Teen Vogue Launches Its Haute Spot at South Coast Plaza

By Emili Vesilind; Source: LA Times

Orange County ’tweens and teens flooded South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa on Saturday morning to shop (or contentedly loiter) at Teen Vogue’s new pop-up event space, Teen Vogue Haute Spot, which opened over the weekend in its own storefront at the swanky mall.

Opening day featured a fashion presentation with models illustrating a handful of fall trends: leather, glam-rock and something called “homeward bound” (“Teen Vogue’s way of camping,” explained the moderator).

The buzzing outpost, which is open through Sept. 27, boasts a grab bag of teen merch—including a table brimming with Laura Mercier and Bobbi Brown makeup and teen-targeted perfumes like Marc Jacobs Daisy, along with scattered racks of clothes culled from retailers around the mall, including H&M, Paul Frank, Roxy, Coach and Gucci.

But none of it’s for sale in the pop-up. If shoppers want to purchase an item, they head to the store that carries it, then return with their receipt to pick up a swag bag full of makeup and fashion odds and ends valued at $200.

Friends Carly and Sophie, 13-year-old Newport Beach residents with matching blue rubber bands on their braces, weren’t sold on any of the merchandise, but were happy to hang out, play on the computers and scope out “the models!”

A DJ kicked out the tunes (Ne-Yo, Justin Timberlake) from one corner, while models twirled on a small stage set up in another. After the presentation, a gaggle of giggling teens took pictures in front of the Teen Vogue-branded Step-and-Repeat. Scattered throughout the pop-up are computer stations supporting HP laptops—“Twitter your friends right now and have them come down here,” suggested the moderator.

Stephanie Ceveba, a shy 15-year-old from Garden Grove, wandered in with her dad, Javier, who encouraged her to look around. “I think it’s pretty fun in here and I think the models are really pretty,” she said, while rifling through a rack of clothes.

Aya Kanai, contributing editor for Teen Vogue, said the 9-year-old magazine opened an Haute Spot in Short Hills Mall in New Jersey recently, and the company was so thrilled with the response, it was looking to replicate the promotional event out West.

“It’s really a way to show girls how they can take stores in the mall and create the Teen Vogue look,” she said. “The editors create a look that’s very specific – it’s Vogue, but it’s for a younger girl. Girls shop and consume media culture in completely different ways than they have in any other time. That’s the most crucial element in keeping Teen Vogue relevant—keeping up with that.”

The outpost will be buzzing with events over the next three weeks—including the chance to customize your Uggs with an airbrush artist (2 p.m. Sept. 13) and special appearances by “Gossip Girl’s” lead stylist Eric Daman (Sept. 20) and Amy Astley, Teen Vogue’s editor-in-chief (Sept. 26.) Visit TeenVoguePromo.com for the complete schedule of events.

Top photo: Teens killing time (stylishly) at Teen Vogue’s Haute Spot. Bottom: A model shows off the "glam-rock" trend for fall. Credit: Emili Vesilind / Los Angeles Times