In a city as sprawling and expansive as Los Angeles, how does a brand-new boutique get noticed? By thinking small, as in intimate, if you are Zainab Sumu, who just opened Zainab (zainabonline.com). Sumu (who is known as just Zainab) had grown out of the appointment-only business she was running from her Hollywood apartment. Yet the success of that salon-style environment—curated objects from Africa next to labels like Comme des Garçons, Martin Margiela, and Balmain, all of which could be viewed while sipping a cup of Mariages Frères tea—prompted her to retain the homey, private atmosphere when she opened Zainab at 7021 Melrose in Hollywood. Be warned: The storefront is barely visible as you drive by, but it’s definitely worth hitting the brakes for. Inside is a selection of mostly young up-and-comers like Jeremy Laing, Ohne Titel, Richard Nicoll, Jasmin Shokrian, and jeweler Alyssa Norton. On one wall there is a shoe alcove devoted to the shoe god Azzedine Alaïa, while an ancient African wooden sculpture nearby sets the tone for what Zainab calls the store’s “primitive modern” aesthetic, which she has perfected after her many years of globe-trotting.

Zainab came to Los Angeles by way of New York, Paris, London, and her native Sierra Leone. She left a job at Comme de Garçons in New York to be a buyer at H. Lorenzo in Beverly Hills—not to mention to be with her then-boyfriend. Now Zainab has established herself as a fully-fledged Angeleno, embracing the city, which reminds her more and more of her home: For her, it’s all to do with the landscape, with the Santa Monica Mountains’ meeting the Pacific recalling the geography of where she came from. When you visit the store, more than likely she’ll be the one to welcome you in before rattling off tales of her childhood, travels, and latest obsessions (Natalia Brilli’s cool black leather accessories, Tom Scott’s knits). The only downside? Having to find a parking spot on the corner near La Brea and Melrose. But that’s just a small price to pay.

—Lawren Howell

It all started with an unlikely barter between friends. “Would he do it for jewelry?” Solange Azagury-Partridge asked Tracy Lowy of having Lowy’s husband, Laurence Dunmore, direct a short film to showcase her new creations. “Yeah, ask him” was Lowy’s mischievous reply. Thus the lovely short film The Letter, starring Thandie Newton and Jason Isaacs, was born.

It tells the story of a beautiful woman (Newton) who decides to leave her husband for her lover, but not before packing up her jewelry (pieces from Solange’s new Stoned collection). Still, when she reaches to her lover, she decides she doesn’t need him either—only the jewels, namely a diamond engagement ring she left behind on the nightside table. 

“I wanted her to say, ‘I’m not staying with my husband; he’s stifling me. Then she runs to her lover, and thinks, But I don’t think I’m bothered about him, either, but I am bothered by that ring,” explains Azagury-Partridge, laughing. “It’s tongue-in-cheek, really.” With a sound track by Rob Dougan, an  original script by Azagury-Partridge’s husband, Murray Partridge, and styling by Charlotte Pilcher, the project was a family affair; hence the creation of Friends and Family Productions as the force behind the shoot. Says Azagury-Partridge of putting together the talent, “It was great being an old-fashioned producer and just letting them do their thing.”

The film debuts by invitation only on Monday at the Solange Azagury-Partridge store on Madison Avenue, with a special screening and party planned in London later this month, but you’ll have to wait until the holidays for the jewels (like this gorgeous ring above). They don’t arrive stateside until December.   

—By Stephanie LaCava

When it comes to fashion, the Internet has clearly taught us this: Women everywhere, but everywhere, love clothes, and they want to look good in them. And because we’re aware that it’s all too easy to be myopically challenged and look no farther than the streets—and stores—of New York, we’re going to check up on what women around the country just can’t get enough of right now. First up, the top-ten buys, in no particular order, from Forty Five Ten in Dallas (fortyfiveten.com). The store has always brilliantly walked the line between a Texan’s innate love of glamour and glitz and a kind of darkly rich Euro idea of dressing up. So Alexander McQueen’s bold-shouldered, big-drama cocktailiana, not to mention his gem-encrusted skull rings, is being snapped up, as are Stella McCartney’s faux-leather leggings, inspired by the ultra long boots that were such a major part of her fall 2009 runway show (left).

It’s a Buy It, Wear It, Enjoy It mentality, says store co-owner Brian Bolke. “Investment to our customers means they will wear it until they are sick of it,” he says. “They aren’t buying things that may still have the tag on it in a year. As long as it speaks to them . . . it sells. We love that people are responding to new names as well—Christian Cota, Sophie Theallet, Matthew Ames. They know they are the future of fashion, and they are willing to get their foot in the door.” And here’s what’s flying out the door. . . .
 
Givenchy Hombre bag in cream patent with large tassel, $1,540
Alexander McQueen gold “knuckle” ring with skull and gems, $550
Ippolita large rose silver hoops, $225
Nicholas Kirkwood for Pollini black satin peep-toe platform with rhinestone detail, $695
Golden Goose black leather ballet flat with studs, $550
Salvatore Ferragamo for Yohji Yamamoto by black-and-white lace-up, $620
Raven Kauffman black python-and-feather clutch, $1,615
Alexander McQueen “dripping lamé” strong-shoulder cocktail dress, $1,515
Azzedine Alaïa “mini panther” knit sheath, $2,715
Stella McCartney perforated black leatherette leggings, $895

—Mark Holgate

One of the loveliest outcomes of the inauguration of Barack Obama last January, and one of the most surprising, occurred Wednesday in the nation’s capitol, where Isabel Toledo staged a fashion show. Toledo, one of the fashion world’s rarest and most refined talents, has spent as much time putting models down catwalks for her eponymous label as Thomas Pynchon has doing interviews for Publishers Weekly. Yet, when Michelle Obama wore Toledo’s acid-yellow coat and dress in winter lace from the Swiss textile maker Forster Rohner last January 20, an idea was hatched and a campaign begun: the Swiss Embassy and Nordstrom’s (where Toledo’s clothes are sold in the D.C. area) would host a fashion show for clients, ambassadorial reception-goers, and the press, to champion the uncompromising genius of Isabel Toledo and the equally uncompromising beauty of Swiss lacework.

Nearly a year later, on November 4, 21 remarkable looks, all fashioned from Forster Rohner embroideries, were shown to gasps and applause (a Chanel-clad woman attempted to charge the set while shrieking, “Oh my God that skirt!” at a fit-and-flare number in pink taffeta and black-and-blush guipure). The set, though, was unreachable: a glass box of tiered staircasing entirely covered in black-and-white murals by Ruben Toledo of “deconstructed lace” (including cherry blossoms, butterflies, and one mysterious Isabel face). Ruben Toledo had painted it all freehand in a single night. His wife, meanwhile, had spent one month with an extraordinary array of laces—some heavy as armor, others shaggy like terry cloth—and “letting the fabrics inspire her.” There was a white tank that floated loose from the body like an exquisite doily over a peasant skirt of encrusted black-and-silver embroidery. There was a chic seventies-ish blouse of nude washed-silk with a waterfall of ruffles down the front of unsurpassed swagger paired with a neat narrow skirt of crème-and-pink lace. There were dresses for dancing; sculpted suits for the office (all lace, mind you, but lace sturdy as tweed); and one frock of gold-thread embroidery on net that radiated pretty as few frocks can do.

One only hopes that the Toledos will find a way to present her fall collection in New York next February. Fashion Week needs that sort of stage-barging drama and high design.

—Sally Singer

“The purpose of this book is to retrace and represent the multivalent aspects of Prada,” declare Miuccia Prada and Patrizio Bertelli in the introduction to Prada (Progetto Prada Arte), the newly published tome that charts the extraordinary pancultural reach of the company that Miuccia’s grandfather Mario Prada founded in 1913 as a purveyor of elegant luggage and jewels. Today, Prada and Bertelli can rightly declare that their company’s engagements run “from fashion to communication, from the pursuit of excellence to technological advancement, from architecture to art.”

“I like the irony in my work,” opines Miuccia Prada, and the book has the gravitas and sense of purpose of a company report rather than a classic coffee-table fashion monograph. And a company report is essentially what it is. Pradaphiles will be giddy at the miniaturized runway shots that chart every outfit shown since Miuccia brought (thoughtful, ironic, challenging) fashion to her family company with her fall-winter 1988 collection; at the two decades of iconic-image-making campaigns; and at the work-in-progress fittings shots that chart Miuccia’s creative fashion process. Continue reading ›

Hard to believe, I know, but the most radical thing that can be done to a shoe right now is . . . absolutely nothing. No zippers snaking everywhere. No buckles unless they are functional. And definitely no junked-up jeweling that looks like someone has gone berserk with a Bedazzler. That’s certainly what Gianvito Rossi, son of shoe scion Sergio Rossi, believes. “My idea has been to make shoes with as few ornamental effects as possible,” Rossi said this Tuesday at his presentation at the Crosby Street Hotel in New York’s SoHo. “It’s also about bringing the shoe back as an accessory—and not as an object that takes all the attention.”

If you haven’t heard of Rossi until you started reading this, then that’s because he hasn’t been making shoes that can be heard over the din of all those statement-making footwear that always looked like something Frankenstein’s monster would wear if he needed a little something for a night at the Jane. But that’s all about to change—and not just because he has been collaborating with New York wunderkind Joseph Altuzarra these past two seasons. Rossi’s shoes—ankle-length or knee-high lace-up summer boots in suede or stretch silk; elegant, understated kitten heel (yep, they’re back; thank you, Mrs. O) pointy pumps in a grosgrain called caneté—are some of the most convincing examples of spring’s tendency toward shoes that are simple, and simply chic. And while they’re not loud, it’s true, sometimes the easiest way to make a statement is to do it ever so very quietly. gianvitorossi.com.

—Mark Holgate

Tonight, Victoria Traina, Natasha Poly, and Alexander Wang are feting interior designer—and creative director of Tribeca boutique Edon Manor—Ryan Korban as he launches ryankorban.com. Anyone who’s visited Edon Manor or Wang’s lower Manhattan studio (left) has caught a glimpse of Korban’s work in person. But now you can see more of it on his site, including some of his residential designs (he did James Franco’s apartment and that of the late DJ AM). It’s the downtown girls and boys who inspire the 25-year-old. “Young, successful people don’t have many places to turn for decorating,” he says. “But design has so much potential to be youthful and exciting.” We asked Ryan to share some of his tricks and tips for creating a cool environment.
 
How would you describe your aesthetic?
European eighteenth-century infused with heavy metals, shine, and exotics to create environments that are less about a period and more about a fantasy. 
 
What’s your favorite find for small spaces? Do you have a go-to sofa, table, or bookcase, for example, that always does the trick?
The smaller the space, the more important it is to think outside the box and go tall. A trick that I always do is use a dining table with both love seats and chairs. I don’t like using a coffee table in a small space. A round dining table not only looks more interesting but functions as both a dining area and a coffee-table area. I go to Area iD on Elizabeth Street for small-scale sofas because they can custom-make anything you need. I also use settees or chaise longues for small spaces. Traditional European furniture works well because it is often very petite and looks amazing. Continue reading ›

I recently saw pictures of both Kirsten Dunst and Kate Moss wearing fitted little blazers over an evening gowns. It seemed like the pinnacle moment in an evolution I’ve been personally making with blazers.

For me, blazers have always been worn with pants. In my boarding school, a tailored jacket was required if you chose not to wear a skirt. And in my art-gallery-girl days I wore a Theory blazer over Joseph “jodhpur” pants—so nineties, I know! Nowadays, I rarely wear jeans without throwing my favorite Calvin Klein wool “riding” blazer on top.

But to go back a bit. . . . I think it was 2004 when I first noticed my friend Coco Brandolini wearing a velvet blazer over dresses and both knee-length and floor-length skirts. Not that this is such a novel idea. Women have been wearing tailored jackets with skirts for years but never in a way that was appealing to me. Somehow they always looked too much like a corporate suit. What I liked about Coco’s approach was that it was a bit bohemian, but in a clean, pared-down way. When I soon after discovered a picture of Michelle Phillips from 1970 wearing a soft dress with a structured blazer, I felt inspired. Slowly I started to try the look myself and kept an eye out for various options along the way. Continue reading ›

Growing up on a cattle farm in rural Utah might not have prepared Hannah for the fashion parade, but it did teach her one thing worth having on any list of party tricks: “I know how to drive a tractor,” she tells me. “It’s been a while, and it’s not quite like riding a bike, but it does come back.” Hannah, who might be best known for her platinum hair and barely there eyebrows, was scouted at a mall near her hometown when she was fifteen. “It wasn’t until about a year ago when I went to Australia and then got the Miu Miu campaign that my career really took off, though,” she says. Her style signature: Handmade stone and fossil rings from the café she once worked at back home. “The owner makes them,” she says. “I love that they remind me of where I come from.”
 
Age: Eighteen
Provenance: Leamington, Utah
What She’s Wearing:
Aje sequin-front dress. “It’s an Australian brand. They have the most amazing leather pieces,” Hannah confides.
Tights from Urban Outfitters.
Rick Owens jacket. “My favorite!”
Tory Burch black patent leather ankle boots.

—Jane Herman

In Venice Beach, California a pair of black pony-hair wedge Ann Demeulemeester boots anchors a lineup of equally fierce, statement-making footwear along the floor of Mona Moore, a factory-turned-boutique at 1112 Abbot Kinney Boulevard (monamoore.com). Out of place in this beach town bohemia? Surprisingly not. Scratch beneath the sunny veneer and you will find many well-traveled urbanites that know their Rick Owens from their Haider Ackermanns in this town. Lisa Dashiell Bush and Anna Maria Varriano chose to open the second outpost of their celebrated Montreal shoe store in Venice Beach for this very reason, and their location means they are in good company—the neighbors include A+R, Tortoise General Store, and LFrank. Driven by Bush’s love affair with Los Angeles and the Topanga Canyon home she and her husband, Scott Vineberg, built with local architecture phenomenon Barbara Bestor, the partners knew there were women on the west side of Los Angeles who shared a penchant for moody, European avant-garde designers just as much as canyon hikes and vegetable gardens.
 
With its tightly edited selection of runway favorites that also includes Dries Van Noten, Lanvin, Zoraide, Pierre Hardy, Phi, and the Los Angeles-based Parker Ochs, all presented on the industrial cement floor, one feels as if they have walked into the closet of an imaginary, smart and sexy, edgy and soulful, über-cool girl.  From fall, Phi’s buckled, platform creepers have been huge sellers since the store opened about a month ago, and customers have been making a pilgrimage to snap up exceptional hand-crafted boots from MA+, a small Milan artisanal leather craftsman that’s difficult to find over here. As for spring, Bush and Varriano are looking forward to getting in Ann D’s flat one-strap sandals, Phi’s hybrid sneaker/boot, and Rodarte’s flats for Repetto. The duo has also made some local accessory finds: Newbark, Maryam Malakpour’s line of black and metallic chic travel flats, Raven Kauffman’s extraordinary beaded and feathered evening clutches, and California-raised Taiana, whose wool scarves and wraps are naturally dyed then woven using antique techniques. Continue reading ›