Dior and ERL Pop Up in L.A. With Couture Surf Trunks, Classic Cars and a Café
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The Dior Men resort collection designed by Kim Jones and ERL’s Eli Russell Linnetz is once again making a splash in Los Angeles, where it was first shown on the runway in May 2022.
The French luxury house has opened an experiential pop-up at 8175 Melrose Avenue with a tinsel-covered facade and retail store filled with California couture sweaters and surf trunks, classic cars and a café.
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The 12,500-square-foot space features the collection as well as a Lunar New Year capsule. Prices range from $410 for a card case to $1,100 for a seasonal logo T-shirt, $2,100 for a “California Couture” emblazoned sweater to $9,100 for special-order shell and crystal embroidered surf-motif silk shorts.
Dior has taken the California dream on the road with six pop-ups worldwide, in London, Japan, South Korea and China from January until the end of March.
The SoCal surf- and skate-inspired Dior Men’s ERL collaboration debuted in Venice, California, on an ocean blue set with waves cresting on either side and a runway leading straight to the beach. Guests included Kid Cudi, Winnie Harlow, Tony Hawk, Rita Ora, Taika Waititi, Brooklyn Beckham and Nicola Peltz Beckham.
“When I was growing up in England, Venice Beach was a fantasy where all the kids were cool, and Eli is one of the cool kids,” Jones said of the Venice-born and -raised Linnetz, who debuted his own ERL menswear collection at the Dover Street Market Paris showroom in 2020, and has since added women’s and children’s clothing.
The Dior ERL collection is awash in sunset colors; relaxed tailoring; sexy, sheer mohair sweaters; cresting wave crystal and shell embroidery, and Tinseltown tinsel on pullover sweaters, bags and tube socks.
“The way of dressing in California has a huge influence on how people around the world dress,” Jones said at the time. “It’s relaxed, it’s about comfort and outdoor life. There’s a certain dress-up to this collection, but it’s not in the classic formal sense, it’s through rich fabrications…it’s almost eveningwear.
The L.A. pop-up features a café that is a hint of what’s to come when Dior completes construction on its new Rodeo Drive flagship, complete with a Dior café.
Here, ’50s-style tables are set up around classic cars and a large screen plays the fashion show on a loop. Salads with locally grown produce, a cocktail incorporating colors from the collection, Champagne and mini-donuts are on the menu.
The pop-up is open through Feb. 12.
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