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As a longtime wedding dress designer, Elizabeth Dye found she was often dressing the same couples as menswear designer Duchess Clothier. This month, they decided to make it formal with the opening of their new showroom in the heart of San Francisco’s Mission District.

“I have been talking informally with Duchess about collaborating for years,” Dye said. “We end up dressing a lot of the same weddings – we seem to attract the same couples!”

Maureen Clavin

Maureen Clavin knew high end vintage retail back when it was called “resale.” Some of those memories were on display on June 23, when she threw a party for the 25th anniversary of her AdDress Boutique on 1116 Wilshire Blvd., in Santa Monica, Calif.

Greta , center, with Tanya Newbould, right, and Roger Leguay, Greta's boyfriend of 37 years.

Fashion is proud of being fickle, and infamous for a short shelf life, but Greta Feigler who goes by her first name holds a marathon record in Los Angeles fashion. She has run the Greta boutique in Beverly Hills for 50 years.

Eden Boutique in The Gaslamp Quarter of San Diego. Photo credit Alan Hall.

The Great Recession hit downtown San Diego’s fashion scene hard. Many boutiques shuttered in an area that has been long popular with people visiting the San Diego Convention Center, as well as tourists carousing at the neighborhood’s popular bar and nightclub strip The Gaslamp Quarter.

Bright pink sign of Melrose Avenue's Vivienne Westwood boutique

Call us impatient.

More than one year ago, January 2010 to be exact, fashion icon Vivienne Westwood confirmed she would debut a boutique at 8320 Melrose Ave at the corner of Flores Street in Los Angeles. Then nothing happened. No building construction. Barely a sign of life.

Southern California storms on the week of Jan 22 hurt business at fashion boutiques.

It hailed in Santa Monica on Jan 22. There were tornado-force winds in Long Beach a day earlier. By the time the week ended, storms dropped around 6 inches of rain in some parts of Los Angeles. It all added up to awful business for retailers running stand-alone boutiques and those selling fashion by the beach.

In just five short years, tokidoki creative director Simone Legno took his admiration for Japanese pop culture to create artwork that soon transformed into a popular lifestyle brand, with its adorable characters harnessing a tough edge—often shown touting skulls, lowriders, guns and sunglasses.

Avedon's Reza Shekarchian, left, and Yasmine Farmanara in a 2007 photo

Most fashionistas love a little shopping and pampering with their party. Online shop Catch Boutique (www.catchboutique.com) tapped into that predilection with a fashion-filled soiree for the launch of its new e-tail site at The Mark event space in West Los Angeles.