Read more: Inside Dover Street Market's Luxury Fashion and Streetwear Wonderland in DTLA
The Arts District is getting even more fashion street cred. International style haven Dover Street Market is opening its first-ever West Coast outpost this fall, bringing Comme des Garçons designer Rei Kawakubo's insanely cool concept department store to Downtown.
Founded by Kawakubo and her husband, Adrian Joffe, the luxury designer retailer was expected to unveil its 10,000-square-foot DTLA digs in March, as Women's Wear Daily originally reported. However, Dover Street Market vice president Dicken Bowden told Vanity Fair earlier this month that "in true style, we have gone from taking over one 10,000-square-foot building — to three."
So far, we know that DSM will span 20,000 bad vibe-free square feet of a former warehouse on Imperial Street, just around the corner from the intersection of 6th and Mateo Streets. Unlike the designer retailer's other multi-floor stores, the Downtown shop will span one single ground floor, which will be designed by Kawakubo, Joffe told WWD. "It's going to look different" than the luxury department chain's other spaces and will introduce a "new version" of DSM; Kawakubo told the industry trade publication that the interiors will be inspired by "beautiful chaos."
Known for stocking a mix of streetwear and cult-favorite luxury labels in inventive spaces (like a former army barracks), expect DSMLA to offer Kawakubo's women's and men's CDG collections (including Play) alongside fellow avant-garde designers like Ann Demeulemeester, Eckhaus Latta, Maison Margiela, Rick Owens, Junya Watanabe, Vetements, Raf Simons, and plenty more innovative talents alongside European fashion houses like Balenciaga, Fendi, Gucci, Prada, and many others.
As Vanity Fair noted, it'll also feature a unique selection of jewelry designers known for their inventive accoutrements, like LA's own Sophie Buhai (formerly of Vena Cava), Maor Cohen, and Suzanne Kalan, to name a few. No word yet on whether DSMLA will also house Rose Bakery, which has locations in the retailer's London, NYC, and Tokyo shops.
The first Dover Street Market opened in 2004 in London's Mayfair neighborhood (it has since relocated to Haymarket), followed by stores in New York and Tokyo's Ginza district, and more recently in Beijing and Singapore.
Excited? DSMLA is also looking to staff their chic space; check out their current job openings here and stay tuned for more on the retailer's City of Angels debut.
Dover Street Market LA
608 Imperial St., Los Angeles, CA 90021
