Latest news with #Ethiopian-born
News18
24-07-2025
- News18
Canada Man Arrested For Killing Daughter Had Affair, Almost Lost One Eye In Ethiopia Attack
Last Updated: Besides his daughter Melina, Luciano had no ties to Montreal, with his primary base of operations located in Ethiopia. Luciano Frattolin, a 45-year-old Canadian man, has been arrested for the alleged murder of his nine-year-old daughter while on vacation in the United States. According to reports, Frattolin—an Ethiopian-born businessman—was said to have loved his daughter deeply but did not want the responsibilities of raising a child. 'He loved his daughter, but he didn't like the idea of being tied down," a former friend of Luciano told the Montreal Gazette. Reportedly, Melina's mother was granted full custody following her divorce from Luciano, with the father permitted to visit his daughter only once a year. Besides his daughter Melina, Luciano had no ties to Montreal, with his primary base of operations located in Ethiopia. Reports also indicate that Luciano had an extramarital affair while living in Ethiopia, which came to light when his wife travelled there to visit him. The revelation reportedly surfaced around the time Luciano discovered a mine in partnership with a Beijing-based company. In 2019, the venture secured a 20-year concession to extract iron ore. However, just days after the deal was finalised, Luciano was assaulted—a violent attack that, according to a friend quoted by the Montreal Gazette, left him with permanent damage to one of his eyes. His wife visited him in Ethiopia after the assault, and got to know about her husband's affair with another woman. The couple got a divorce after this, with the mother getting full custody of the daughter. On Saturday, Luciano called 911 to report the alleged kidnapping of his daughter, claiming she had disappeared after he stopped his car to urinate. However, as the investigation unfolded, authorities determined that Luciano had misled them. The following day, the body of the nine-year-old girl was discovered. An autopsy later confirmed that the cause of death was drowning. Get breaking news, in-depth analysis, and expert perspectives on everything from geopolitics to diplomacy and global trends. Stay informed with the latest world news only on News18. Download the News18 App to stay updated! view comments First Published: July 24, 2025, 07:53 IST Disclaimer: Comments reflect users' views, not News18's. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
Los Angeles Times
19-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
‘Look at what our expansiveness can afford us.' Awol Erizku on a universal language for the African diaspora
Late last year, I developed a connection with one of Awol Erizku's artworks somewhat by accident. I was on the dance floor at Living Room, one of L.A.'s newest member clubs and nightlife hotspots, being bathed in the fragmented, dazzling light of a disco ball in the form of Nefertiti's bust. As the night grew more navy with time, I finally looked up, and was struck by the beauty and powerful presence of African royalty above me. Erizku, a 36-year-old Ethiopian-born, Los Angeles-based contemporary artist, has most recently installed that artwork, 'Nefertiti–Miles Davis,' at the California African American Museum as part of his first solo museum exhibition, 'Awol Erizku: X.' Composed of new and recent works, the show is a celebration and reexamination of Afrocentric aesthetics — an approach to expression the artist calls 'Afro-esotericism.' Malcolm X is at the heart of it all, his image anointing the walls and a photograph of his former home, boarded up with a sign advertising its rehabilitation, presented without comment. It's a show about preserving Black history, about the spiritual implications bubbling beneath familiar objects with double meanings in the culture, from ice to bricks. Elsewhere in Los Angeles, Erizku's exhibition 'Moon, Turn the Flames…Gently Gently Away,' his inaugural solo with Sean Kelly Gallery on view through July 3, features hypersaturated still lifes that reflect the beauty (flowers), temptations (money) and struggles (smoke) of cultural life in L.A., a city he has now lived in for 10 years. On the occasion of that opening, I met Erizku at Living Room again, but this time it was face-to-face and not through a chance encounter with his work. The multidisciplinary artist, who works across photography, sculpture, painting, installation, film and sound, was grounded, warm and most interested in eschewing the politics and oft-performative pleasantries of the art world in favor of genuine connection with the community of guests. Though we didn't know each other, there was an instant familiarity, which is perhaps the most sacred, inexplicable part of the African diasporic experience: that sense of recognition, which is more a feeling than anything that can be adequately described. In this way, the very spirit of Blackness is art — a stirring beyond language. And it is this focus on the feeling of wordless understanding that guides Erizku's approach to creation. Evan Nicole Brown: Both of your L.A. shows hinge on a symbol: the five colorful, interlocking Olympic rings. Symbolism is such a deep and dominant part of your work: How do you approach adding your aesthetic to ready-made symbols — like the Olympic rings, the Hollywood sign, the L.A. Dodgers logo — which are familiar to us as viewers, in order to make them your own? Awol Erizku: Symbols, for me, have become a way to communicate and have an immediate effect. So by simply turning the Dodgers logo and literally just swapping the colors to those of the Pan-African flag, I'm able to speak to Black folks directly. I think when you see that, you know that's for you, you know that's a unifying symbol. That's what I'm after — symbols that we can use in a universal manner. ENB: That just made me realize the true power of visual symbolism as a shorthand, as a way to say so much without saying anything at all. Even a color can be a shorthand to demonstrate something. AE: That also resonates with the 'Nipsey blue' in the background of the [gallery] show. I've said this in passing, but I thought about making [the show] a love letter for my son. And I still do think about it that way, because a lot of the topics in the exhibition, especially at the gallery, is a conversation that I think any father would have with their son. [I'm] looking back at some of the things that I've been thinking about a lot consciously, and I found a way to communicate that by distilling certain symbols to make juxtapositions that then gave a new meaning. Like the evidence markers and cowrie shells are two things that shouldn't be together, but somehow by putting them together in this way, it creates a third, or new, meaning. [With those images], I'm looking at the killings of Sean Bell and Amadou Diallo, and the third subject is kind of open-ended, which is the sad reality. But with those two men in particular, I remember being a younger man living in New York and thinking about how it happened, when it happened and how people reacted to it. On a deeper level, in my lexicon, I title the works in a way that isn't so direct. The piece for Sean Bell, 'Sean Bell - Shawny Binladen,' is actually the title of a Shawny Binladen song, which then complicates this narrative even further. And the title of [the piece for Amadou Diallo], 'American Skin (41 Shots) - Bruce Springsteen,' is in reference to a Bruce Springsteen song, which again complicates the narrative even further because now you're not just talking about police murder and rap, now I'm using someone from a different genre who's also talking about police brutality in America. There's a deeper concern and awareness of the ripple effects of police brutality in America as it relates to young Black men specifically. ENB: How does your Ethiopian heritage figure into your work, particularly as you make artistic choices that connect the broader diaspora? In your images, I see you exploring police brutality on American soil, but also recurring motifs like cowrie shells, smoke and flowers seem to be more conceptual reminders of home, ritual, currency and cultural memory. AE: The sad thing is — and this is why I feel these two subject matters have maybe been in my consciousness for so long — is that Amadou Diallo was Guinean, and Sean Bell was a foundational Black American, but to police you're still a Black man at the end of the day, you know? So whatever qualms we may have on the nuance level, to the outside world we're a monolith, even though we know we aren't. For me, that's the nucleus of the work. It's all about creating a language that we can use throughout the diaspora in a universal fashion. 'Afro-esotericism,' an ideology that I've been building for the last [several] years, relates to my 2023 monograph 'Mystic Parallax,' which shows you a version of Black aesthetics cohabitating and existing in the same universe; it's far more interesting to create a new way of looking at the world by [using] the things that we already have exposure to. ENB: How does the landscape of Los Angeles, the home of Hollywood and many other cultural exports, inform your practice, particularly your projects that engage celebrities and the concept of fame? AE: I personally am distant from that world. I mean, there's some work-related things that I do every once in a while, but as a whole, I went to school and I focused a lot on theory. So the commercial stuff really doesn't hold that much water for me. L.A. can be isolating, it can be welcoming, it can be territorial. It's a multifaceted city; that's what I love about it and that's where I find the inspiration for most of these works. I find L.A. to be inspiring as an artist because it gives you a lot of room to breathe, and a lot of room to practice different things; it's almost like an empty canvas that is just waiting to be filled with ideas. ENB: I'm constantly thinking about the tension between the produced version of L.A. and the natural world of the city, and how the quality of light here from the sun contrasts with the artificiality of neon. AE: When it comes to neon, I think it's a medium that I'll continue to work with until I can't. I find neon to be this medium that uses light in a more poetic way. A great example of that is 'NO ICE'; it's so simple, but you can really read into it. The duality and double entendres in hip-hop is so important and crucial. Why is 'OPPS' in the style of the Cops [T.V. show] logo? If you know, you know, you know what I mean? ENB: Let's circle back to 'Afro-esotericism,' which has to do with symbolism, spirituality and this legacy of mythmaking. AE: It's the intrinsic feelings, expressions, gestures, thoughts and just overall [experience] of being a Black human being on this planet, like the things that we already have in us. There are all these things that end up getting co-opted by people on the internet, but I'm more interested in the things that they can't tap into, the things that they can't steal. It's an open source [ideology]; I'm open to people adding to it, to make some sort of atlas or an encyclopedia [with] knowledge of being. ENB: The richness of Black culture is so special so I really resonate with that. But I am also curious about whether you create space in your practice for play — not to undercut the depth of all that you're exploring, but I'm almost exhausted by Blackness being such a serious subject, and being so profound. It's so fun seeing memes just about the way we laugh while running away from each other, you know? How do you leave room for that sort of register of Blackness in your work, too? AE: That is precisely what I'm trying to get out. I'm merely saying, look at what our expansiveness can afford us. Evan Nicole Brown is a Los Angeles-born writer, editor and journalist who covers the arts and culture. Her work has been featured in Architectural Digest, Dwell, The Hollywood Reporter, the New York Times, T Magazine, Time and elsewhere. She is the managing editor of Contemporary Art Review Los Angeles and the founder of Group Chat, a conversation series in L.A.
Fashion Network
23-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Fashion Network
In Oakland, fashion retail makes San Francisco jealous
After twenty years of climbing the crime ladder, Oakland has been enjoying a new lease on life for the past few months. Long in the shadow of San Francisco, this symbol of American diversity - almost 50% of its population is Black and Latino - is showing a new optimism, with cutting-edge fashion boutiques opening in recent months. A new vintage clothing scene, Oakland now boasts around twenty vintage specialists including Mercy Vintage, The Sunshine Prophecy, Sola Lucy, Black Bear Apparel, Down at Lulu's and Mira Flores. In recent months, the city has also seen the emergence of a number of new boutiques, including Relove, opened in 2014 at 1815 Polk Street in San Francisco by Ethiopian-born Californian entrepreneur Delia Hailechristos, whose second store opened a stone's throw from the Grand Lake Theater in Oakland in 2023. Housed in a two-storey 1920s building, this new temple of vintage, with arches and columns on the first floor, offers a wide selection ranging from luxury vintage with brands such as Loewe, Dries Van Noten and Marc Jacobs, to creative Japanese labels such as Junya Watanabe, Doublet, Facetasm, workwear brands, and other couture pieces. Arranged by genre and color, Relove's wardrobe rubs shoulders with works of art belonging to the owner, such as paintings by local artist Jereme Mendez, or the in situ fresco dedicated to voguing by Devynn Barnes. The ground-floor lounge is occupied by objects for the home, candlesticks and ceramics from Mexico, a collection of vintage glasses and shoes. "Oakland is the heart of the whole Bay Area," said Hailechristos. 'All my creative friends live, create, work and perform here. The music, art and fashion scene is unlike anywhere else in the world. So it was only natural to open a boutique here. Oakland is a radical city, but one that doesn't draw the spotlight to itself." Oakland natives Marco Verdin and Tai Raino-Tsui, one the son of immigrants from El Salvador, the other a native American, opened their 3319 Marché in spring 2023, a hybrid fashion boutique combining vintage and contemporary offerings, conceived in place of a former hairdressing salon and designed as an art gallery, with furniture on display, live upcycling performances and curation of art objects and books. "We've created 3319 to appear as ambiguous as possible, throughout platforms both digitally and physically," explained the founders. "3319 is pioneering a new culture in Oakland, with a blend of elegance yet localized roots. The brand focuses on a range of artistic mediums: music, art, and fashion. Blending these three mediums in a highly curated way has given our brand a reputation foreign to its market, and allowed us to operate as much more than just a physical retail operation.' The racks at 3319 Marché feature a mix of haute couture-avant-garde brands 'not offered in any tangible way in the neighborhood,' added the founders, including Balenciaga, Bottega Veneta, Issey Miyake, Rick Owens, Craig Green, Martin Margiela, Yohji Yamamoto, Loewe and Kiko Kostadinov. Until the end of April, 3319 Marché is also home to the Dial Ring showroom, featuring second-hand items from brands such as Miu Miu, Comme des Garçons, Fendi, Marni, Prada and Raf Simons. Another Oakland reference, Standard & Strange, a multi-brand dedicated to crafted, heritage menswear, was founded by Jeremy Smith and Neil Berrett. "We started out in 2012 as two guys selling our own denim with a tiny 200-square-foot space in a back alley in Oakland. We saw that people wanted a warm, friendly, inclusive store that sold the denim and other gear we were wearing at the time,' said the founders. 'The first space we occupied had originally been the municipal stables for the City of Oakland. Then we moved into a new space around the corner to 5010 Telegraph Avenue, which is one of the oldest masonry buildings in Oakland.' After opening a second boutique in Santa Fe in 2019, the founders of Standard & Strange opened their third boutique at 238 Mulberry Street in Soho in 2021. Each boutique presents a different selection of well-made brands and pieces which have a strong narrative or story behind them. These include a large contingent of Japanese brands, with flagship denim by Momotaro, Kapital and OrSlow, ready-to-wear by Visvim and Porter luggage. Other heritage and craft brands complete the selection, including German Merz American John Gluckow and French De Bonne Facture. The company also sells its own collection and its Mizunara Single Cask Whiskey brand, made in California. Another sign of the Oakland creativity was the opening in 2023 of a brand-new concept store called Two-Two, founded by Portland-born entrepreneur CC Doan, halfway between pop-up, gallery and boutique, bringing together the offbeat fashions of international designers, particularly from Asia. 'I first explored boutique opportunities in San Francisco and Oakland," explained Doan. 'In the end, I found the space in Grand Lake and all the right elements came together to make me feel like it could be a place for fashion, craft, and creative community. Because we have multiple ways people can discover and engage with our curation and also connect with each other, people don't see us as just a boutique. Someone may come in and shop one day, attend a creative workshop the next time, or come with friends to a pop-up we host with other creatives or artists. We get to witness people as multi-faceted beings, not just as customers. I think in that way there is demand for being seen authentically, to have a sense of belonging or connection with others, and to cater to self expression as a whole." At the Two-Two boutique, emerging designers and brands, with an emphasis on everyday wearable pieces, are displayed as if in an art gallery. 'These designers are often at a very sweet spot of both establishing their voice while having plenty of edge and playfulness to their approach and presentation. Caro Chia, Yusho Kobayashi, Lou Badger, Fey Fey Worldwide, Devastates and Grounds to name a few," added Doan. "Then there are designers and artists who I've met along my own creative journey over the years and having a space has brought us together to collaborate, like jewelry brand Ino, incense brand Hyungi, and ceramics by Studio Hecha. Another original initiative is that of Oakland-born designer Shauncy 'Salt' Jackson, who transformed her backyard into a safe space for community events hosted by her non-profit Oakland Don't Play Inc. She converted a storage container into a retail store where she sells her clothing line, Oakland Don't Play (ODP). "ODP is more than just a clothing brand," explained Jackson, via her website. 'It's a movement to remind the world that Oakland stands strong for its people, land, and unwavering commitment to equality. Inspired by the injustices faced by our community, ODP creates bold, fashion-forward clothing that proudly showcases Oakland pride. From the vibrant streets of Fruitvale to the serene shores of Lake Merritt, our designs capture the essence of our city and the spirit of its people."
Fashion Network
23-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Fashion Network
In Oakland, fashion retail makes San Francisco jealous
After twenty years of climbing the crime ladder, Oakland has been enjoying a new lease on life for the past few months. Long in the shadow of San Francisco, this symbol of American diversity - almost 50% of its population is Black and Latino - is showing a new optimism, with cutting-edge fashion boutiques opening in recent months. A new vintage clothing scene, Oakland now boasts around twenty vintage specialists including Mercy Vintage, The Sunshine Prophecy, Sola Lucy, Black Bear Apparel, Down at Lulu's and Mira Flores. In recent months, the city has also seen the emergence of a number of new boutiques, including Relove, opened in 2014 at 1815 Polk Street in San Francisco by Ethiopian-born Californian entrepreneur Delia Hailechristos, whose second store opened a stone's throw from the Grand Lake Theater in Oakland in 2023. Housed in a two-storey 1920s building, this new temple of vintage, with arches and columns on the first floor, offers a wide selection ranging from luxury vintage with brands such as Loewe, Dries Van Noten and Marc Jacobs, to creative Japanese labels such as Junya Watanabe, Doublet, Facetasm, workwear brands, and other couture pieces. Arranged by genre and color, Relove's wardrobe rubs shoulders with works of art belonging to the owner, such as paintings by local artist Jereme Mendez, or the in situ fresco dedicated to voguing by Devynn Barnes. The ground-floor lounge is occupied by objects for the home, candlesticks and ceramics from Mexico, a collection of vintage glasses and shoes. "Oakland is the heart of the whole Bay Area," said Hailechristos. 'All my creative friends live, create, work and perform here. The music, art and fashion scene is unlike anywhere else in the world. So it was only natural to open a boutique here. Oakland is a radical city, but one that doesn't draw the spotlight to itself." Oakland natives Marco Verdin and Tai Raino-Tsui, one the son of immigrants from El Salvador, the other a native American, opened their 3319 Marché in spring 2023, a hybrid fashion boutique combining vintage and contemporary offerings, conceived in place of a former hairdressing salon and designed as an art gallery, with furniture on display, live upcycling performances and curation of art objects and books. "We've created 3319 to appear as ambiguous as possible, throughout platforms both digitally and physically," explained the founders. "3319 is pioneering a new culture in Oakland, with a blend of elegance yet localized roots. The brand focuses on a range of artistic mediums: music, art, and fashion. Blending these three mediums in a highly curated way has given our brand a reputation foreign to its market, and allowed us to operate as much more than just a physical retail operation.' The racks at 3319 Marché feature a mix of haute couture-avant-garde brands 'not offered in any tangible way in the neighborhood,' added the founders, including Balenciaga, Bottega Veneta, Issey Miyake, Rick Owens, Craig Green, Martin Margiela, Yohji Yamamoto, Loewe and Kiko Kostadinov. Until the end of April, 3319 Marché is also home to the Dial Ring showroom, featuring second-hand items from brands such as Miu Miu, Comme des Garçons, Fendi, Marni, Prada and Raf Simons. Another Oakland reference, Standard & Strange, a multi-brand dedicated to crafted, heritage menswear, was founded by Jeremy Smith and Neil Berrett. "We started out in 2012 as two guys selling our own denim with a tiny 200-square-foot space in a back alley in Oakland. We saw that people wanted a warm, friendly, inclusive store that sold the denim and other gear we were wearing at the time,' said the founders. 'The first space we occupied had originally been the municipal stables for the City of Oakland. Then we moved into a new space around the corner to 5010 Telegraph Avenue, which is one of the oldest masonry buildings in Oakland.' After opening a second boutique in Santa Fe in 2019, the founders of Standard & Strange opened their third boutique at 238 Mulberry Street in Soho in 2021. Each boutique presents a different selection of well-made brands and pieces which have a strong narrative or story behind them. These include a large contingent of Japanese brands, with flagship denim by Momotaro, Kapital and OrSlow, ready-to-wear by Visvim and Porter luggage. Other heritage and craft brands complete the selection, including German Merz American John Gluckow and French De Bonne Facture. The company also sells its own collection and its Mizunara Single Cask Whiskey brand, made in California. Another sign of the Oakland creativity was the opening in 2023 of a brand-new concept store called Two-Two, founded by Portland-born entrepreneur CC Doan, halfway between pop-up, gallery and boutique, bringing together the offbeat fashions of international designers, particularly from Asia. 'I first explored boutique opportunities in San Francisco and Oakland," explained Doan. 'In the end, I found the space in Grand Lake and all the right elements came together to make me feel like it could be a place for fashion, craft, and creative community. Because we have multiple ways people can discover and engage with our curation and also connect with each other, people don't see us as just a boutique. Someone may come in and shop one day, attend a creative workshop the next time, or come with friends to a pop-up we host with other creatives or artists. We get to witness people as multi-faceted beings, not just as customers. I think in that way there is demand for being seen authentically, to have a sense of belonging or connection with others, and to cater to self expression as a whole." At the Two-Two boutique, emerging designers and brands, with an emphasis on everyday wearable pieces, are displayed as if in an art gallery. 'These designers are often at a very sweet spot of both establishing their voice while having plenty of edge and playfulness to their approach and presentation. Caro Chia, Yusho Kobayashi, Lou Badger, Fey Fey Worldwide, Devastates and Grounds to name a few," added Doan. "Then there are designers and artists who I've met along my own creative journey over the years and having a space has brought us together to collaborate, like jewelry brand Ino, incense brand Hyungi, and ceramics by Studio Hecha. Another original initiative is that of Oakland-born designer Shauncy 'Salt' Jackson, who transformed her backyard into a safe space for community events hosted by her non-profit Oakland Don't Play Inc. She converted a storage container into a retail store where she sells her clothing line, Oakland Don't Play (ODP). "ODP is more than just a clothing brand," explained Jackson, via her website. 'It's a movement to remind the world that Oakland stands strong for its people, land, and unwavering commitment to equality. Inspired by the injustices faced by our community, ODP creates bold, fashion-forward clothing that proudly showcases Oakland pride. From the vibrant streets of Fruitvale to the serene shores of Lake Merritt, our designs capture the essence of our city and the spirit of its people."
Fashion Network
23-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Fashion Network
In Oakland, fashion retail makes San Francisco jealous
After twenty years of climbing the crime ladder, Oakland has been enjoying a new lease on life for the past few months. Long in the shadow of San Francisco, this symbol of American diversity - almost 50% of its population is Black and Latino - is showing a new optimism, with cutting-edge fashion boutiques opening in recent months. A new vintage clothing scene, Oakland now boasts around twenty vintage specialists including Mercy Vintage, The Sunshine Prophecy, Sola Lucy, Black Bear Apparel, Down at Lulu's and Mira Flores. In recent months, the city has also seen the emergence of a number of new boutiques, including Relove, opened in 2014 at 1815 Polk Street in San Francisco by Ethiopian-born Californian entrepreneur Delia Hailechristos, whose second store opened a stone's throw from the Grand Lake Theater in Oakland in 2023. Housed in a two-storey 1920s building, this new temple of vintage, with arches and columns on the first floor, offers a wide selection ranging from luxury vintage with brands such as Loewe, Dries Van Noten and Marc Jacobs, to creative Japanese labels such as Junya Watanabe, Doublet, Facetasm, workwear brands, and other couture pieces. Arranged by genre and color, Relove's wardrobe rubs shoulders with works of art belonging to the owner, such as paintings by local artist Jereme Mendez, or the in situ fresco dedicated to voguing by Devynn Barnes. The ground-floor lounge is occupied by objects for the home, candlesticks and ceramics from Mexico, a collection of vintage glasses and shoes. "Oakland is the heart of the whole Bay Area," said Hailechristos. 'All my creative friends live, create, work and perform here. The music, art and fashion scene is unlike anywhere else in the world. So it was only natural to open a boutique here. Oakland is a radical city, but one that doesn't draw the spotlight to itself." Oakland natives Marco Verdin and Tai Raino-Tsui, one the son of immigrants from El Salvador, the other a native American, opened their 3319 Marché in spring 2023, a hybrid fashion boutique combining vintage and contemporary offerings, conceived in place of a former hairdressing salon and designed as an art gallery, with furniture on display, live upcycling performances and curation of art objects and books. "We've created 3319 to appear as ambiguous as possible, throughout platforms both digitally and physically," explained the founders. "3319 is pioneering a new culture in Oakland, with a blend of elegance yet localized roots. The brand focuses on a range of artistic mediums: music, art, and fashion. Blending these three mediums in a highly curated way has given our brand a reputation foreign to its market, and allowed us to operate as much more than just a physical retail operation.' The racks at 3319 Marché feature a mix of haute couture-avant-garde brands 'not offered in any tangible way in the neighborhood,' added the founders, including Balenciaga, Bottega Veneta, Issey Miyake, Rick Owens, Craig Green, Martin Margiela, Yohji Yamamoto, Loewe and Kiko Kostadinov. Until the end of April, 3319 Marché is also home to the Dial Ring showroom, featuring second-hand items from brands such as Miu Miu, Comme des Garçons, Fendi, Marni, Prada and Raf Simons. Another Oakland reference, Standard & Strange, a multi-brand dedicated to crafted, heritage menswear, was founded by Jeremy Smith and Neil Berrett. "We started out in 2012 as two guys selling our own denim with a tiny 200-square-foot space in a back alley in Oakland. We saw that people wanted a warm, friendly, inclusive store that sold the denim and other gear we were wearing at the time,' said the founders. 'The first space we occupied had originally been the municipal stables for the City of Oakland. Then we moved into a new space around the corner to 5010 Telegraph Avenue, which is one of the oldest masonry buildings in Oakland.' After opening a second boutique in Santa Fe in 2019, the founders of Standard & Strange opened their third boutique at 238 Mulberry Street in Soho in 2021. Each boutique presents a different selection of well-made brands and pieces which have a strong narrative or story behind them. These include a large contingent of Japanese brands, with flagship denim by Momotaro, Kapital and OrSlow, ready-to-wear by Visvim and Porter luggage. Other heritage and craft brands complete the selection, including German Merz American John Gluckow and French De Bonne Facture. The company also sells its own collection and its Mizunara Single Cask Whiskey brand, made in California. Another sign of the Oakland creativity was the opening in 2023 of a brand-new concept store called Two-Two, founded by Portland-born entrepreneur CC Doan, halfway between pop-up, gallery and boutique, bringing together the offbeat fashions of international designers, particularly from Asia. 'I first explored boutique opportunities in San Francisco and Oakland," explained Doan. 'In the end, I found the space in Grand Lake and all the right elements came together to make me feel like it could be a place for fashion, craft, and creative community. Because we have multiple ways people can discover and engage with our curation and also connect with each other, people don't see us as just a boutique. Someone may come in and shop one day, attend a creative workshop the next time, or come with friends to a pop-up we host with other creatives or artists. We get to witness people as multi-faceted beings, not just as customers. I think in that way there is demand for being seen authentically, to have a sense of belonging or connection with others, and to cater to self expression as a whole." At the Two-Two boutique, emerging designers and brands, with an emphasis on everyday wearable pieces, are displayed as if in an art gallery. 'These designers are often at a very sweet spot of both establishing their voice while having plenty of edge and playfulness to their approach and presentation. Caro Chia, Yusho Kobayashi, Lou Badger, Fey Fey Worldwide, Devastates and Grounds to name a few," added Doan. "Then there are designers and artists who I've met along my own creative journey over the years and having a space has brought us together to collaborate, like jewelry brand Ino, incense brand Hyungi, and ceramics by Studio Hecha. Another original initiative is that of Oakland-born designer Shauncy 'Salt' Jackson, who transformed her backyard into a safe space for community events hosted by her non-profit Oakland Don't Play Inc. She converted a storage container into a retail store where she sells her clothing line, Oakland Don't Play (ODP). "ODP is more than just a clothing brand," explained Jackson, via her website. 'It's a movement to remind the world that Oakland stands strong for its people, land, and unwavering commitment to equality. Inspired by the injustices faced by our community, ODP creates bold, fashion-forward clothing that proudly showcases Oakland pride. From the vibrant streets of Fruitvale to the serene shores of Lake Merritt, our designs capture the essence of our city and the spirit of its people."
