Four Takes Melrose
Summer heat finally hit Los Angeles, and Alternative Apparel’s tissue-thin burnout deep V-neck with pocket T-shirt is one of the top sellers at Four, a recently opened boutique at 8016 Melrose Ave. in Los Angeles.
The T-shirt, with a plunging V-neck, is so sheer that it seems like an easy fit for a hot summer day. It was meant to feel comfortable as a favorite bathrobe, according to Amber Rhea Allen, owner of Four, but also look as sexy as a well-worn pair of jeans. The burnout T-shirt retails for $38 and was selling well even during an unseasonably cool spell in July.
Men have been buying the Alternative Apparel burnout tee. Women have been buying a jumper by Mark + James collection by Badgley Mischka. The fuchsia jumper costs $245.
Novice retailer Allen opened the 800-square-foot store in April to one-stop shopping with four departments: “Celebration,” for special-occasion clothes; “Comfort,” for leisure fashions; “Success,” for business clothes; and “Spotlight,” for fashion-forward clothes.
The space Four moved into was formerly occupied by a photo lab, Allen said. In six weeks, she transformed the space from a lab with industrial uses to a loft with an industrial feel. Exposed HVAC pipes are featured on the shop’s ceiling. Concrete flooring provides ground cover. Allen said that the boutique’s top-selling non-apparel item was the leather holster bag by Los Angeles–based accessories label MBARQGO.—Andrew Asch
