Indie designer Wendy Mullin recruits new members into her fashion cult with a store on Third Street.

Although Mullin lives in New York, the designer's Midwest roots still influence her designs. Past collections have included Western button-down shirts that could be worn by any line-dancing hick and puffy-sleeved tops once seen on the popular girls at the roller rink. Her nostalgic aesthetic carries into her store's simple decor, which has a splatter-paint wall behind the counter with "Built By Wendy" stenciled in and oversized popsicle-stick crafts on the walls. But though Mullin borrows from fashion's recent past, she updates the familiar looks with more fitted (read: flattering) cuts. In 2003, she created Wrangler 47, a premium line for the cowboy-jean company that fuses Western tradition with her indie-rock spirit. Her LA store carries that line as well as her men and women's lines—and her guitar straps, which are worn by Bright Eyes, Rooney and The Donnas. —Mai Dinh