LA - J A S O N G I L L I S and R O B I N C E R V A R are the visionary prime-movers behind the culty W e l c o m e H u n t e r s L A, a ‘guerrilla-style’ boutique and e-tailer that lends fledgling and established fashion talents and artists a world-class platform to peddle their stuff. Like a high-fashion version of the United Nations, Welcome Hunters features a multitude of cosmopolitan labels with a heavy emphasis on ‘directional’ and avant-garde clothing and accessories for guys and gals who have a penchant for the daring, dashing and unorthodox.
With a groundswell of exuberance from Chinatown’s alternative art and fashion community, Jason and Robin have set-up shop along Gin Ling Way, spearheading a heterodox retail vehicle that nimbly combines art and commerce and lives happily on the margins of LA‘s (somewhat vapid) ‘Hollywood-culture.’ The boutique is a well-known hub for underground fashion aficionados with a predilection for drop-crotch-chic, asymmetric unisex, hip-androgyny, eye-popping prints and titillating textures. “The underlying aesthetic is predicated on unorthodox and experimental styles and structures that are uniquely positioned and highly-artisan,” says Co-Founder Jason Gillis. “It’s all about cool transgression and stand-out fashion.”
With the recent relocation of Welcome Hunters to a larger space, the two creators have added to the cascade of creative energy washing over the hood. The area boasts a dynamic cluster of musicians, artists, gallerists and fashionistas who constitute a renewed spirit and synergy not felt in places like Silver Lake, Echo Park or Melrose. Welcome Hunters fits perfectly into Chinatown’s underground community of art lovers, bargain hunters, and trendsetters, and is a contributing force behind the artistic renaissance taking place there.
Indeed, Jason and Robin have sorted-out a robust, two story loft, complete with a mezzanine and ample room to showcase the edgiest of the fashion and art worlds. The environment is multifaceted and gallery-esque, and serves as a creative forum for collaborative design - a key aspect of Welcome Hunter’s retail philosophy. With close proximity to galleries such as Cottage Home, Chung King Projects and Telic, as well as pioneering boutiques Ooga Booga and Lion’s Den, Jason and Robin have created an exemplary destination for the independent and artsy.
Welcome Hunters collaborates with high-caliber talent, such as maverick photographers Dan Monick (see photos) and Kristin Marlene as well as the intrepid conceptual artist, Jason Yates and interior design boutique All That Is Solid. It is the only store in Los Angeles that carries iconoclastic labels like Material Boy (from Australia) and will soon be debuting LA-based God‘s Prey. The rest of the adventurous and rare selection encompasses much of the European conceptual vanguard, including, for instance, Scandinavian labels Best Behavior and Kling, amongst others.
Jason and Robin spend much of their time hunting prodigious talent and manifesting wicked-cool art projects. The dynamic duo scours the world in search of cutting-edge and ‘progressive’ designers and frequently holds in-house shows and exhibits to promote their choice cache of talent. “Our mission is to offer coveted and difficult-to-find collections and fashion-related art concepts that are mind-blowing, provocative and supremely unique,” say the founders. “We dynamically rotate and upgrade the labels we carry for maximum novelty and originality,” they say, lending the store a guerilla-style feel that is truly fast and fresh.
Their racks boast vividly colored and well-constructed ‘street style’ collections for men, women and unisex types. Welcome Hunter’s gallery area displays cutting-edge mixed-media art and photography (currently on display is Daniel Palillo’s Gardens of O.D.P. SS09 collection and art installation).
In addition to Daniel Palillo, you’ll find downright dope and doughty ranges from Kokon To Zai (London), Marjan Pejoski (London/Skopje), Complex Geometries (Montreal), Mundi (Reykjavik), Ground Zero (London), Skyward (Gothenburg), Migh-T (UK) and Kling, to name a few.
These labels, if you weren’t already in the know, are part of a repertoire of ‘bleeding-edge,’ cultish designers whose creations are kinetic off the runway as they are on it - often blurring the boundaries between street-wear and couture - while mixing resolutely unconventional construction with exquisite accents, palettes and prints! Welcome Hunters is one of the few stores in California (and indeed in the US) with a narrow focus on niche and nuanced apparel with intellectual and sub-cultural underpinnings. Jason and Robin (above on stairs), whose backgrounds are in fine arts and comparative literature, respectively (and have been immersed in the punk/music scenes since their teens), are interested in the aesthetic, philosophical and sociological aspects of fashion, and strive to provide ‘break-through’ and racy ranges for their customers that few other stores can offer (Shop Fatal or Colette in Paris and Reborn in Montreal are among Welcome Hunter‘s cool peers).
The duo gravitates toward novel urban-wear with strong Euro and Asian influences (you won’t find James Perse or anything Kitson carries!). Indeed, the preponderance of their savvy customer-base is unabashedly ‘anti-Hollywood’ and tends to embrace elements of the Harajuku, London and Antwerp street scenes - and are at the forefront of global fashion and music. Of course Welcome Hunters doesn’t discriminate against American designers, obviously, and the boutique stocks Pleasure Principle and Priestess NYC. Jason and Robin are also gearing-up to introduce a Welcome Hunters SS10 ‘capsule collection’ that will incorporate elements of skate and ‘new romance’ and will reflect their taste for transgression, modernism and punk.
Fortunately for shoppers, Jason and Robin have impeccable buying taste, with a proclivity for adventurous apparel, skewing toward the type of exclusive, experimental and artsy pieces that befit girls and boys who hop from gallery openings to Damien Hirst exhibits to Fugazi or M.I.A. shows. Those seeking to circumvent LA’s hokey homogeneity will find themselves right at home at Welcome Hunters, which flourishes amidst fire crackers, red lanterns accented with the scent of incense and off-beat artists and musicians in Chinatown’s urban playground.
As a concession to more risk-averse (but still urbane) patrons, Welcome Hunters has partnered with veteran fashionista Raymond Tseng (of Lion’s Den) to create Choose Chinatown, a concept/pop-up store that carries a slew of cool brands like Peter Jannson’s WKND and Cheap Monday’s other lines, including Kostym and L.L. Vintage. This project is equally dope and is well worth the trip over to Gin Ling Way!
Seriously, if you are in or near LA, Welcome Hunters is a virtual rite of passage for anyone interested in the chancy underbelly of global fashion!
Go check out Welcome Hunters at 451 Gin Ling Way, Los Angeles CA 90012 USA
213.687.9905
www.welcomehuntersla.com
Choose Chinatown, 441 Gin Ling Way, Los Angeles, CA 90012, 213.613.9200, www.choosechinatown.com. Inquiries to info@choosechinatown.com.
-Cody Ross (cody@priestessnyc.com)