Don't be intimidated by the uber-chicness of avant-garde fashionista favorite Opening Ceremony. The sales associates, while impossibly hip, are friendly and will mostly leave you alone to browse if that's what you desire. The store — actually several stores within a store — is a surprisingly inviting place, sprawling but not scarily minimalist, with unusual jewelry in tiny glass vitrines and clothes, shoes and bags displayed in cozy warrens designed for wandering. It's as if some It Couple's very stylish, very cutting-edge wardrobe got out of control and took over their entire apartment building. That wardrobe consists of dresses by Tsumori Chisato, tiny little Acne jeans, Alexander Wang cardigans, Comme des Garçons leather wallets, Boy by Band of Outsiders blazers, drapey Hussein Chalayan contraptions, and hand-knit Rodarte skirts. Opening Ceremony caters to all levels of fashion forwardness — novice, intermediate, and supersnob — and is a requisite stop on your way to true label whoredom. 451 N. La Cienega Blvd., L.A. (310) 652-1120, openingceremony.us.

—Gendy Alimurung

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