Intellect and Fashion Mix at Milk
Instead of wallpaper or modern paintings, a passage from the 1945 Somerset Maugham novel “The Razor’s Edge” is painted on the east wall of Milk. It’s the newest boutique on West Third Street, one of Los Angeles’ hippest shopping neighborhoods, and the boutique’s owners are serious about the literary reference.
Milk is the latest purveyor of “intellectual chic” on this street, according to co-owner Marni Flans. Clothes at the boutique will be stylish instead of trendy, she said, and come from up-and-coming designers.
The first-time retailer opened Milk with her 24-year-old cousin, Bari Milken, daughter of well-known financier Michael Milken. Flans and Milken declined to forecast how much revenue the store would earn or how much money it cost to build the 2,200-square-foot space. But Flans said the co-owners financed it themselves and hope eventually to build more Milk boutiques.
Milk buyer Ilaria Urbinati worked with Flans and Milken to furnish the store with milk bottles from the 1950s, old maps and antique luggage to bring a sense of history and travel to the boutique. Urbinati formerly worked as a buyer for West Third Street boutique Satine. Price points will range from $50 for T-shirts to $1,500 for vintage designer garments from Dior and Missoni.
Unlike many fashion boutiques, jeans won’t be the focus at Milk, but the store will carry up-and-coming denim brands such as Kunna, Fins and Bramm. Milk currently stresses casual clothes such as silk-chiffon tops by Sretsis, based in Bangkok, Thailand; T-shirts manufactured by Lo-Fi, of Los Angeles; and men’s jeans made by New York–based Loomstate.
That particular brand, which has advertised itself as environmentally friendly, is apparently a hit with the Milken family. Bari Milken said her father purchased a pair of Loomstate corduroys from the store. —Andrew Asch
