Not just a hatchery for LA design talent, this is one of the most dependable sources of trends to come.

Designer Cynthia Vincent wanted a place to customize jewelry and sell gifts she'd like to buy for her friends. As a result, she and her publicist Alisa Loftin opened Aero & Co. in 1999, which has become a home for Vincent's line, Twelfth Street, and many notable up-and coming LA designers. The fashion-forward store launched the careers of quirky LA designers Rami Kashou and Magda Berliner, but also carries great imports like Lara Bohinc 107 jewelry and handbags from the UK. Silver shipping rails suspended from the ceiling serve as clothing racks, which carry well-edited local labels like figmint by Maxine Dillon (who is also a clerk at the store) and Handmade by Stacy Kiehl, a whimsical line suited for waifish girls. With cement floors and a photographic mural of a forest and lake on the back wall, the gallery-like store creatively displays jewelry collections on armless mannequins, mounted antlers or inside a picture frame.