Bloggers as chief merchants? Madison Los Angeles thinks so.
The ultrachic contemporary boutique retailer — with stores in Los Angeles, Brentwood and Malibu — is set to try its hand Monday at an experiment that will bring emerging Los Angeles bloggers into a roughly 500-square-foot space of its flagship 3rd Street location for a shops-in-shop concept, curated entirely by each influencer. The pop-up shop series will swap out presentations on a monthly basis and run through the end of the year, kicking off with looks from Marta Pozzan of the blog It’s Super Fashion.
The series is seen as a way of transporting much of the buzz that’s happening in the digital world to Madison as well as upping the ante on the store experience, explained owner Mark Goldstein.
“Today people want an experience when they shop just like when they go into a restaurant, so having prominent L.A. bloggers put together their looks and their vibe is interesting for shoppers,” Goldstein said. “It’s a new experience.”
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Goldstein’s also smartly capitalizing on buzz surrounding not only L.A.-based bloggers — of which Madison was focused on “not the huge ones, just more the up-and-coming,” he explained — but also the attention being paid to the broader market.
“There’s a really strong movement in L.A. at the moment both in fashion and art. I think a lot of the world’s moving to L.A. so there’s a lot of energy,” Goldstein said.
Each influencer is charged with pulling looks from Madison merchandise that will be displayed in their area of the store, in addition to a window installation.
Pozzan said she wanted her window display to be “very colorful, fresh, summery and pop-art inspired.” The former Vanity Fair Italy fashion editor said her selects for the store focused on a lot of bright colors. “I envisioned the girl shopping there being a girl who lives in L.A. and she’s shopping for summertime.”
Her pop-up outfits will feature tops from Equipment, Marni metallic bags, Missoni scarves and plenty of platform heels of which she was in-store selecting earlier this week — a job she said took her less than an hour to complete. The window mannequin will change outfits weekly with Pozzan having selected about 20 additional looks to be featured in store.
Other bloggers set to lend their style and eye to Madison’s pop-up series are Michelle Madsen of Take Aim, Tania Sarin of her namesake blog, Taye Hansberry of Stuff She Likes, stylist Angela Fink of The Fashion Sight and Elizabeth Keene of A Keene Sense of Style.
It’s the first major pairing of the blog world with Madison, which had done smaller events and brunches in the past, Goldstein said.
“We’ve been around a long time. I think you have to change with the times,” Goldstein said. “And I think the times are asking for an experience when you step into a shop, not just clothes. There has to be a certain vibe or experience you get so this is step one in our exploration of that.”
Madison’s set for a Web site relaunch, expected in the coming months that will introduce a new design but also improved back-end functionality.
As for more stores, Goldstein said “we’re sticking with what we have for now.”