The Style Assembly
Cooper Design SpaceSuite 419(213) 622-0184
When Diana Vilato opened her showroom, The Style Assembly, at the Cooper Design Space in March, she selected lines that would speak to a very specific girl.
“She’s a West Coast girl with an East Coast sensibility,” Vilato said “She likes casual clothes with polish and a little bit of novelty.”
Vilato could have been describing herself.
The 1,250-square-foot showroom is spare and sunlit, making it an ideal showcase for the four apparel and four accessory lines she represents.
“The emphasis is on discovering new lines. I’m not looking for trends, I’m looking for fashion,” said Vilato, who added that the lines in her showroom take her ideal customer from day to night, from casual to glam.
Half of The Style Assembly’s lines are from overseas, though Vilato hesitates to call them European.
“People get the wrong idea,” she said. “They think Versace, when it’s actually more young European, like Stella McCartney.”
One designer contemporary brand, Erotokristos, hails from Paris, where Cypriot designer Erotokristos Antoniadus has two boutiques. The line has a girlish ingeacute;nue sensibility with such quirky details as over-sized pompoms on an understated skirt and vintage-inspired prints dappled with sketches of insects and sparrows. The line, which includes outerwear, dresses, tops, sweaters, skirts and blazers, has an average wholesale price of $200.
Designer Ambre Babzoe, who hails from Bali, via Paris, mixes Parisian chic with a laid-back bohemian vibe in her eponymous contemporary line. Leather jackets are paired with layered tunics and blouses in pale silk chiffon. Unfinished edges and natural fibers add to the line’s boho-luxe feel.
San Francisco–based She Bible offers grown-up tomboy styles, including a shawlcollared hoodie and a black fleece jumper. Melancholic graphics add a wistful quality to the line, which includes T-shirts, dresses, and tops in jersey, French terry and cotton blends. Wholesale price points average $50.
Los Angeles–based Punkture by designer Rebecca Marciano adds a punch of pure sex appeal with its collection of dare-to-wear party tops and dresses in silk jersey.
The line has an average wholesale price of $100. “This is the most ’L.A.’ of my lines,” Vilato said. —Erin Barajas
