Laura Vinroot Poole and Irene Neuwirth Bring a Cult North Carolina Boutique to the West Coast

What happens when two of retail’s most whimsical women join forces? Inside Capitol’s exquisite new outpost at Brentwood Country Mart in Los Angeles, boutique owner Laura Vinroot Poole and jewelry designer Irene Neuwirth’s shared love of color and unabashed playfulness is given free reign. From the vintage model horse named Wonderful Eric at the shop entrance (Neuwirth is a keen rider) to the woodland-themed installation by artist Clare Crespo, complete with pink opal strawberry earrings hanging from felt vines and tourmaline and diamond rings sitting atop toadstools, to the giant paneled de Gournay folding screen and the wall of Cinderella-worthy evening gowns, the space presents a Pandora’s box of delights designed to you draw in and keep you there. “In Charlotte, customers come in and stay all day,” says Poole.

The joint endeavor has been a long time in the making as the pair first met 17 years ago, when Neuwirth was doing a trunk show in Charlotte across the street from Poole’s 20-year-old sartorial Mecca. “I walked in and was just wowed,” she recalls. “I ended up moving my jewelry into Capitol the following year, and since then Laura and I have worked together, traveled together, and become the closest of friends.” Says Poole, “Our businesses have really grown in tandem.” So when the opportunity to go into business together presented itself, they only needed the slightest of nudges. “I grew up coming here every Sunday,” says Neuwirth of the iconic Westside location, where on any given day you might see Alessandra Ambrosio grabbing a coffee, Angela Lansbury browsing in the bookstore, Gwyneth Paltrow popping into her nearby Goop store, or Harrison Ford eating a taco in the food court. “My dad and I would ride our bikes down and get a fried chicken basket from Reddi Chick.” Poole, on the other hand, has long had a loyal clientele in Los Angeles who have looked to her for introductions to brands such as Horror Vacui, Erdem, Sies Marjan, Peter Pilotto, and The Vampire’s Wife. “Sometimes the stars align and an opportunity presents itself that you just can’t refuse. The Brentwood Country Mart is always the first place I go after I land in L.A.,” she says.

Among the further fashion finds are a host of pieces exclusive to the Brentwood location, including a collection of 18-karat gold hair pins and sticks adorned with opal roses and turquoise lily of the valley that Neuwirth was moved to design for herself this past awards season. “My boyfriend [Phil Lord’s] movie Spider-Man was nominated for a host of awards, and every time I got my hair done for an event, I was wishing I had something with diamonds to put in my hair,” she says. Meanwhile, Poole enlisted Olympia Le-Tan to create a series of SoCal-themed book clutch bags (her favorite is The Psychic World of California: An Informal Look at Astrologers, Tarot Readers, and Healers) and L.A.-based Emma Parsons to design two limited-edition sandals, one in a fluro yellow and the other hot pink. “I want to show people in L.A. how to get dressed again,” says Poole. “Yoga pants just aren’t enough for me.”