers.”
LA Original pop-up store, Westfield Century City, 10250 Santa Monica Blvd., 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday until Dec. 31, (310) 277-3898, www.laoriginal.com
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