Rag & Bone to Open First Store in California
High-profile New York-based contemporary label Rag & Bone confirmed that it will open a West Hollywood, Calif., flagship store, the label’s first store in the state, later this year.
A Rag & Bone representative declined to give more information other than to say the popular label will be moving into 8533 Melrose Ave. later this year.
Rag & Bone introduced its collection with jeans and has since expanded. The label also makes women’s fashions and maintains nine other stores. In 2010 Rag & Bone founders David Neville and Marcus Wainwright were named “Menswear Designers of the Year” by the Council of Fashion Designers of America.
The Rag & Bone store will be across the street from another premium-denim label, Artisan De Luxe, at 8564 Melrose Ave.
This stretch of Melrose Avenue is anchored by the popular Urth Café at 8565 Melrose Ave. Retailers have been turning the street into a fashion neighborhood since 2004.
The 8500 through 8600 blocks of Melrose Avenue reached a fashion retail high point in 2008 when Kitson opened a 7,000-square-foot emporium at 8590 Melrose Ave.
However, some fashion veterans have recently been leaving the neighborhood.
On May 8, one of the big boutiques on the street, Beckley, closed its 1,800-square-foot shop at 8620 Melrose Ave. to move to a bigger site, said Beckley’s owner, Melissa Richardson Akkaway.
Richardson Akkaway declined to say where she was moving, only that her new store will open by September. “The brand is growing, and it is the right time to move,” she said. She introduced her own fashion line, Beckley by Melissa, to her store last year. Since opening in 2008, she has sold high-fashion and contemporary labels such as Helmut Lang, 10 Crosby by Derek Lam, Hervé Leger and 12th Street by Cynthia Vincent.
In 2011, one of the fashion pioneers on the street, Sheila, moved from 8568 Melrose Ave. to Beverly Hills after running a boutique on the street since 2004. Sheila has shifted much of its focus to selling fashions by Australian and U.K. designers at its e-commerce website (www.shop.sheilastyle.com).
Sheila style manager Claudine Blunt said the business relocated because the fashion character of the neighborhood had changed. “It’s more casual, and it wasn’t the best neighborhood for us,” Blunt said, noting the company focuses on dresses.
It also was hard to park on the street. “It was metered parking,” she said. “It’s only 30 minutes, and everyone got tickets.”—A.A.
