Opening Ceremony

Opening Ceremony built its reputation on a sharp eye for emerging design rather than on heritage or status, so the value is really in the point of view. The label's own pieces tend to favour playful, of-the-moment cuts, and shoppers who like contemporary design over logo-driven luxury usually feel it earns its place. If you want something with a distinct New York creative edge rather than a safe basic, it tends to deliver.

It was as much a tastemaking concept store as a label. Alongside its own products, it was an early retailer of brands like Havaianas and Topshop, and also carried Alexander Wang, Comme des Garçons, Proenza Schouler and Rodarte. The founders believed someone willing to buy luxury would happily buy cheap T-shirts, socks and art pieces in the same space — and that mix became its signature.

Opening Ceremony was founded in 2002 by Carol Lim and Humberto Leon, who opened the first store in downtown New York. The two went on to become co-creative directors of Kenzo in 2011 while still running Opening Ceremony, before stepping down from Kenzo in 2019.

The brand changed hands and form. In January 2020 it was acquired by New Guards Group — the company behind Off-White — and the same month Lim and Leon announced that all retail stores would close that year, citing rapid changes in shopping habits. Under New Guards Group the brand continued releasing collections, so the label lived on even after the original stores shut.

It was acquired in January 2020 by New Guards Group, a subsidiary of Farfetch. Farfetch itself was later acquired in late 2023 by the South Korean e-commerce company Coupang for $500 million, so the brand now sits within that wider group.

It often replaced traditional catwalk presentations with performance art. For Spring 2015, actor Jonah Hill wrote a one-act play; choreographer Justin Peck of the New York City Ballet directed the Spring 2016 show; and the Spring 2019 show featured Sasha Velour and around 40 other drag queens, with Christina Aguilera opening the finale. The shows were as much theatre as fashion.

Collaboration was central to the brand. Chloë Sevigny designed a line with Opening Ceremony in 2008, and a 2009 collection tied to Spike Jonze's Where the Wild Things Are followed. In 2010 it produced Maison Margiela's first co-branded project, and a 2018 collection celebrated Mickey Mouse's 90th birthday with a show staged after hours at Disneyland's Toontown.

Its influence came from spotting talent and culture early. By stocking emerging labels next to its own designs and folding in performance, art and collaboration, it helped shape how a fashion store could feel like a cultural hub. That curatorial instinct — and the names it championed before they were household ones — is why it is still talked about.

Yes. Beyond its downtown New York home, the brand operated a store in Los Angeles and one in Tokyo's Shibuya, which the American magazine Complex ranked the fourth-best store in the world in 2013. The Tokyo location was especially well regarded among shoppers.

Because the original stores closed in 2020 and the label now releases under New Guards Group, much of the buying happens online or through resale. If you are after an archival piece from the Lim and Leon era — including the collaborations — the secondhand market is where to look, so check condition and authenticity carefully before you buy.