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Class Trade Show founder Jason Bates

Business and a lot of partying once was the credo of many fashion trade shows.

Nordstrom Glitz from the retailer's Newport Beach store

Retailing west of the 405 Freeway just got a lot more fabulous.
 
Nordstrom opened its first full-line store west of the 405 Freeway on Aug. 27 when it debuted its location at the Santa Monica Place shopping center. The center opened Aug. 6 and offers stores such as Bloomingdale’s, Kitson and Barney’s Co-op.
 

STAY GOLD: Steve Valentine, pictured left, and dance coach Robert Tristan take the Gold in Gay Games' Latin Dancing

Los Angeles design can make you a winner, just ask Steve Valentine and the guys of the L.A. Eclipse soccer team.
 

Laura Abeyta, second from right, celebrates with band Downtown Train in front of new store Vanity Room

When the economy got really tough in 2009, entrepreneur Laura Abeyta closed her boutique (H)armonie on Los Angeles’ Abbott Kinney Boulevard.

James Perse's Hollywood store debuted the weekend of Aug. 14.

The gritty corner of North Highland Avenue and Santa Monica Boulevard in Los Angeles’ Hollywood section is just beginning to revitalize. However, high-quality basics and ready-to-wear label James Perse opened an 8,000-square-foot compound at 1128 N. Highland Ave. on the weekend of Aug. 14.
 

Luxury Loves Company's graffiti tote

Once a symbol of urban blight, graffiti is increasingly considered high fashion by some luxury designers.
 
The celebrated New York label Proenza Schouler recently debuted its graffiti-print jeans, which are part of its Fall 2010 collection. The graffiti jeans are sold at upper-crust retailers such as Bergdorf Goodman.
 

Yep, this is a dressing room

Bloomingdale’s promised it would create something completely different for its new store at Santa Monica Place retail center.
 
When the store opens Aug. 6 a few blocks away from the beach, the Santa Monica, Calif., Bloomie's will offer a feast for the eyes. I went on a tour of this Bloomie's Tuesday morning, and I saw wild design features.

LASC designed the uniform for the Eclipse soccer team

What World Cup? West Hollywood boutique LASC suited up for the Gay Games VIII, which will be held in Cologne, Germany, in August.
 

Sign at Crooks & Castles' former Melrose Heights store

In 2008, the Melrose Heights section of Melrose Avenue seemed to be ready to take its place as one of top retail strips in Los Angeles. But the street’s fortunes changed drastically after the Wall Street meltdown of 2008.
 

The new look of South Coast Plaza's Banana Republic's women's shop

Banana Republic must be telling its customers to focus, focus, focus with a new look for its women's shop. It was unveiled last week at the South Coast Plaza retail center in Costa Mesa, Calif.