The impact that Instagram has made on the fashion industry, and the rise of the ‘influencer’ is no surprise — as mannequins pile up on landfills, those who’re flogging the goods continue to seek real-life alternatives, in real-life (well, almost) situations. Because lions look better in the Serengeti. Right Mr Palmer?
It’s not just clothes that have more appeal on the backs of real people in real situations — glossy interiors magazines have been carefully styling design objects into ‘real home’ situations for decades; but design stores have traditionally had the same problem as fashion stores … excess stock, layouts catering to flow of human traffic over beautification … which is why retailers like The Line have gone back to the drawing board.
Back on the first day of 2015, we featured The Loft by Amsterdam lifestyle brand The Playing Circle, and Los Angeles’ The Apartment by The Line — coming off the back of a similar venture in New York — plays the same hand. Trumping the traditional store, trumping even a fancy showroom, design brand The Line put their vision into the real world, with an appointment-only apartment where you can be among their curated objects in an evocative space.
Vanessa Traina Snow (co-founder and executive creative director) and Melanie Glass (creative director) may have started in an online realm with The Line pulling together fashion and beauty products alongside home interiors, but their dual-coast foray into the physical space shows their vision transcends the restraints of both digital and traditional retail outlets. Knock on at 8463 Melrose Place, and prepare to be spellbound.
