General Quarters' Golden Age of Chinos
The fashion world has taken inspiration from retro styles for years, but Blair Lucio cultivated his own category of retro with his General Quarters boutique at 153 S. La Brea Ave. in Los Angeles, just across the street from high-profile specialty retailer American Rag.
Lucio’s retro is the California style from the 1940s to 1960s. It’s something he calls “J.F.K. meets Steve McQueen.” It’s a retro scene of blue-collar looks laced with a movie-star fabulousness, fast cars and the great, sunlit California outdoors.
General Quarters will celebrate its one-year anniversary in December, and it recently extended its lease for 10 years on its La Brea location.
Lucio only likes to sell what he would put on his own back, and he loves chino pants. There is nothing more comfortable, he contends, and there is no article of clothing with a better range of use—from work to play—than a well-made pair of chinos.
“I’m converting people to something other than denim,” he said.” It’s important to have a few pairs of denim, but I love chinos.” The top-selling chinos at General Quarters are chinos from Los Angeles–brand Life After Denim, which retail for $78.
But of course, given that General Quarters is a Los Angeles and California boutique, denim is also an important category, and its best-selling denim brands are Railcar Fine Goods, headquartered in Arcadia, Calif., and Tellason, headquartered in San Francisco.
After pants, the best-selling tops are T-shirts from Los Angeles–based label Groceries. This eco brand offers garments constructed out of organic cottons, organic cotton and hemp blends, and organic French terrycloth. Retail price points range from $30 to $42.
Lucio decorated the store with pictures and signs from California’s past, including gas-station signs and Steve McQueen portraits. The store’s inspiration might be retro, but Lucio’s deacute;cor comes out of today’s recycling movement. He self-financed the shop after working retail at Nordstrom and personally built many of the store’s shelving, and friends installed the lighting. He built one table out of antique movie-camera tripods. “I didn’t want anything new,” he said of his store design. “I wanted to see how I could repurpose it.”—A.A.
