Opening Ceremony kicked off the year with some bittersweet news: It was planning on closing all of its boutiques "sometime in 2020" to focus on its in-house line. Now, its stylish supporters won't have a chance to give the pioneering concept retailer a fashionable final send-off after all, as the brand has announced that its Los Angeles and New York boutiques have shuttered for good.
In an email and Instagram note sent to customers this morning, co-founders Humberto Leon and Carol Lim revealed that Opening Ceremony's two remaining U.S. stores wouldn't reopen following their temporary closures on March 15; the Tokyo outpost said sayonara in January. "We had the best-laid plans to celebrate with you in our stores. To reminisce, hug you, and have one last hurrah. We were going to set up a karaoke machine and ask you to sing a song with us. Make you a drink and give you some snacks," the duo wrote in the announcement.
Lim and Leon continue: "We were going to work in the stores for our last month so that we could thank you and hang out the way we did in 2002 when we first opened. But while that is not in the cards, the feelings of gratefulness and love are still there."
The good news? As Women's Wear Daily previously reported, Opening Ceremony's in-house collection will live on under its partnership with New Guard Group. Per OC's announcement, its online store will remain open until Wednesday, June 10 and gift cards will be accepted until then.
Raised in Southern California, Lim and Leon met as students at UC Berkeley and went on to work in the fashion industry. In 2002, they debuted their Olympics-inspired boutique in New York as a hobby, with the expectation that they'd stay put at their day jobs. (Michael Stipe was their first customer, according to the L.A. Times.) Instead, Opening Ceremony morphed into an influential haven that championed the world's coolest labels and under-the-radar designers. Per The Cut, the duo went on to collaborate with the likes of Nike, Rodarte, Chloë Sevigny, Spike Jonze, and many others.
In 2007, the duo opened OC's first L.A. store in Charlie Chaplin's former dance studio in West Hollywood. The brand debuted its first international outpost in Tokyo's Shibuya district in 2009 (it later relocated to Omotesando) and arrived in London's Covent Garden in 2012 (that location closed in 2018.) Throughout all of that, they led iconic label Kenzo as creative directors from 2011 to 2019, according to Vogue.
Read Lim and Leon's full letter below. The brand is currently offering 30% off storewide with code TORCHPASS30 — shop while you still can (and stock up on commemorative merch) online here, and share your fondest memories of your OC shopping sprees in the comments.
Opening Ceremony, 451 North La Cienega Blvd., West Hollywood, 90048
