You’ll Never Guess Where This Rad New Concept Shop Lives

Becoming a "household name" is difficult — especially if you're trying to make a name for yourself in the fashion world. Sometimes it can seem like a brand is either unknown or overexposed. That's where Space comes in. It's Nordstrom's new, soon-to-be permanent shop in shop, a fixture of lesser-known, but mega-loved designers curated by the brand's visionary director of special projects, Olivia Kim.

We were lucky enough to get a little taste of what's to come when Space debuts (online and in select stores come August 20) when we travelled to Seattle a few weeks ago. We went to preview the store's fall collection and participate in an exclusive pre-order shopping extravaganza alongside Nordstrom's most die-hard fans and followers. There, we saw women who had never heard of Space's range of designers (everything from Acne to Faustine Steinmetz and Undercover) jump at the chance to shop their threads — before they hit stores.

The scene was a perfect embodiment of the project's mission: to introduce labels like the U.K.'s Shrimps and Japan's Noir Kei Ninomiya to Nordstrom's already massive cliental base and support those designers in a unique way, physically differentiating them from more traditional brands on the Nordstrom floor. It's like your crazy local boutique, only inside one of the country's most trusted department stores. In short: It's the kind of house and household name you wanna be.

Click through for a first look at the threads you can find at Space come August 20.