Now Open: Curate Couture Glitzes Up Brentwood

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Tucked admidst the coffee shops and furniture stores of Brentwood's San Vicente Boulevard is a glamorous new tenant—Curate Couture, a designer consignment shop run by one Karuna Tillmon James. James, whose background is in fashion photography, has combed the closets of showrooms, stylists, and shopaholics alike (including her own), for a debut collection of vintage and contemporary pieces. Goods on offer include a Thierry Mugler suit, a '50s-style Oscar de la Renta dress from the '80s, and pieces from modern designers like Wayne, Mischen, Whitley Kros and DSquared, with average prices ranging between $100 and $500.

We stopped by to find wine flowing and guitar music streaming from the courtyard, an event that James is planning to host every Wednesday evening for the rest of the summer. "Brentwood doesn't have much of a fashion community," she told us, adding "I wanted to create a kind of New York-y vibe, where people who love fashion can gather." Given the eclectic opening-night crowd, which included both scruffy guys in fedoras and style-conscious Brentwood moms, she might just be on to something.