Jeff Rudes and his companions began L’Agence in 2008 with the thought of making a recent womenswear assortment that had the glamour of Paris with the cool vibe of California.
Through the years, the label has grown to incorporate every thing from eveningwear and daywear to weekend clothes, enterprise apparel and extra. Lately, swimwear, footwear, belts and candles have been added to spherical out the choice present in 4 L’Agence shops and 300 wholesale accounts.
Regardless that L’Agence has supplied denim since 2018, Rudes, the corporate’s chairman and artistic director, felt there was a have to dig deeper. In spite of everything, denim is in his blood. He based J Model denims in late 2004 and bought 80 p.c of the Los Angeles denims firm in late 2012 for practically $300 million to Quick Retailing Co., the Japanese mum or dad firm of Uniqlo.
And denim is on-trend as soon as once more, with practically each luxurious model exhibiting it on the runway from Balmain to Schiaparelli, and early 2000s nostalgia at the moment fueling the return of low-rise, saggy and bedazzled denims, denim-on-denim seems to be and extra.
So, after a 12 months of strategizing, Rudes has opened a brand new retail idea known as L’Agence Jean Bar. The primary jean bar opened Friday, taking on L’Agence’s first retail outpost on Melrose Place in West Hollywood.
Contained in the 1,100-square-foot area, there may be not a single silk gown, jersey cardigan or wide-leg trouser in sight. As a substitute, there’s a curated row of denims in numerous silhouettes and washes, neatly hanging on a metallic set up within the retailer’s middle. Denims are additionally displayed on the wall like conceptual artwork. Additionally out there are denim shirts, jackets and skirts.
Clients can are available in, inform a stylist what sort of denims they need after which have that knowledge entered into an iPad. Up pops quite a few options for denims that begin at $245 and are made in Los Angeles. Or clients can simply browse the denims displayed and resolve what they need to strive on.
The outside of the L’Agence Jean Bar in West Hollywood. Photograph by Josh Cho.
Denims bars are nothing new, however they have been extra prolific within the Sixties when Fred Segal, the legendary Los Angeles retailer, launched Pants America, his tiny retailer on Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood that specialised in blue denims. He stored that idea however expanded into an even bigger venue, including California modern merchandise and altering the shop title to Fred Segal. The placement turned well-known worldwide and was an integral a part of a fashionista’s Southern California go to. (Two years in the past, Fred Segal relaunched its Unique Jean Bar, beginning with its West Hollywood flagship.)
“Shops which have a denim atmosphere don’t exist anymore,” Rudes stated, saying he has traveled all over the world and doesn’t see jean bars like earlier than. “Let’s return 15 years in the past, when Barneys New York did the very best job of making a denim atmosphere. While you went in, you have been within the denims atmosphere, and also you have been there to buy denims. You knew you have been going to spend time making an attempt on denims. It was an incredible expertise, and also you left with a purchase order that you simply beloved.”
Rudes is aware of rather a lot about Barneys New York’s denim atmosphere as a result of he bought many, many J Model denims to the division retailer chain that closed all its shops in 2020 and bought its mental rights to Genuine Manufacturers Group. However the thought of a denim area devoted to at least one product by no means left him.
Additionally, L’Agence’s denim enterprise began exploding final 12 months, he stated, and now accounts for 40 to 45 p.c of revenues, which he declined to reveal. Rudes desires to lift that to 50 p.c of revenues by mid-2025 by offering a buyer devoted service with an in-house denim specialist.
L’Agence Vogue Director Tara Rudes-Dann stated the jean bar creates an area for a lady to return in to choose the wash and silhouette she desires. “Our buyer is a chameleon. In the future she desires a cargo pant, then the subsequent day she wears a large leg,” stated Rudes-Dann, the niece of Jeff Rudes.
Denim choice are exhausting to foretell, she famous, as a result of even with all the brand new pant silhouettes on the market, the L’Agence slim denims are nonetheless among the many model’s bestsellers.
The dressing rooms on the jean bar. Photograph by Josh Cho.
On the jean bar, the shoppers’ expertise continues within the dressing rooms the place they’ll spend time making an attempt on denims and dealing with the in-house stylist. Every dressing room, shrouded in darkish blue curtains, has a pair L’Agence’s kitten-heel mules to strive on with the denims to get the total look.
Whereas denims and different denim merchandise are the one factor on the shop’s menu, clients can have a stylist flip by way of the iPad to show L’Agence merchandise that might both be paired with denims or worn individually. It may be delivered the subsequent day or picked up within the close by Beverly Hills retailer.
Rudes envisions organising scores of jean bars across the nation, outnumbering L’Agence shops. At present, there are 4 L’Agence shops in Beverly Hills and Malibu in California, a Madison Avenue retailer in New York Metropolis whose measurement shall be tripled, and a lately opened Paris retailer within the Marais district. An outpost in Seoul shall be unveiled later this 12 months in addition to a Vogue Island location in Newport Seashore, Calif.
“I might say for each L’Agence retailer we open, we might open 10 jean bars as a result of they’re comparatively small,” Rudes stated. “We wouldn’t open a L’Agence retailer in Austin, Texas, however we might open a jean bar. We’d not open a L’Agence retailer in Nashville, however we might open a jean bar.”
Rudes stated opening a denim-centric retailer is way much less precarious than opening a bigger location with varied merchandise. “Ladies love their denims,” he famous. “I might say there may be not quite a lot of danger so long as we’ve got the cachet and repute of getting the most effective denims round.”
