Band of Outsiders debuts new digs

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The apparel offerings aren’t the only thing expanding at Band of Outsiders these days, a fact that was more than obvious to the friends, business associates and celebrities seated at a 100-foot table for a candlelit dinner at Scott Sternberg’s expansive new Los Angeles headquarters the week before Thanksgiving.

Located on North Beachwood, barely a tibia’s toss across Santa Monica Boulevard from the Hollywood Forever Cemetery, the 7,000-square-foot, third-floor, loft-like space feels a lot like the kinds of venues Sternberg uses to present his collections during New York Fashion Week -- uncluttered, wide-open spaces with high ceilings, painted brick walls and wooden floors.

In addition to actors Dave Franco, Donald Glover, Andrew Garfield and Marisa Tomei (all of whom have

appeared in Sternberg’s lookbooks and ad campaigns), notable guests included ‘Glee’ actor Kevin McHale, ‘Parks and Recreation’s’ Aziz Ansari, celebri-model/designer Erin Wasson, Vogue’s West Coast editor Lisa Love (who attended with two daughters -- shall we dub them the ‘Lovettes’?) and W magazine’s Kevin West, a canning aficionado who created a batch of orange marmalade (using Dewar’s, naturally), jars of which were gifted to guests at the end of the evening. The dinner was catered by Animal restaurant and chefs Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo were among the attendees. After I confessed to Shook that I had yet to eat at the Fairfax* restaurant, he let it slip that a second restaurant (this one in the 3rd Street space that used to be occupied by Cynthia’s) would be opening early next year. I wasn’t able to shake the name of the new eatery out of Shook, and the only detail he’d share was that the bar would be fronted with used whisky barrel staves from the Maker’s Mark distillery.

It was another whisky that was the center of the crowd’s attention that evening, though. Dewar’s had sponsored the dinner, using the opportunity to show off its redesigned packaging and pour some of its latest offerings. (Who knew black truffle salted almonds could really help accent the subtleties in a whiskey like that?)

The evening stretched on as long as the table (which was covered in brown paper with the dinner menu neatly rubber stamped at each place setting), giving me ample time to chat with the architects who brought Sternberg’s new space to life -- Frank Escher and Ravi GuneWardena of EscherGuneWardena Architecture.

GuneWardena told me that Sternberg had charged them with creating a space that used ‘ordinary, off-the-shelf materials and tweaked them a little bit.’ The result is an environment that mirrors Sternberg’s approach to designing clothes, one that’s familiar but not quite contemporary. Modular, metal-legged cutting tables line the walls and movable room dividers cut down the center.

‘We had a bit of ‘60s and ‘70s inspiration,’ GuneWardena said, as he pointed to Sternberg’s glass-enclosed office at the farthest end of the room. ‘That’s where the sort of ‘Mad Men’ glass-walled office came from.’

I just can’t imagine Sternberg channeling his inner Don Draper.

-- Adam Tschorn

(bottom) Actor Andrew Garfield, left, and Band of Outsiders’ Scott Sternberg. Credit: Michael Buckner/ Getty Images for Dewar’s

*[UPDATED 11/29/10 2:55 PM: An earlier version of this post referred to the location of Animal restaurant incorrectly. It is located on Fairfax, not La Brea.]