Los Angeles: A walk-in gingerbread house modeled after an Instagram mansion

Some things can only be found in Los Angeles. Like a gingerbread house where you can buy dresses from Gucci, bags from Bottega Veneta and pumps from The Row. The online luxury fashion retailer Mytheresa has opened a pop-up shop called “Holiday House” in the Highland Park district, which is designed like a giant walk-in gingerbread house, equipped with clothing and accessories from the current collections – but also as Gingerbread cookies are baked.

The “Holiday House”, which was visited at its opening party by celebrities such as Nicky and Kathy Hilton as well as the daughter of Bruce Willis and Demi Moore, Tallulah Willis, is not modeled on any fantasy house. But probably the most magical and fascinating property that is currently being talked about in Los Angeles: The “Flamingo Estate”, a house hidden in the hills on the east side of Los Angeles and surrounded by a lush garden on seven hectares.

But Flamingo Estate is not just a place, it is also a brand that is increasingly influencing how the elite in the US metropolises care for their body and soul, nourish themselves and enjoy themselves. The company began shipping boxes of fresh vegetables and fruit from farms in and around Los Angeles to neighbors during the pandemic, followed by homemade soaps with sage from their own garden. Today there is a whole range of care and wellness products as well as an extremely curated selection of exclusive foods that meet the need for naturalness as well as the fine dining demands of gourmets who want every aperitif snack to have a special story about its origin and preparation want to hear: dehydrated strawberries with guajillo chili, Japanese milk bread from Tokyo, honey from the bees by Julianne Moore, Lebron James or Ai Weiwei. Customers and fans include many celebrities such as Oprah Winfrey and Kris Jenner.

Flamingo Estate is the work of Richard Christiansen, who once worked with his creative agency Chandelier in New York for companies ranging from Nike to Hermès. The native Australian knows all about branding and after experimenting with the first farm boxes and soaps and hitting a nerve, he understood: really good, environmentally friendly food, flowers or plants can be elevated to a luxury product and marketed as such. “Ultimately, this is also a way to get people to buy sustainable products. What is most important is the enjoyment and pleasure that these products provide, rather than the mission behind them,” he says. The concept works: since it was founded in 2020, several investors have been acquired and the company is growing in the double-digit range.

This is also due to Christiansen's extremely photogenic house, where the light always seems to shimmer rose-colored and where all Flamingo Estate products are photographed. Chrissy Teigen and John Legend, celebrity couple and fans from the very beginning, have come to dinner several times. And Legend has also played on Christiansen's piano. Events for celebrities and brands as well as Mytheresa are also regularly organized here. “This place is fascinating because nature, luxurious ambience and perfect hospitality are combined. “You are literally sitting 'in the middle of nowhere', the staff are wearing white jackets and everyone is in casual conversation with each other,” described Michael Kliger, CEO of the luxury retailer founded in Munich. “Flamingo Estate” embodies a lot of what luxury means. “An excellent product, scarcity and storytelling,” says Kliger. Christiansen added: “We deliver the farm boxes to the same zip codes of the most important Mytheresa customers in Los Angeles.”

They can now buy luxury fashion in a gingerbread shop, but only digitally: not a single real item of clothing is hanging in the boutique, only QR codes on the sweet imitations link to the right item in the online shop. “What other luxury company would let you get away with something like that and help finance it?” Richard Christiansen praises the cooperation. Two bakeries spent several weeks baking the work of art, which is based on Christiansen's own kitchen, bar and living room. There's even a piano covered in gingerbread – which John Legend has also played.