Geplaatst : 24 oktober 2012 What a start! It s Opening brook brothers Ceremony A labor of love for g

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Geplaatst : 24 oktober 2012 What a start! It s Opening brook brothers Ceremony A labor of love for globetrotting duo Humberto Leon and Carol Lim whose concept stores are something of a fashion phenomenon albeit with a little help from their friends. Metro speaks to Humberto about the success and future of Opening Ceremony.
I feel like we want Opening Ceremony to be a place that you discover things. The shopping part is secondary, says co-founder Humberto brook brothers Leon of the brand s stores. It sounds like a bizarrely counter-intuitive business model: after all a shopper s experience, how ever positive, won t pay the bills. But the designer duo Humberto Leon and Carol Lim want to avoid the vulgarity of the bottom line and market value.
Indeed, brook brothers when pressed for a market value estimation brook brothers Leon coyly responds: I mean it s worth a lot of time and energy. I don t think there s a dollar amount, he says with a knowing laugh. Let s just put it this way, Leon and Lim invested $10,000 each and they acquired a matching brook brothers loan; they ve self-funded brook brothers all growth since Opening Ceremony was founded in September 2002.
Their approach to business is less concerned with aggressive brook brothers expansionism and more focused on growing organically but impressively with 4,000,000 unique visitors to the website: openingceremony.us brook brothers that launched in 2009. Not to mention their own Opening Ceremony label, which is sold in over 300 stores worldwide, plus branches in New York, LA and an 8-floor concept store in Tokyo, a blog and a Twitter following that exceeds 74,000.
It s a strategy and outlook that s draws in the right crowd : cool kids, artsy types and the fashion-savvy after young designer talent. Blogger and fashion personality Susie Lau (stylebubble.co.uk) puts it down to making high fashion approachable, friendly and aspirational brook brothers for a younger clientele there s a real connection between music, film, art and even food in their selection. It s clear the designers can truly read the fashion zeitgeist: from their business decisions, such as launching Alexander Wang to being the first to stock Havaianas flip-flops, Acne s coveted skinny jeans and Topshop in the US.
Even their latest store opening in London brook brothers goes against the grain by eschewing their hipster habitat in favor of Covent Garden. A location that Leon openly admits isn t the typical brook brothers choice for Opening Ceremony, however, brook brothers it s a strategy that the Berkeley College, California-educated designers employed when they first arrived in New York by setting up just outside SoHo. Clearly, the selection of shop location isn t completely whimsical. Their stores have a cult status like Dover Street Market in London, 10 Corso Como in Milan and Colette in Paris.
The duo, who met in 1993 while studying, are well aware that their shops are a tourist destination within themselves. Their stores offer access to exclusivity but within brook brothers the framework of an inclusive, Opening Ceremony community. Susie Bubble explains, The lifestyle appeal is particularly obvious at the Ace hotel in New York which feels more like a lifestyle store than a fashion boutique. Also, on a price point level, brook brothers they sell a lot of non-fashion trinkets [keyrings and pencils].
Community sounds cheesy but it s a scene that s had considerable support from the art house and avant-garde likes of actress Chloë Sevigny, the label Rodarte, actor and musician Jason Schwartzman and film director Spike Jonze. These are all artistic collaborators brook brothers who re not just commercial money-spinners brook brothers but rather muses and creatives who believe in the brand s ethos.
An brook brothers idea that s reiterated in the 36-year-olds plan for Kenzo (they ve only been at the label for two seasons), Kenzo Takada had a really strong community around brook brothers him like former French Vogue editor-in-chief Carine Roitfeld and model Jerry Hall. Leon continues: I want to tell a story of the brand, which in the Seventies sat alongside Yves Saint Laurent brook brothers and Karl Lagerfeld and we re trying to tell his story through our eyes and vision. A vision that editors and shoppers brook brothers are buying into, with the Kenzo label causing a considerable buzz: the house s embroidered tiger knit sweater selling out on website net-a-porter.com a resurgence unseen, since founder Kenzo Takada retired in 1999.
A great deal of that success and indeed Opening Ceremony s prosperity is down to the personality of Leon and Lim. The designer says, I feel like the Opening Ceremony DNA can be built into so many different things, even a small bed and breakfast-type hotel in some beach resort like Jamaica, Key West or Mexico. Travel is one of their key motivations, having previously visited Brazil, Argentina and most recently Korea, where Leon says: There s a K-pop phenomenon, TV is booming and you know that the fashion part is just around the corner we discovered things that ll look super-exceptional in our stores.
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