Housing top designers of the international luxury variety, Avedon Boutique guarantees only the finest quality from designers like Roderick Tung – cardiologist turned shirting specialist who created the first Italian shirt with a thread count of 200 – and Kelly Locke – the exotic skins of his clutches graze the fingertips of nearly every Red Carpet walker. By intensely emphasizing personal customer relationships, Yasmine Farmanara and Reza Shekarchian have created a lifestyle brand for their loyal celebrity clientele.
“We search the world, the market and fashion and try to cherry-pick things that are of a level of luxury, but that are affordable…it is our job to bring in something you wouldn’t find in the mass market…every piece we really make sure it is worth what our customer is going to spend on it.” Yasmine Farmanara
After graduating from Pepperdine University, Reza Shekarchian single-handedly started Avedon Boutique 25 years ago. Reza flourished in business for 19 years before deciding to team-up with now co-owner Yasmine Farmanara. Educated in fashion design and experienced with textiles, Yasmine worked with manufacturers and designers for 14 years before partnering with Reza. Since the collaboration, Avedon has added women’s apparel and accessories as well as moved from Melrose Avenue to Robertson Boulevard to Canon Drive in order to stay “on the cutting edge” of trend shifting. Seven months of hard labor were spent to execute the vision of Thomas Schoos (KOI Las Vegas, TAO New York), which you feel immediately upon entrance into the latest endeavor by the two.
“We decided West Hollywood would be a good choice of neighborhood…but unfortunately the vibe kept changing; not what it used to be – same thing happened to Robertson. We moved at the peak of Robertson after some time then we noticed it started to become a jean and tee shirt street…we didn’t belong.” Reza Shekarchian
When asked about the message and motivation behind the lifestyle brand, Reza replies, “Elegant and fun European styles… you can be a sophisticated gentleman or lady but yet fine-tweak it to a point that yes, you do look elegant and hip but fun – it’s a very fine line…Basically it’s always been about easy fashion that’s young and hip but wearable, nothing too tricky – and service, service, service…Since we are always here, the customer feels good coming and dealing with us because we know all the way through what they like and what they dislike so they don’t really waste their time…People feel comfortable coming here because its very private, personal.”
Confident this level of hospitality should be shared with other areas, I inquire on expansion. In response, both insist more Los Angeles stores are in the works; Reza talks of future Avedon clothing, but Yasmine seems to have her heart set on in-house expansion in the meantime; “We’ve been talking about incorporating more of a lifestyle brand like maybe adding a café or lounge…Whatever we do, we don’t want to loss the integrity of what we’ve worked for.”
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