CONFEDERACY is Grungy Gentleman’s favorite store in LA!
When you step into CONFEDERACY, you will realize it is easily LA’s most rad clothing store! Instantly you will dig the vibe, love the shop itself, and obsess over the amazing product they carry. The owners and employees embody the brand’s super-cool image. And it doesn’t stop there. It is not often when a clothing store could be considered a hotspot. But who cares? LA never plays by the rules! And CONFEDERACY is certainly a hotspot.
Grungy Gentleman sits down with Ilaria Urbinati, to discuss LA’s coolest store, Confederacy…
[Co-Owner, Ilaria Urbinati of CONFEDERACY]
Grungy Gentleman: What is one thing everybody should know about CONFEDERACY?
Ilaria Urbinati: That we have free valet, haha. Seriously though, there's no parking otherwise.
GG: How did the store come about and how has it evolved?
IU: I used to be a buyer for my aunt's store on Sunset Plaza, when I was just a kid. Then I worked for this store Satine, which was really successful and then for Milk, which has also been really popular. By the time I made it to Milk, Danny (Masterson) - one of my best friends since forever and now my business partner, came to visit me at work one day. He told me "you should stop working for everybody else and have your own store. Let's open our own store." For about 6 months I was like, yeah right. And then suddenly one day I called him up and was like "ok, are we gonna do this thing or what?" So we got our other partner, Aly involved and 6 months later we had a store. Originally it was just going to be this little hole in the wall women's boutique, but Danny and I were having lunch one day and I remember saying, "I think that we should have menswear too. And lots of accessories, beauty products, books, and a cafe." He was just like, "oh I see, you want your own emporium," and I grinned as wide as Tennessee. And that's how we ended up with a 5,000 square foot store! The cafe hasn't happened yet...we've been talking it up forever, but one of these days! At this point, it’s become our pipe dream.
[Co-Owners, Ilaria Urbinati & Danny Masterson of CONFEDERACY]
GG: How does the CONFEDERACY brand fit the LA vibe?
IU: Well, in a way we don't fit the LA vibe and I feel that's a good thing. Because LA can be such a t-shirts and sweats culture. We're proud to cater to that customer, who cares about good clothes and appreciates good tailoring; something a little more special. That said, I do try and keep the relaxed state of mind that is LA, by buying less fussy clothes. Clothes you can live in.
GG: CONFEDERACY carries some of Grungy Gentleman's favorite lines…Band of Outsiders, Rag & Bone, Michael Bastian, Robert Geller, Gant Rugger, Shipley & Halmos, Simon Spurr. How do you choose which lines meet your aesthetic?
IU: Aw man, that's like asking me which of my children I like best! Hopefully I don't carry any lines that I DON'T feel represent the store's aesthetic. But I definitely have an attachment to certain lines like Rag & Bone because they were basically our first line and they designed our staff uniforms! Simon Spurr because the line has grown such an overwhelming amount - both in size, but also aesthetically and sartorially. And I love Simon! He is designing my fiancée’s wedding suit! Also Michael Bastian because not too many people carry his line and I feel that Michael really likes to tell a story within his collection. But oh I mean I could go all day – Robert Geller, forget it! He's amazing and what he is doing is so different from everything else we carry. That makes me happy because I have a specific point of view but I also like to cover a lot of ground. And again, I really like Robert, he's a golden retriever. Shipley & Halmos and Gant Rugger are our best sellers. It’s nice to find something that is affordable but still feels so special and rad!
GG: What are your favorite men's lines?
IU: See above! haha... There are other lines I love that we don’t even carry. I love Burberry Prorsum - its so dandy but with this I-could-kick-your-ass-in-my-dandy clothes way. And I loved Hedi Slimane's Dior - even so many years later, it still resonates as the most exemplary of how a guy ought to dress. He had such a giant influence. And RRL, which we're actually finally going to be carrying starting this fall. Ralph Lauren is my hero! I want to live inside a Ralph Lauren coffee table book. And of course Martin Margiela - if nothing else because no one has mastered the art of subtle branding the way he has. I mean every time I see that little white stitch on the back of a man's sweater or coat, I just can't help but go up to him. It’s like you're in on this little fashion secret.
GG: What pieces from your store that every man should have in his closet?
IU: Definitely a Kelly Cole 1950's deadstock t-shirt. They are the perfect Brando-style fitting t-shirt. Snug in the shoulder and not too long in the torso. It's amazing how Kelly manages to find us that many shirts! We literally cannot keep them in stock. Not just the white ones, all the colored pocket ones too. Every time I see some paparazzi photo somewhere, of one of the guys I style, like hanging out on their off time, they're almost always wearing one of Kelly's t-shirts that I got them. And they always come back for more; they fight over them. Also, the Patrik Ervell "Winter Jean" that he does every season. Can’t forget about his amazing shawl collar sweater he always does too. I order both every season in new colors - they flatter every guy.
[Patrik Ervell "Winter Jean"]
GG: Your dressing rooms are so dope. Tell everybody about the telephone concept inside them...
IU: My friend (Bare jewelry designer, Jeet Sohal) and I were sitting like nerds hanging out in the library one day. We were studying, the store hadn't opened yet, and we were like "isn’t it so annoying how you always have to get redressed to come out of your dressing room to get another size? How cool would it be if you could just telephone the sales person?" Haha - we sounded like idiots, like something out of Bill & Ted's, but that’s how the whole phone booth/dressing room idea came about. And oddly enough, when I was researching vintage booths, I ended up going with this one booth I saw in a photo from the Telephone Museum in Lincoln, Nebraska, of all places. Then a couple of weeks after we had them built, Danny and I went to the premiere of his movie, Yes Man. The Jim Carey and Zooey Deschanel characters randomly go to Lincoln, Nebraska and visit the Telephone Museum! I started hollering to Danny in the middle of the premiere going, "Hey! Look! Those are our telephone booths!" and he's all hunching down in his seat going "Sssssshhhhhh." Haha very serendipitous indeed.
GG: What is your favorite CONFEDERACY moment and/or story?
IU: I was pretty excited last week when Jim Nelson, the editor in chief of GQ, came in to the store. I remember reading GQ when I was younger and dreaming of all the cool men's lines I would put on people, before I was even styling or had a store. GQ was just like my bible. So that’s pretty neat! They've been very good to us. It’s nice that they appreciate what we're doing. And all our parties are memorable. It's kind of rad that our parties have gained this great reputation. People always say they love our parties because they're not pretentious, bullshit fashion parties. It's like a lot of really well-dressed, really good-looking people, getting really, really drunk haha. The best was when we were doing a GQ party hosted by Bradley Cooper and the cops came to break it up. I counted 8 of them! It was so ridiculous, like really??? You have nowhere else you need to be right now? No crime anywhere, no? I almost got into a fight with one of them but my boyfriend held me back. I'm Italian, so I can be a little volatile. The last Shipley & Halmos party was fun too! I couldn't get anybody to leave, so I invented a fake after party at La Poubelle to get everyone out - everybody actually went there and that was really fun too!
GG: Are there any new collaborations we should know about?
IU: I am working on two really exciting collaborations with two of my celebrity clients. But I can't talk about them yet! We also have an amazing Calvin Klein collaboration; the re-launch of the iconic white Calvin Klein dress that Alicia Silverstone wore in Clueless. And we're doing a special-edition shoe collaboration with Keds. Which is awesome because I live in Keds! I like to pretend I am Liv Tyler running through Tuscany fields in Stealing Beauty. And we did a collaboration of tie bar sets with Gentry.
GG: What can we expect next from CONFEDERACY?
IU: A lot more collaborations, limited editions, and generally special items that you cannot find anywhere else. And hopefully the cafe!
[Albert Hammond Jr. for CONFEDERACY]
4661 Hollywood Blvd, Los Angeles, LA 90027, 323.913.3040
10 comments:
loveeee confederacy!!!!
i went to this store and it is legit!
GQ is definitely the bible
the red canvas bag in the 5th photo next to the rackets - is that Filson? its TIGHT.
its woolrich!
i want to go
CONFEDERACY RULES!
do they carry gant by michael bastian?
Confederacy is definitely the best store in Los Angeles. It makes me proud to be an Angeleno
One of the most impressive good examples is the Tiffany rings Sarah once was wearing during a very get together or something like that. Almost the following day, mainly because the picture of Sarah with the Tiffany necklaces bracelet became a particular of the statements in papers.Many people, primarily women of all ages were hoping to find the bracelet and joined the stores of silver necklaces to ask for assist.
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