Last night, Opening Ceremony founders Carol Lim and Humberto Leon spoke with Professor Hazel Clark, the Dean at the prestigious Parsons School of Fashion, as part of the school’s annual art and design festival.
While Carol and Humberto often give inspirational talks, this one hit close to home as the founders detailed how they started Opening Ceremony as wide-eyed twenty-somethings, all while sharing helpful advice with a crowd of eager young Parsons students. They even divulged why they picked lower Soho, then an area off the beaten path, as the first brick-and-mortar location (“Howard St. was a great way to avoid Canal Street—not that I don’t love Canal Street,” mentioned Humberto), as well as a few lofty ideas. “We wanted a Lazy Susan at the cash register that flopped over into a DJ booth,” said Carol, laughing and eyeing Humberto. “We also wanted the store to stay open until midnight because we wanted to shop late.”
While the DJ booth/cash register didn’t exactly play out, the vision and the fun behind Opening Ceremony prospered. “We’ve always said that Opening Ceremony is a family store,” said Humberto, thinking about his kids and the OC community as a whole. “It has evolved as we have evolved.”
Watch the Livestream video from the Parsons talk above.