Growing up on the Eastside meant having to make the pilgrimage to traffic congested and parking-limited L.A. if you wanted a piece of the street fashion scene. Brands such as Stussy, Union, and Undefeated all opened their West Coast houses in basically the same main fashion arteries. Sensing a demand for a shop that could serve the needs of those in the San Gabriel Valley, Arnold Espiritu and Jay Bautista teamed up and opened GREYONE in April 2002. Since then, that original location has been renamed to Blitz and the flagship GREYONE store now sits on Holly Street, in the heart of Old Town Pasadena. The clean and nondescript storefront sits on a quiet street just one block away from the hustle of bustle of the city’s main thoroughfare, Colorado Blvd. The inside of the store is expansive and very industrial. The extensive use of concrete works surprisingly well, and is not cold in the least. Similarly, the staff is friendly, helpful and respectful which are things lacking in many of the aforementioned stores. Shirts, hoodies, and jackets are hung on a simple rack, with just a few samples of each design. There is an equally large assortment for the ladies on the opposing wall as well as bottoms on a center shin-high island. The shoe selection is impeccable with each model carefully featured in it’s own concrete box, with individual spotlights in each cell. GREYONE carries the usual fanfare of expected brands (Nike, Adidas, Vans, Puma, Stussy) but also impressed me with names such as: Greedy Genius, Creative Rec, Crooks & Castles, The Hundreds, False, SSUR, PRPS Denim, Acne Denim, Upper Playground, Ten Deep, Poets & Theives, Red Clay, and 3Sixteen. Parking is easy with city lots in all directions. I truly believe GREYONE represents the mecca for forward thinking street fashion boutiques east of Los Angeles.
During Laura Victore’s senior year at the School of Visual Arts in NY she was involved in a portfolio class wherein all projects were focused around one central these– her thesis was “Gift.” Throughout the year she became fascinated with the idea of gifts and giving, and did research into the history of gift-giving in different cultures. During her studies she became interested with the idea of the fortune cookie. “It has a sublime simplicity of design, and more importantly a wonderful sense of surprise that comes with the ritual opening of them after a nice meal. The cookie is a gift. You don’t pay for it. And then, once you open the tiny package, you receive a forecast or positive message, and then you instantly want to share your fortune with everyone around you.” The results? She made these beautiful suede leather small fortune coin purses which comes with 3 different fortunes to choose from: All things are possible, everything is going to be alright and of course, follow your bliss.
