The New York-based womenswear and accessories line Rubin Chapelle has found a second home in Malibu. On Wednesday, co-designers Sonja Rubin and Kip Chapelle will open the doors of their first West Coast store in the Malibu Country Mart, next to neighbors like John Varvatos, Ralph Lauren, and Earnest Sewn. The label’s fans (including left coasters like Kate Beckinsale and Scarlett Johansson) will find sleek eveningwear on offer, as well as a newer collection of easy silk basics.
“The concept here was to bring a taste of New York to California,” Chapelle says. The duo brought the same “gallery feeling” of their Meatpacking District store using a stark minimal layout and a pared-down white and gray color scheme. (The store was designed by New York architect Annabelle Selldorf, who has created retail flagships in the U.S. and abroad for Abercrombie & Fitch and Gant, and redesigned one of Barneys New York’s women’s floors.) It will have more than just a gallery feeling; one of the walls in the 1,500-square-foot space is reserved to showcase art from various global contributors. Chapelle is keeping mum on who those might be, but for the first gallery display, he’ll present a series of his own portraits featuring various models, followed by an untitled collection of nature photographs taken by the co-designers.
For their next store location, the two have set their sights on another beachy city: Miami.
Rubin & Chapelle, 23410 Civic Center Way, D3, Malibu, Calif., 90265.
—Kristin Studeman
Photo: Courtesy of Rubin Chapelle
