"Mini Mall"

There’s a nice little interview with Carol and Humberto, the masterminds behind Opening Ceremony, on the style.com blog today. They talk about their upcoming store opening in Japan, the summer launch of a webstore and their new 2nd floor “mini mall,” which I’m excited to preview tonight.

“Nestled in a low-slung building only a stoplight or so from the behemoth Beverly Center, Opening Ceremony’s Los Angeles outpost does exactly nothing to announce itself to the La Cienega traffic humming past its whitewashed facade. But anyone under the impression that founders and masterminds Humberto Leon and Carol Lim devised this modest storefront as a reproach to the typically more-is-more aesthetic of L.A. retail will be brought up short by the two SoCal natives’ inspiration for the shop’s second floor, which opens tomorrow. “We love strip malls,” Lim says. “We always thought it would be amazing to fill one up with little shops from our favorite brands.” “Like, we’d have our own block,” adds Leon. “And our own parking lot.” If that’s the grand plan, Opening Ceremony L.A.’s second floor is a writ-small expression of the same concept: A petite walkway links pocket-size boutiques dedicated to brands such as Mayle, Nom de Guerre, the New York City vintage shop Exquisite Costume, and Opening Ceremony’s own store label. One week shy of this upstairs mini-mall’s public debut, the space was still empty and essentially raw. But neither Lim nor Leon seemed to be sweating the tight schedule as they talked to Style.com about Web sites, Wong Kar-wai, and giving West Hollywood a taste of the East Coast.

Mayle and Nom de Guerre are both brands you don’t sell at the New York store. What made you decide to feature them so prominently in L.A.?

Carol Lim: We’ve always loved those lines, but Mayle and Nom de Guerre both have their own stores in New York and their own real presence there, so it would be a bit redundant for us carry them. Here, we have enough space to let them create a West Coast presence for themselves, through our store.

Humberto Leon: Like, the Mayle boutique will feel like Mayle. Jane’s getting in tomorrow; she’s going to paint her space herself. The Nom de guys are coming, too. The idea is pretty much, let’s bring some New York City out west…”

Read the whole interview here.