CITY & ITS PEOPLE
Chapter 03｜Wellness Status Era — Luxury Wants Your Morning Routine
Dior sells yoga blocks, Balenciaga buys out Barry's in WeHo, and LA-born Alo turns around and sells handmade Italian bags. Luxury used to want a spot in your closet; now it wants a spot on your calendar. LA Anthropology chapter three, and along the way: LA's two hottest smoothies of 2026 both quietly use grandma's ingredients.
Translated from Jasmine’s original Chinese. The illustrated slides are on the interactive reader.
Key points
- Have you noticed? Luxury stores look more and more like gyms, and gyms look more and more like luxury stores.
- The money already moved here: Luxury moving in is just following everyone's wallets and calendars.
- Salomon × Natural Pilates: the fitting room becomes a Pilates mat: You used to try things on in the fitting room; now you try them on on a Pilates mat.
- Bathhouse: a record store becomes a sauna: Amoeba itself is still open on Hollywood Blvd.
- 3 questions to ask before you buy: If you hesitate on any of these, start with the free version.
Full text
01 | Have you noticed?
Balenciaga bought out the Barry's in WeHo, Alo sells handmade leather bags, Erewhon moved into LACMA, and an old record store site on Sunset Blvd is turning into a sauna. Luxury stores look more and more like gyms, and gyms look more and more like luxury stores.
02 | Status changed its proof
It used to be logo bags, gala invitations and fancy watches; in 2026 it's Saturday morning Pilates, cold-plunge bookings and sleep scores. The urge to be seen hasn't changed; only the evidence has.
03 | The money already moved here
GWI: the global wellness economy was $6.8 trillion in 2024, projected to reach about $9.8 trillion by 2029, bigger than tourism, with North America as the largest market. Luxury moving in is just following everyone's wallets and calendars.
04 | The big names first: Dior
Haute Wellness Dior goes from moving to calming down to sleeping well: resistance bands, yoga blocks, a Pilates ring, silk pillowcases and eye masks. Three resistance bands sell for about £400 in the UK, and yes, they are very pretty.
05 | Balenciaga × Barry's: the most LA stop
Barry's started in WeHo in 1998, and in summer 2026 Balenciaga's LA event was held there: a class was $34 at the time, and the collab smoothie was $15, with black sesame paste in it. Isn't that just our black sesame soup?
06 | Alo: the one going the other way
Alo, an LA-born brand whose stores are called Sanctuaries, has moved from wellness toward luxury: handmade Florentine bags from $1,200, each with its own Intention Crystal. The two sides met in the middle.
07 | Erewhon × LACMA: a smoothie moves into the museum
Upgraded to a permanent partnership on 10/5/2026: the LACMA Smoothie, only at Erewhon at LACMA, with lion's mane; the collab college tees and totes were inspired by the Calder fountain out front.
08 | Salomon × Natural Pilates: the fitting room becomes a Pilates mat
Trail running brand Salomon runs Pilates classes at its LA store, sponsored by Aesop too. You used to try things on in the fitting room; now you try them on on a Pilates mat.
09 | Bathhouse: a record store becomes a sauna
6400 Sunset Blvd was once Amoeba Music; New York's Bathhouse signed a 25-year lease, expected to open in 2028, and reports say the main sauna will hold 250 people. Amoeba itself is still open on Hollywood Blvd.
10 | The LA wellness status map
Barry's and the 1 Hotel (Alo Runners Club) in WeHo, Erewhon at LACMA in Miracle Mile, the House of Dior on Rodeo Drive, 6400 Sunset in Hollywood; plus Pause WeHo and Remedy Place.
11 | What are they really selling? Time
As a single day: run with Alo at the 1 Hotel in the morning, a drink after class at Barry's, a lion's mane smoothie after LACMA, and fall asleep on a Dior pillowcase. Luxury moved from the closet onto the calendar.
12 | Why now?
Luxury has always chased scarcity. What used to be scarce was the limited-edition bag; now it's time, sleep and a quiet mind, and the most envied person is the one who looks well-rested.
13 | Two-city mirror
Taipei is goji berries in Grandma's thermos, a foot soak before bed, arm-swinging in the park, everyone soaking together in Beitou; LA is lion's mane smoothies, cold plunges, red light and a sauna for 250. Same care, different spotlight.
14 | The funniest part: grandma was way ahead
The two buzzy smoothies: black sesame = 芝麻糊, lion's mane = 猴頭菇. GWI also says 'traditional and complementary medicine' is the second-fastest-growing category. Same wisdom, different branding.
15 | But I want to be honest too
Alo bags from $1,200, Dior resistance bands for £400, a Barry's class plus a drink for $49. When wellness becomes status, it becomes another kind of pressure. 'Rest shouldn't need a receipt.'
16 | A daily ritual you can have without buying Dior
Open the window and get some sun before scrolling, walk to get your coffee or matcha, give yourself 10 minutes to stretch in the afternoon, soak your feet before bed, and leave your phone outside the bedroom overnight.
17 | 3 questions to ask before you buy
Will I actually do this every week? Does it make my life better, or just my photos? Would I still want it without the logo? If you hesitate on any of these, start with the free version.
Last word
'Luxury used to be being able to afford it; now luxury is being able to fall asleep.'
Places in this story
In this series
An original JSLALALAND field guide by Jasmine Chang (@jslalaland).