California Apparel News

Is Los Angeles’ Melrose Place on the verge of becoming the next Rodeo Drive?

Fashion houses Oscar de la Renta, Monique Lhuillier and Chloe are scheduled to open new boutiques on Melrose Place in spring 2007. New York–based Carolina Herrera held a red-carpet opening for its new boutique on Melrose Place on Nov. 13. A host of other iconic fashion names are rumored to be opening shop on the quiet, tree-lined street that veers off of busy Melrose Avenue.

But Luca Voarino is positive that the place will never be another Rodeo Drive. Instead, the vice president of Marni USA said that Melrose Place will be an alternative destination for designer fashions in Los Angeles. He was one of the pioneers of the street when his Italian-based company opened a 2,100-square-foot Marni boutique on the street in September 2004.

Voarino said that the street should have the good fortune to offer high-profile designer names like Rodeo Drive. But Melrose Place will hold onto its reserved, European-style charms.

The fashion executive picked the street’s real estate in part because its small, ivycovered retail buildings reminded him of fashion street Avenue Montaigne in Paris.

Melrose Place’s quaint, village-like atmosphere also could provide a discrete shopping place for wealthy clients. However, he said that the place’s charms should put tight reins on its growth.

Even so, the street has attracted some of the most highly sought-after names in fashion such as Karl Lagerfeld, Theory and Diesel, all of whom are rumored to be opening boutiques there.

“Space is limited,” Voarino said. “There are only so many stores that will be able to open. There is also the fact that parking is a complication.”

High demand for retail space and its short supply have more than tripled the price for a square foot of commercial space since Marc Jacobs opened in March 2004, according to Carol Chait, the vice president of Stafford Commercial Real Estate Inc.

Some of the most sought after properties on the street can command prices of more than $20 to $25 per square foot. But it’s a good deal compared to Rodeo Drive, where, according to Chait, prices can fetch more than $40 per square foot.

The skyrocketing prices caused the street’s longtime tenants, such as antiques stores, to move to adjacent streets Melrose Avenue and La Cienega Boulevard. While the tenants changed, the street’s patrons will remain the same, according to Erin Kenny, the manager of footwear and fashion boutique DV, which opened on Melrose Place this past September.

Many of them are wealthy women who regularly get their hair styled at celebrity salon Sally Hershberger at John Frieda, located at 8440 Melrose Pl. While the street may seem like a natural venue to set up a designer boutique, Kenny said that the pace of the street has been sleepy.

She believes that retail traffic will remain slow until the Oscar de la Renta store opens in March, along with Monique Lhuillier and Ports 1961, a Canada-based fashion store that will open a boutique on the street in 2007. Even then, Melrose Place’s atmosphere and styles may pose a yield sign to the masses.

“[The fashions] are not for everyone,” Kenny said. “They may not be able to buy. It might not be their style.”

Boutique owners argue that while the fashions sold on Melrose Place are not formal, they are not California casual either. The Carolina Herrera boutique features the fashion house’s complete signature ready-to-wear, fur and bridal collections, as well as Manolo Blahnik shoes. The Marni store features eclectic, sophisticated looks from all of the label’s lines, which range from ready-to-wear to menswear and children’s. The Marc Jacobs Men boutique offers fashions ranging from denim jackets to cashmere blazers.

Prices also range from the high end of contemporary up through the designer range. At the Marc Jacobs Men boutique at 8409 Melrose Pl., a cashmere overcoat with beaver-fur lining retails for $6,000. A blazer costs $1,000 retail. Price points at Melrose Place boutique Bird range from $45 to $3,000, said owner Wendy Vaughan. Apparel price points at DV range from $30 for T-shirts to $900 for a coat.

Melrose Place boutique manager Kenny believes the street’s styles and its quiet milieu should make it a popular yet exclusive fashion destination. “Melrose Place is beautiful clothes and tree-lined streets. It’s a different place,” she said.