Uptown outpost

ILARIA URBINATI has made a name for herself styling some of Hollywood's hottest young actors -- Emile Hirsch, James McAvoy and Ben Foster among them. But she also knows a thing or two about retail. The California-bred stylist was the buyer behind influential Los Angeles boutiques Satine and Milk, introducing L.A. to winsome designers such as Roland Mouret and Rebecca Minkoff.

Now she's casting her shrewd fashion eye on her own store, Confederacy -- a sprawling ode to edgy fashion, fine art and old-school customer service.

The 5,000-square-foot Los Feliz emporium, which includes a quaint courtyard cafe, is set to launch sometime this week. Expansive and eclectic, it will be the first genuinely swanky fashion outpost in the 'hood.

Urbinati, the daughter of local art dealer Fiorella Urbinati, isn't going it alone. Actor turned DJ Danny Masterson (of "That '70s Show") and Vancouver-based business mogul Aly Mawji -- members of the stylist's spider-webbed circle of high-profile friends -- are partnering with her on the shop.

This crew is all about six degrees of separation: Mawji and Masterson also co-own a new L.A. restaurant, Shin, with producer and DJ Mark Ronson and Julian Casablancas, the lead singer for the Strokes. And Urbinati has teamed up with another Strokes member, guitarist Albert Hammond Jr., to create a private-label collection of men's suits for the store, Albert Hammond for Confederacy.

"It's a family affair," Urbinati said. "Everyone involved is a friend." That's reflected in the name -- which the co-owners borrowed from the John Kennedy Toole book "A Confederacy of Dunces" and liked for the way it defines them as "a league or alliance."

Hammond, who's engaged to supermodel Agyness Deyn and has been credited with conceptualizing the Strokes' much-mimicked style, said that the chance to collaborate with Urbinati and Masterson was what finally persuaded him to dip his hand into mass fashion. "Bouncing things off people is one of my favorite things, even in music," he said. "If you surround yourself with the right people, you can really get some good things back."

The private label is one of dozens of brands on tap at Confederacy, which occupies two buildings -- one on the street, the other tucked behind. Women's lines from Azzedine Alaia, Boy by Band of Outsiders, Etro, Proenza Schouler, Martin Margiela, A.P.C. and Vena Cava inhabit the front building. In the back building is the store's avalanche of menswear lines, including Patrik Ervell, Nom de Guerre, Tim Hamilton, Michael Bastian and Rag & Bone (both the bespoke and ready-to-wear collections).