Following his Los Angeles-inspired spring/summer 2019 runway show and collection, John Elliott continue to pay homage to his sunny home city. The designer quietly debuted his first stand-alone store Tuesday on Melrose Avenue, where streetwear labels A Bathing Ape and Palace have also landed within the last few weeks.
Elliott’s luxury streetwear line is a favorite among athletes including LeBron James (a longtime fan of the brand and with whom Elliott teamed for last year’s Nike collaboration), Kevin Love and Ben Simmons as well as Justin Bieber (who just wore the brand’s tie-dye basketball shorts at Coachella) and his wife, Hailey, Kanye West (who attended Elliott’s first New York Fashion Week show in 2015) and Whoopi Goldberg.
Taking cues from Tokyo as well as the brutalist architecture of UC San Diego’s Geisel Library and the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, the designer covered the 3,500-square-foot store’s exterior with Japanese matte white tiling and added industrial steel, acrylic and concrete fixtures to the already minimalist interiors. (The store was previously occupied by Helmut Lang.) “The interior lighting mimics natural daylight temperatures, an intentional design feature that aims to bring the California sunshine inside,” Elliott says.
The idea to open a retail space had been brewing since last year and “finding this location [in December] is really what solidified our intentions,” says Elliott. “I live less than a mile away, so I’ve frequented the area for years, not only due to my proximity, but also the institution that is Maxfield.”
