The hype is over, but the buzz begins as concept store LN-CC opens its doors to floods of eager eyes.
To the unknowing, LN-CC is a clothes shop in East London’s Dalston, but to guests present at the launch on Thursday night, it’s about to change the way we experience retail. A diamond in the rough, Shacklewell Lane will be attracting a rather different crowd from here on out. Operating as an online shop and appointment only store, LN-CC (Late Night Cameleon Café) is owned by John Skelton, former Creative Director of Oki-ni. Every inch of the 5, 000 square foot space, designed by Gary Card (filmed here along with LN-CC buyer Daniel Mitchell) has been thought through, conceptualised and executed with care.
From the cavernous entrance into six bespoke rooms, the store is divided into fashion, music and literature. The in-house library shelves collectable books and limited edition records that have inspired Skelton and his team, while next door there’s a sizeable event room with DJ decks, a bar and a spinning 70s disco ball. Retreat back again and enter the on-site studio, where all the lookbooks and related LN-CC shoots take place. From archive Raf Simons, Rick Owens and Martin Margiela to newer labels New Power Studio, Damir Doma, J. W. Anderson and Japanese streetwear brand Sasquatch, the fashion speaks for itself and is beautifully presented in site-specific spaces throughout. Skelton told i-D’s James Anderson (interviewed for The Back to the Future Issue), “From our mainline brands to the brands we stock that nobody else outside of Japan does, our space is not like any other store that I’ve ever seen, and by really investing in all of the things that we love – such as the music space and the library – we are offering a well rounded store with a unique point of view.”
LN-CC has taken the current mould for retail, hypothesised the future and come up with a platform for 21st century fashion. This is just the start.
