Ever since opening its Echo Park doors in 2000, the eclectic, eccentric boutique Show Pony has offered a platform for fledgling designers and artists to showcase their work.  “Everything is kind of unnecessary,” says owner Kime Buzzelli. “It’s like a weird lab. There are no rules, no boundaries.”

Whether it’s museum-quality clothing (like Legion of Decency’s collar pieces and Bad Moon’s hand-dyed handbags), or quirky monthly theme parties and exhibitions (like “Love me, Love my pet”), Buzzelli’s boutique has always operated more like a collective than a commercial endeavor.  “It’s about catching artists in their experimental phase, before they’ve been ruined by the business of it all,” she explains. “I used to be a teacher, so I’m more interested in things that have mistakes and are totally different.”

The approach is working: Buzzelli’s Show Pony has secured an A-list following (Maggie Gyllenhaal, Zooey Deschanel, Rain Phoenix and Sarah Sophie Flicker, to name a few), as well as a new East Coast outpost in downtown Manhattan’s perennially hot vintage store, Screaming Mimi’s. 

An Ohio native, Buzzelli faired stints at both Parsons for fashion illustration, and Ohio University for painting, before opening the Blue Piano Vintage Store in Cincinnati with her boyfriend in the late ‘90s.  Since then, she’s supported fellow aspiring artists via Show Pony, while working on her own creative pursuits. 

Her own line, Show Pony, includes mini-dresses (which Screaming Mimi’s had nearly sold out of after carrying for only a week), silk-screened T-shirts, cloth bags, and pillows.  And her “dreamy, fashiony, girly world” paintings – mostly on paper or wood – have earned a spot in a group show at New Image Art in L.A. this October.  “It’s like getting into the MOMA for me!” Sometimes, the unnecessary is utterly essential.

~Alisa Gould-Simon

Get Yours:

Screaming Mimi’s, 382 Lafayette St, NY, (212) 677-6464, screamingmimis.com

Show Pony, 1543 Echo Park Ave, LA, (213) 482-7676