Boho fashion brand Dôen makes the leap from online to Brentwood Country Mart
Fans of cult favorite Dôen have been enjoying a new place of worship this holiday season.
The Los Angeles-based bohemian fashion brand, which was founded by sisters Margaret and Katherine Kleveland as a direct-to-consumer retail business in 2015, opened its first bricks-and-mortar shop at the Brentwood Country Mart in Santa Monica in advance of the holidays.
“We wanted it to feel like a special jewel box that touched on all of the senses,” Katherine said of the intimate 900-square-foot space, which features antique cabinets, blackened metal hanging fixtures and scalloped-edge sconces. “We wanted it to feel like a reflection of home.”
The women worked with interior designers Todd Nickey and Amy Kehoe of L.A. design firm Nickey Kehoe to create an atmosphere inspired by their love of travel.
The result includes fringed raffia pendants, vintage rugs and reclaimed wood tables. A few of the pieces are from the Kleveland sisters’ personal collection.
“There is a beautiful vintage French farm table and a bench that we collected over time knowing that there would someday be a store,” Margaret said, adding that the pieces were purchased from friends who own local vintage furniture shops. “We knew they were too special to pass up.”
Another detail unique to Dôen’s boutique is the use of decorative dried flowers, which were originally brought in for a friends-and-family celebration in late summer that included Busy Philipps, Johnny Knoxville and Clare Vivier. The Moon Canyon-designed arrangements were inspired by a trip the sisters took with photographer Hilary Walsh and longtime muse Alex Noiret to shoot a brand campaign at the Château de Gudanes, a castle in Midi-Pyrénées, France.
“We’d seen a bunch of dried flowers used in a way that felt fresh,” said Katherine, who decided to incorporate the party’s dehydrated bouquets into the boutique’s daily decor.
“It’s so tragic when you have these big, beautiful blooms and they all go to waste the next day. For us, that was exciting to think of all the different uses for these beautiful dried plants and flowers,” she added. “I love that ability to recreate and repurpose.”
The store carries Dôen’s fall and holiday 2019 collections, which include romantic dresses, nightgowns and patchwork jackets with a price range of $138 for tops to $898 for shearling coats.
“Every season is very much inspired by the same muses of the ’60s and ’70s; we look at them in a new light,” Katherine said of Dôen’s latest collections, which feature floral prints, pops of pink and classic neutrals. “We look at colors that we’ve seen on our travels or what we’ve been dying to wear, the evolution of a previous season’s color.”
While the sisters consider seasons, Katherine said their goal is to create pieces that are timeless. “Growing up on the [West] Coast, Margaret and I never were that inclined to be like, ‘Now it’s time for us to put away one wardrobe and pull out the next,’ because it is a climate that stays similar year-round,” she said. “So it’s fun to challenge ourselves to think seasonally but to make sure people can wear things year-round and keep clothing more valuable.”
Dôen’s boutique is offering a few exclusives that aren’t available on shopdoen.com, including a quilt, priced at $398, featuring the label’s fall prints. Dôen also collaborated with Jennifer Murphy’s Minneapolis-based brand Polka Dot Club on Dôen-clad handmade heritage mohair teddy bears for children. The one-of-a-kind stuffed animals ($92-$194) are outfitted in Dôen scarves, dresses and bloomers fashioned from excess fabric from the fall collection. Dôen is also selling vintage lockets as well as handmade bows created by Bianca and Red in Santa Fe, N.M.
The new store marks a full-circle moment for the Santa Barbara-bred sisters, who grew up visiting the Brentwood Country Mart with their aunt. “It’s fun for us to bring our children,” said Katherine, adding that the shopping center is filled with friends — old and new.
Having hosted a pop-up shop at the retail destination last year, the Kleveland sisters were already close with fellow store owners Jenni Kayne and Irene Neuwirth, but they have since become friendly with new neighbors Jenny Belushi and Heather Whitney Rosenfield, who manage the children’s boutique Poppy Store.
“We feel like there is that sense of community here,” said Katherine. “That’s what we’ve tried to build with our company online as well.”
Dôen
Where: 225 26th St., Suite 4, Santa Monica
Hours: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday; 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday
Info: ShopDoen.com
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