H. Lorenzo
With over 25 years of fashion retailing under his belt, Lorenzo Hadar is hardly a newcomer in the scene. The H. Lorenzo boutiques on West Hollywood’s Sunset Boulevard have been staples in the area’s retail market for a lengthy time, but the story behind them remains relatively unknown.
While many stores have come and gone in the past three decades, Hadar has continuously focused on seeking out unique and progressive designers to introduce to the North American market. Starting his career from scratch, he has created a highly influential group of boutiques, now compromising of men’s and women’s stores and a shoe store on Sunset and H.L.N.R, a new location opened in 2008. The original boutiques combine designers both established and new, ranging from Comme des Garcons and Ann Demeulemeester to Boris Bidjan Saberi and Individual Sentiments. The solar panel clad H.L.N.R, named for its location on North Robertson close to Beverly Hills, shifts focus slightly more towards emerging labels from Europe and Japan.
Hadar spoke to Scoute about the history, influences and vision of his own retail world.
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Getting into retailing
“I’m from a small town in northern Israel. I worked several jobs before I really got into fashion as a career. I served in the Air Force, and when I came to America, I worked as a handyman in construction just to get by. I slowly started saving money with my wife. I always loved fashion, and so as soon as I saved enough, I started a small fashion store in Los Angeles. It wasn’t luxury items per se, rather small and inexpensive, but it was about importing things that people hadn’t seen before. Back then, nearly 30 years ago, it seemed that people responded well to being shown a departure from the norm. It was a big success for us but it was on a small scale.
A few years later I had saved enough to start my own boutique, H. Lorenzo, where I was able to carry designers I found to be creative, influential, and doing something progressive. I find creativity most prevalent in designers who value quality, craftsmanship, and innovation instead of commercial expansion. So that’s how I got into fashion as a career. For my personal interest in fashion…
I opened H. Lorenzo in 1984, catering to both men and women. We met success and learned how to balance what our clients could relate to and pushing new things forward. In 2001, I dedicated the original H.Lorenzo location to womenswear and opened a separate menswear and shoe store on the same block. By then, we had gained our clients’ trust to which was needed to buy lines that were more forward thinking and more avant-garde. I remember some customers laughing at drop-crotch pants years back, for example. But we had the opportunity to do daring things. I opened H.L.N.R. (H.Lorenzo North Robertson), a somewhat more youthful boutique, in 2008. I have plans for redoing the shoe store into something entirely different. I’ve been doing this for over 25 years, but I must say it’s still just as exciting.
Design and creativity
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I like design and the arts in general; I draw, I love music. I like seeing the imprint of creativity in a finished product. I like design when you can see the soul. I was always interested in fashion; it was something that was instinctual for me. I buy on impulse; I buy what I think is beautiful, and maybe that reflects how I relate to clothing. Fashion is a unique mode of expression because clothing is essential, the proposition of style is an intrinsic question to everyday life; how do I make my mark? We have an impulse, a gravitas towards beautiful things. Fashion to me is not something that is really learned, it’s more from the stomach, but the mind is there too. It’s a sense that’s acquired, then evolves and matures to something more complex. It’s personal, it’s social, it’s global, it’s practical, and it’s a fantasy. It’s impressive and it’s subtle.
The retail scene
Of course, some things are different now, but you see cycles, and you see how a lot of things haven’t really changed all that much. Back in the day, there was a predominant uniform of blue jeans and t-shirts. People wanted something different, so they went after big names, big fashion houses, ones that were instantly recognizable by insignia and label. You see waves, trend and counter culture. We’re here to serve the counter culture. It’s not about shunning the mass trend, but about finding something that is truly special and distinct. With the advent of the internet, consumers are more specific and more informed. And that is a good thing! But at the same time, people can be occupied by hype, and things are valued more for the buzz than the design itself – without seeing how something works on the body or with their personality. So fashion always risks becoming trendy, but we’re not about serving trends. We partner with labels we like, and things we like to buy. It’s always about finding special things, things that appeal to the gut or stimulates the mind.
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I have a lot of good friends in the business, boutique owners who have been doing this for a very long time, and I see in them that the people who can survive in this business are those who have their own vision and are passionate about it. They’re the people who still do the buying themselves and still do the same thing they’ve been doing for so long. Because part of it, more than the business side of things, is about relationships. We are happy to work with and cater to our friends. Now, with technology advancing and the market changing, we desire to let the world know about our brand and what we are all about. Sure, things do change, especially with the internet, and we are adapting, but at the same time our principles are the same.
Direction
We try to accommodate movements in fashion, but our direction or approach to design hasn’t notably changed. If anything, since 2001 we felt we had more liberty to be as forward as we want to be, when we opened separate stores for men and women. But overall, we’re still doing what we’ve always done; scouting young talent and buying whatever appeals instinctually. We develop naturally over time, just as style does – there’s growth, but overall it’s still the same persona.
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A decade ago, we worked with Helmut Lang and Raf Simons. Back at the turn of 2000 this sharp tailoring and severe reconstructions of the silhouette were challenging people. Around the same time we covered Belgian designers extensively, which we of course still love. They created beautiful things, but catered to a very niche audience. In the past 5-7 years or so we’ve bought a lot of Japanese labels. We’ve done Yohji Yamamoto and Comme Des Garcons for a while, but we saw an emergence of new talents. Julius with its drapery for men was challenging to some when we first brought it. My focus on Japan makes a lot of sense at the moment because I love the culture, the people, the food. I stay in Tokyo several times during the year. But talent can always be found from all corners of the world. Our direction progresses as voices in fashion come and go, but it all comes from the same impulse.
The Buying Process
I don’t do a lot of research beforehand, because I like to see things up close and tend to make decisions by instinct and on the spot. I tour all showrooms personally which keeps me really busy. I’m always traveling. I do live partly in Paris and also in a small seaside town in Italy during part of the year. I’m very busy when travelling, but this is my favorite part as I like to be hands on. I worked with Japanese leather designer Isamu Katayama last season, working on some custom designs. I was glad to see he implemented these ideas into his next collection. To me, partnering with designers is an essential part of my job, I don’t see how i could just sit back and watch.
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We buy big and we buy diverse, to create an unusual mix that complements each other. Comme des Garcons and Julius may not look the same, but often times there’s customers who can appreciate aspects of both. For women, Golem and Ohne Titel aren’t the same, but a customer with perspective can work elements of each into a wardrobe quite nicely. Our store’s don’t all have the same one look, and while we have to be very specific and discerning about how we choose to diversify, we think it’s great to have a broad palette in what we offer. I work with the customer to create a beautiful mix that works with their persona. I like to hear the designer’s voice in the collection, and I try to make sure the story comes through in our buys. The challenge when you have so many lines is to balance all these stories with the readiness of the market.
My wife is also involved in buying for some of the women’s lines. We have a beautiful lineup for the fall-winter season, especially in women’s wear, and we have some great partnerships in the works. We like to give young designers a chance and the opportunity to grow. People do come into their own over time, but also people who are hungry have a lot of inspiration. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. But it’s a chance I like to take.
visit the newly opened H. Lorenzo website at www.hlorenzo.com
Interviewed by Kevin Yee
Written by Arto M.