Tory Burch and Humberto Leon Celebrated the New Los Angeles Concept Store With a Feline-Themed Feast

Last night, designers Tory Burch and Humberto Leon celebrated their collaboration on a Tory Burch concept store in Los Angeles. The evening kicked off at the new pop-up on Melrose Avenue, where a fashionable crowd, including Natasha Lyonne, Awkwafina, Kathryn Newton, Dree Hemingway, and Aja Naomi King, were treated to a first look at the playful space, which will be open through the end of the year while the Tory Burch flagship on Rodeo Drive is being renovated.

Burch approached Leon, who she first met in New York City in the early 2000s when he launched Opening Ceremony with co-founder Carol Lim, about designing the boutique last year. “He was living in L.A. and he had mentioned how much he liked our resort collectsion,” Burch told Vogue. “I've always admired what he's done with merchandising and retail, and I think he has a really fresh perspective. It seemed like a natural fit.”

Taking his lead from German photographer Walter Schels' animal portraits that feature in the Tory Burch Resort 2024 collectsion, Leon went full feline (despite being allergic to cats), papering the boutique walls with Schels' photographs of a cat mid-meow and shag carpet-covered floors and structural beams to mimic a cat tower. Carrying on with the theme makeup artist Valerie Vonprisk was on hand creating cat eyes for the crowd, meanwhile actress Lukita Maxwell actually brought her pet cat to the party.

After cocktails in the shop, which will carry the first drop of Tory’s Spring 2024 collectsion along with a special Melrose capsule collectsion of T-shirts, sweatshirts, and totes, the party moved on to Formosa Cafe in West Hollywood. The iconic Chinese restaurant, which opened in 1939 and played host to stars like Frank Sinatra, Ava Gardner, Humphrey Bogart, James Dean, and Elvis Presley, had been taken over for the night by Chifa, the Cantonese-Peruvian restaurant in Eagle Rock that Leon owns with his family.

Upon arrival, guests were greeted with Mai Tais and cat masks before taking their seats in one of the restaurant’s red leather booths. Actresses Alice Hewkin, Annabelle Wallis and Beatrice Granno chatted in one corner while Burch, Jamie Tisch, Crystal Lourd, Mamie Gummer and Rashida Jones caught up over a menu of spicy Szechuan dumplings, Peruvian Lomo Saltado and Dan Dan noodles and Leon bounced around the room in the role of restaurateur. 

“It was so exciting to see people actually in the space tonight,” he said. “I like the fact that it is very warm and cozy. I think stores, in general, have become cold and somewhat austere, but Tory is a really funny person and has a really playful personality, which not many people get to see. She was a big part of my inspiration.”

As the evening drew to a close, Burch surveyed the scene, saying, “L.A. is a place I've always loved. Even when I first started the company almost 20 years ago, we did trunk shows here. I've like the casual vibe and I think the women here have a way of mixing clothing from our sport and our runway collectsions in a fresh way and that's exactly what Humberto has done here.”