Three of LA’s most stylish women—a fashion purveyor, an artist, an actress—give us a “couture de force” of their stash at home. Closet envy, anyone?
Bloomingdale commands full attention from her pair of Braque Francais dogs in a Tish Cox-designed skirt and blouse.
Natalie Bloomingdale doesn’t simply store clothes in the closets of her Bel-Air home. It’s more a matter of cataloging the contents—by color and by type (swimwear in one closet; jackets in another; dresses in the master walk-in). Most tellingly, Bloomingdale, 32, also organizes by obsession: A row of Diana Dean by Julius Lonschein-designed caftans reveals one of her latest fixations. “I bought one in every color I could find and then set up a Google alert for others,” says the Texas-born fashionista, who has a particular penchant for what she calls “ladylike, polished” pieces from the ’50s and ’60s as well as sartorial scene-stealers like a beaded Valentino couture fur piece made for Liza Minnelli. “My closets are where I store memories, ” she says of items like vintage sweater sets from her late Texas grandmother, custom cowboy boots, Native American-made turquoise jewelry and Brazilian handlaced shawls. “I can tell you a story about every piece I own.”
A peek inside the closet devoted to sweaters and knits.
However, Bloomingdale does more than simply collect clothes. The granddaughter-in-law of the late fashion icon Betsy Bloomingdale is also the founder of The SIL (“Stuff I Like”), a hypercurated digital update on the traditional department store. “Everything on The SIL is an exclusive,” says the fashion purveyor, who has made it her mission to champion independent designers like Tish Cox, Molly Moorkamp and LA-based Keehn Deutch. “I’ve always been drawn to one-off pieces. If you get a piece from The SIL, you won’t be able to find it anywhere else online.” Bloomingdale personally test-drives each SIL shop piece before organizing them with Dewey Decimal precision in one of her appointed closets. “Some people are obsessed with baseball stats; clothes are where my mind goes.”
A collection of turquoise jewelry, some of which was acquired on a recent trip to Taos, New Mexico.
Dunn rocks a sleeveless L’Academie jumpsuit from the master bedroom of her Beverly Hills home.
Forget about the paint-splattered artist’s smock. Beau Dunn—creator of high-octane, blinged-out sculptures, paintings and photography that are collected by the likes of the Kardashian and Jenner clans, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley and Claudia Schiffer—is more likely to be found in a Monique Lhuillier gown or thigh-high fuchsia boots. “Clothes are the artistic expression of who I am: colorful, bold, but still classic,” says the LA-born artist.
Russell Young’s Marilyn Crying hangs above a table sporting Dunn’s trademark pops of bright color.
Dunn regularly travels the globe in a rainbow of head-turning creations, all of which are categorized in her closets—seven of them, all told—in her Beverly Hills home. “I walk around the house to get dressed, going to one closet for shoes, another for jackets, another for shorts or skirts,” says Dunn, who has another area devoted entirely to glitter—sequined jackets and shimmering gowns. “Those are fun for Art Basel or costume parties, which I end up going to and hosting a lot,” adds the 31-year-old.
A mix of fine and custom jewels keep company at the artist’s glam station.
Despite the satellite closets located throughout her modernized French country house sprinkled with her own work as well as that of Damien Hirst, Shepard Fairey and others, Dunn is in the process of converting a third bedroom into a central command station for clothes. “I’m working with [LA Closet Design’s] Lisa Adams to create my dream closet, a place where I can have a lot of it organized in one place.” Not that it would be all shoes, clothing and handbags. “I’d love to have one of my rhinestone Barbies in there. I just featured it at this year’s Art Basel—having one in my closet would be the ultimate addition!”
A “glam station” in Beau Dunn’s bedroom includes a department storelike collection of makeup.
Garcia wears a vintage animal print dress in her closet, a recent addition to her Los Feliz home.
When Aimee Garcia decided to expand her 1930s Spanish-style home, it wasn’t to add a chef’s kitchen or a master suite: Instead, the star of cult-worshipped show Lucifer added square footage for a walk-in closet. “I wanted to make sure I had a place where everything could go,” says Garcia, who outfitted the space with iron rods, a design nod to fashion mecca Barneys New York. But Garcia’s add-on isn’t about housing mountains of fashion. Instead, the Chicago-born actress prides herself on a less-is-more approach to clothes: “I wear everything in my closet, which I think is a rare thing,” says the 40-year-old Los Feliz resident, who sums up her sartorial approach in simple terms: “Sexy, empowered and casual.”
A selection of shoes for Garcia’s go-to get-up: jeans, vintage shirt, heels.
Routine mashups include jeans and T-shirts injected with edge via Maison Margiela boots, or a simple slip dress embellished with Lady Ortiga jewelry. “As much as possible, I like to buy pieces that are made locally by Latina women,” she says, adding, “I’m always running around, so I like outfits that I can wear to lunch and then a meeting with a producer at the Montage and don’t need to go home to change.”
Aimee Garcia’s collection of jewelry is made by mostly local female designers.
While Garcia rarely spends time in her closet beyond getting dressed and the occasional “Friday night dance party on my own,” she did discover an unexpected benefit to her home’s addition: amazing acoustics. “I do my voice-over work in there. I even recorded my Addams Family voice tape in there.” Garcia landed that prize gig, which is currently in production along with Charlize Theron. “I totally fan-girled out when I met her. I wanted to curtsy.”
Another staple: a Schott Bros. leather jacket.
Photography by: Photography by Bradley Meinz; NATALIE BLOOMINDALE: HAIR AND MAKEUP BY SYDNEY VALENTINE AND KATE SYNNOTT, THE WALL GROUP; PROP STYLING BY HOUSE OF NOYES; BEAU DUNN: HAIR BY SARAH KLEIN; MAKEUP BY MICHAEL SHEPHERD; STYLED BY STATEMENT STYLE GROUP; AIMEE GARCIA: HAIR BY CHRISTOPHER DAVID; MAKEUP BY LIZ KELLOGG; STYLING BY STEPHANIE STRATE
