IT’S NOT THE VIBE

“THESE DIFFERENT THINGS THAT WE’RE PASSIONATE ABOUT IS A REFLECTION OF WHO WE ARE AS PEOPLE AND WHAT IS IMPORTANT TO US.”

—HUMBERTO LEON

When Opening Ceremony first launched in 2002, the fashion world—and the world at large—had not yet been inundated by constant social media sharing, collection drops, and viral moments. Instead, the acts of connecting, finding new brands, and creating talked-about experiences happened in-person, and the lower Manhattan store founded by Carol Lim and Humberto Leon was where it all went down. It launched everyone from Hood by Air to Telfar and Luar, and encouraged a cross-pollination between cultural interests. Beyond its curiouslycool fashion collections and curation of other of-the-moment brands, OC became a hub for innovators and hype kids alike; a status that transcended its brick-and-mortar locations that popped up everywhere from L.A. to Tokyo before their permanent closure two years ago. While the brand remains a connective and creative force, it now operates in a vastly different landscape than when it was established. On the 20th anniversary of OC, fashion disrupters Lim and Leon revisit five unique social changes—or “vibe shifts”—over the last two decades and how each influenced their cultural incubator or was accelerated by it.

The Shift To Social Media

Carol Lim: When we first started Opening Ceremony, it was really this time of connecting, and going from analog to digital. You would hear people say, “Oh, are you on Friendster?” That was a really big moment. The initial phase felt really different and new and community-based—a precursor to everything that we know now. Back then, we didn’t even have digital cameras; all of the moments and culturally-defining experiences that happened in the store were really just there in our memories. With that came a lot of freedom, because people weren’t taking pictures of you to post online. It was a different way of interacting.

Designer Drops

Humberto Leon: We didn’t realize what we were creating at the time. Carol and I had limited funds back then, but we would go around the world to find these super unique creators. They could only make as much as we bought, so we would buy five or 10 pieces at a time. This is before the online shopping that we know of today. Shoppers would then come into the store and would be like, “Oh I tried this on, but I’m going to think about it after lunch and come back.” When they’d come back, a lot of times it would be all gone. People would be literally crying. It was this idea of exclusivity and limited-edition. That has existed through the years—and even before us—but there was a modernity to it in the early 2000s because it wasn’t used as a marketing tool. Along with that, it was kind of everyone’s secret; people didn’t want too many to know about it. Now, drops are sought-after because of the resale market, which has gotten so big that resellers make way more money than the brands do. In our early days, people were buying to wear, not to resell. It came from a much more organic place.

Collab Culture

HL: People have said that we are the king and queen of collaboration. We definitely don’t say it ourselves…but we did have the desire to use Opening Ceremony as a tool. It led Chloë Sevigny to Spike Jonze and Where the Wild Things Are. Opening Ceremony was the only place that you saw it all come to life in the most insane way. There were so many different ways that we would approach different things. Now, collaborations have a different meaning, and are driven by business and money and less by storytelling. It’s rarer to see them happening with more obscure artists or brands, which we were lucky to do with our platform. I loved it whenever we had to explain why we were collaborating. Those always came from personal interest, goals, or curiosities, and when it came to create something exciting we always trusted our guts. We would uninhibitedly do collaborations that we were excited about.

The Advent Of Streaming

CL: If you were getting CDs from Kim’s Video or another music store, you were limited to what you bought or shared with friends, but iTunes changed the game of how you would access different genres of music. All of a sudden everything was at your fingertips. It really exploded people’s exposure to what would normally have been segmented. It opened up a new kind of gateway.

HL: Music was such a defining thing for us at Opening Ceremony. One of the first events we had at the store was a concert with one of our favorite bands, Ride. And all these amazing musicians would come in and get dressed before they went on to whatever late night shows. Then we started to be that place to launch albums. Solange, Santigold, Rattata, etc.—all these people would come and sell [their] CDs in the little cashier area a month before the album came out.

The 2016 Us Election

HL: Carol and I have always used Opening Ceremony as a place to talk about politics and celebrate under-voiced communities and causes, whether it’s been LGBTQ, women’s rights, or indigenous groups. All these different things that we’re passionate about is a reflection of who we are as people and what has been important to us. Right before Trump’s election, we had done this runway show called Pageant of the People. We had Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein host, and interspersed between all the models were Natasha Lyonne, Rashida Jones, Ali Wong, Jessica Williams, Sarah McBride, and Rowan Blanchard—all these amazing women. Carrie got them to talk about all things that were happening. We also registered like 75 people to vote there, which felt huge at the time. I think that’s when the world started using politics in their business.

CL: His election forced brands to take a stand. Consumers were very much about calling out—whether that was good or bad. It’s the reality of this digital world we live in, but it was a shift to see everything that came out, who supported who, who made a donation. It’s good for brands to be held accountable, because people want to support people who hold similar values.