Cult Collections: Why everyone is talking about the other Opening Ceremony

For those who are more interested in catwalks than track sports, there’s only one Opening Ceremony that matters this summer, and it’s not in Stratford next Friday, but Covent Garden today. The New York concept store that shares its name with Danny Boyle’s Olympics epic is setting up a pop-up at 31 King Street, before settling into a more permanent home at No 35 in September.

It’s the most exciting addition to the London shopping scene since Dover Street Market. Opening Ceremony has had New York, LA and Tokyo’s most stylish citizens begging for more since the first branch opened in Manhattan in 2002. For those who know their Chloë Sevigny from their Norma Kamali, their Delfina Delettrez from their Band of Outsiders, a reverence for its eclectic art-installation-meets-department-store approach is little short of cultish. Rihanna, Josh Hartnett, Spike Jonze, Daniel Radcliffe, Nicki Minaj and the Olsen twins are all loyal disciples.

‘There’s no real secret to the success,’ says 36-year-old Humberto Leon, ex-Burberry bigwig and Opening Ceremony’s creative director and co-founder, with old college pal Carol Lim (who describes his style as ‘late-Nineties successful internet guy — the guy who wore New Balance sneakers with anything he wanted’). ‘We’re just interested in bringing something new to the customer, to give them something to discover, and to do that we’re ready to press the “refresh” button every six months and look anew at the whole store and the brands, which is a real no-no in classic retail.’

It is just this that has made Opening Ceremony a fashion industry player — not its successful own-label clothing line, not its online TV channel nor its forthcoming magazine, but its readiness to invest in new, local designers right out of college and to do so deeply, giving each year a focus on the fresh talents of a specific country; Argentina, Sweden and Hong Kong are among those that have received the OC nod to date. While other buyers do an EMI and turn down The Beatles, Opening Ceremony takes punts on new talent that, more often than not, pay off. Such is the company’s influence that merely by selecting a designer some longevity is almost guaranteed. So you can expect to hear much more of Christopher Shannon or Shaun Sansom, just two of the many British-based brands that will be in the new store.

It has also been ready to buy into old but overlooked clothing manufacturers, taking a collaborative approach with the likes of Pendleton wool wear, for example, updating its product design for a more contemporary customer, an attitude that has arguably inspired similar moves by the likes of retail giants Asos and Topshop. Meanwhile, collaborations with labels including Rodarte, Levi’s, and even Disney, have brought Opening Ceremony to yet more customers. It will be launching its latest collab-orative collections, with Adidas, Chloë Sevigny and Topshop, in London, as well as a number of Olympics-inspired products (we can safely assume that Wenlock and Mandeville are not invited).

‘We carried those kinds of “forgotten” brands when even they thought it was strange that we were interested,’ says Leon. ‘Both Carol and I are children of the American suburbs and that’s reflected in what interests us. In the suburbs, whether New York or London, kids have limited means and access to what’s going on, so tend to have their own ideas and there’s more time for ideas to sink in and personal opinions to form. Or at least that’s what used to happen before the internet,’ he adds.

Opening Ceremony has something of a track record opening in what Leon calls ‘off’ areas where rents are cheaper — and, of course, these areas, in part thanks to its presence, rapidly get turned ‘on’. It’s good news for Covent Garden, which, thanks to the recent arrival of brands such as Rugby Ralph Lauren, Burberry Brit and even Apple, has gradually been recovering some of its early 1990s glory, having lost its reputation as a fashion retail magnet to the likes of Mayfair and Shoreditch.

But Leon will be heading east to Stratford as soon as he’s settled in on the Piazza. There’s that other big show happening there next week. ‘It’s great to be opening in London and with the Olympics on it seemed like the ideal time,’ he says. ‘We’re going to the opening ceremony, actually.’ However did he manage to get tickets? He looks sheepish. ‘I’m not sure,’ he says, ‘but I think the company name helped.’