A new way to shop is sweeping the nation! Pardon the enthusiasm, but the idea of a new shopping experience really gets me going.  Pop-ups can be restaurants, bars, clubs, or (our personal expertise) shops.  Pop-up shops get their name from their nature: they are shops that "pop-up", often at unexpected locations, and are gone in anywhere from a few months to a few hours -- Perfect for our modern consumer culture driven by shoppers who want to dip their baby toes in the cool pool of "The Next Big Thing" just long enough to spot the next Next Big Thing.  It all started with Commes Des Garçons, the Japanese fashion label headed by Rei Kawakubo, pictured below.  

In 2004, Commes Des Garçons gave the public a rebellious version of garment shopping with the opening of their first guerrilla stores, in Berlin.  These guerilla stores generated a lot of buzz when they appeared in previously undisclosed areas, often far outside of city and fashion centers, and typically stayed open for no longer than one year.  Not only was it a revolutionary artistic concept, but it was a brilliant business scheme, generating publicity without advertising and saving loads of money by using pseudo-dilapidated locales with a sense of aesthetic purpose.   For an Anthem Magazine interview of a couple of Commes Des Garçons reps in their pop-up store in L.A., click on the link below.

Commes Des Garçons on their pop-up stores

Below, a picture taken in the same Commes Des Garçons L.A. pop-up

I just went to my third pop-up shop ever, the All Vintage Everything event that I talk about in the "What We Wear" section, in the post entitled "Blogger on Blogger Lovin'".  The cute hair accessory I purchased at this event is featured under the post called "All Wrapped Up".  And yes, I am currently in love with my big gold bow, so I seriously recommend searching for some pop-up shops in your hood and diving pinky-toe first into the newest mode-des-courses.  I doubt that's a real phrase in French, but it roughly translates to "way of shopping"... so you get my point.


-K