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"   Photo: Getty Images   Leaving their jobs at Bally and Burberry, respectively, Carol Lim and Humberto Leon set out with $10,000, bad credit, and a lease on a quiet NYC street to open the concept store Opening Ceremony. Since then (2002), the self-proclaimed &amp;quot;Mall Kids&amp;quot; from California have launched a department store in Japan, an in-house clothing line (sold in 400 stores), a blog, an e-commerce site, an annual magazine and, most recently, a book celebrating its 10th anniversary. Last night, at the French Institute Alliance Fran\u00E7aise in NYC, the twosome\u2014who also serve as co-creative directors for the French luxury brand Kenzo\u2014discussed their history of selling established designers&amp;#039; clothing next to up-and-coming ones&amp;#039;, work-life balance in France (read: an hour lunch break and May vacation) and hoarding (ahem, collecting and archiving clothes).   As Leon explained, &amp;quot;It&amp;#039;s organized, so it&amp;#039;s not hoarding.&amp;quot; Before their book signing, ELLE.com caught up with the friends who met at UC Berkeley about 20 years ago and bonded over a love of food, shopping, and Hong Kong. Here are some highlights. ELLE: Bringing Havaianas to the US by developing an importation strategy made a huge impact on the Brazilian brand. Are there others you were first to debut? Carol Lim: [Working with] Topshop; it was the first time they sold outside of their store in the UK. There was Cheap Monday, which was the first time they sold outside [Sweden]. Humberto Leon: We were one of the first Acne carriers. ELLE: Seeing people wearing these brands, are you overcome with the impact you&amp;#039;ve made? HL: No, no. We get excited for it. It&amp;#039;s fun. ELLE: A big part of OC&amp;#039;s business is bringing back the brands of your youth. Which brands would you like to collaborate with? HL: We grew up loving Esprit, Benetton. These are brands that once had a really rich story to tell, and I think that those could be interesting. ELLE: As the exclusive retailer to launch the DKNY and Rihanna for River Island collection, what&amp;#039;s your relationship with her? HL: She&amp;#039;s always been a friend to the store. She&amp;#039;s lovely, and we wanted to support her project. She supports us a lot. ELLE: Since the early days, your moms have been sewing together clothing for OC. Are they still involved? CL: They&amp;#039;re a huge part of what we do. They&amp;#039;re supportive\u2014still sometimes in the store, in L.A. [selling merchandise]. They love to shop with us. ELLE: Having been named &amp;quot;Most Likely To Succeed&amp;quot; in high school, what would be your superlative today? CL: Maybe &amp;quot;Most Likely To Eat The Most Food.&amp;quot; Read the latest breaking fashion news. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.elle.com/fashion/news/a16327/opening-ceremony-owners-carol-lim-humberto-leon-interview/>