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 collection,” 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 collection, 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 collection along with a special Melrose capsule collection 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.