We Are Tribe gets a pop-up initiation at Hadley

The stark white walls inside tiny Crossroads boutique Hadley are now painted a neon chartreuse, and a school of delicate pink koi dangles from the ceiling. It’s First Friday, and designer and store owner Hadley Johnson has yielded her place to another fashion vision for the month.

While Johnson spends February working on her own new collection, the women of online vintage store We Are Tribe are using her storefront (122 West 18th Street) as a pop-up. The intimate space gives Elizabeth Bohannon and Liana Wears just enough room for two racks: one with just black-and-white pieces, the other with a rainbow palette ready to give a vitamin-D contact high. Among what Bohannon and Wears have brought: a rare pair of red Versace pants with mesh paneling, a bright floral rain jacket to summon spring, and denim pinstriped bell-bottom overalls (for any season).

A couple of days before opening night, all three sat with The Pitch to talk about their partnership.

The Pitch: How did this collaboration come to fruition?

Johnson: From what I learned in the first year of running the store, I need time to develop new ideas and thoughts and make work. I chose February to shut down the store and make a new body of work no matter what, and then present that in March.

So you were going to close down the store regardless?

Johnson: Yes, but then I thought the activation of the block is really important — making sure that there’s energy in the space. I thought it’d be nice to have someone be in there and keep it activated for the month while I was back here in my studio.

How did you all get in touch?

Wears: We had already been talking about organizing some kind of collaboration. And then Hadley ended up asking us.

Johnson: I wasn’t going to allow just anybody in the space. The goal was to have something highly thoughtful and interesting and intriguing, people who already have their own aesthetic established with followers digitally. Having them be able to present in the physical form was a great opportunity for them, for me and for Kansas City. So it was just kind of a win-win.

You’ve been running your online store since 2010. Is We Are Tribe still looking for a storefront?

Wears: It’s in our heads.

Bohannon: We get a lot of support in Kansas City, and people will come out to events, but we haven’t done very many sales here. Part of what is so exciting about this is us getting to physically be in the space, so people can see what we’re selling. We can get to know the people who are shopping frequently on 18th Street.

Do you think this kind of collaboration is indicative of the Kansas City fashion scene?

Johnson: I don’t collaborate, as far as fashion goes, with other people in Kansas City. I’m really specific with my vision, which is why I asked them. The worlds that they’re looking at, as far as fashion, it’s not really about geography but it’s worlds that I look at, too, and I’m influenced by. There’s also this access that you have to one another in Kansas City, so it’s mainly just that access and admiring what they do.

You’re keeping Erica Voetsch’s Majendie jewelry for sale during your residency. What else?

Bohannon: Yes, we really appreciate what Erica’s doing. We’ve worked with her in the past, and she’s made pieces specifically for our photo shoots. We’ll also be selling jewelry by Sam Bernstein, Ashley Miller’s Third Eye sunglasses, music by Justin Wright of Expo ’70, and woven necklaces and wall hangings by Rainbow Kimono out of California.