Music festival cool coming to the mall
Simon Property Group is giving shoppers a reason to come to that mall that doesn’t involve shopping.
The company is teaming up with Refinery29 to transform mall shopping into a summer festival experience with fashion "stages," beauty bars, and live musical performances. Style Festival takes inspiration from the music festival culture that has become a millennial rite of passage.
The interactive Style Festival will feature a headlining performer at each stop, and custom activities that capitalize on shoppers' desire to create their own individual style and discover local talent.
"Following the success of last year's partnership with Simon, we worked to create an even more engaging shopping experience that adds a new layer of entertainment to activations our audience loves, like beauty bars, DIY projects, and curated local finds," said Piera Gelardi, creative director, Refinery29. "This generation is crazy about all things festival culture and it's one of Refinery29's most popular content areas throughout the spring and summer. Style Festival will surprise shoppers by turning a trip to the mall into a super-rad, creative, and sharable event."
Style Festival will extend digitally through editorial posts on Refinery29.com, including a photo series that focuses on street style at each event. The events will be supported through high-impact media on Refinery29.com, promotions on Refinery29 and Simon social channels, andwww.simon.com/r29stylefestival, a dedicated micro-site hosted by Simon. Additionally, shoppers are encouraged to share their Style Festival experiences and discoveries using the hashtags #R29StyleFestival and #FoundAtSimon.
"In this second year of collaborating, Refinery29 and Simon continue to seek out ways to appeal to the style preferences, tastes and sense of individualism that defines the millennial shopper," said Chidi Achara, Global Creative Director for Simon. "Events like Style Festival are helping to redefine the shopping center experience in new, modern and innovative ways."
Each event will include:
"Sound Stage" Musical Performances: Music is the newest element to the Refinery29 and Simon collaboration that seeks to merge shopping and entertainment. Style Festival attendees will have the unique experience of discovering emerging musical artists — from top headlining acts to the coolest DJs — in a more intimate setting than a stadium or concert hall. Musical acts include: MS MR, Twin Shadow, Austra, Cults, and more to come.
"Style Stage" Indie Boutiques & National Brands: Refinery29 and Simon have invited their favorite independent boutiques and retailers to participate in Style Festival, creating an interplay between local, breaking talent and popular national retail brands, all within the mall landscape. This shoppable "stage" will be inspired by summer's trends curated by Refinery29 editors, such as "Jean Scene" and "Fringed Benefits," and feature select items from local boutiques such as Style Mafia, Bear Cat Vintage, Beehive, I Shine 365, Supra Endura, and Violet Boutique.
"Beauty Stage" Beauty Bars: Style Festival will have a beauty team on hand at pop-up beauty bars to give shoppers festival-inspired hair trends that have been selected by Refinery29 editors. Festivalgoers will also have the opportunity to select from a range of metallic, jewelry-inspired temporary tattoos at the pop-up tattoo parlor.
"DIY Stage:" Guests of the Style Festival can personalize custom band-inspired tour tees, taking home a keepsake souvenir from the experience.
Event locations and dates: • Brea Mall — Brea, CA, 6/20 • The Domain — Austin, TX, 6/27 • Dadeland Mall — Miami, FL, 7/11 • King of Prussia Mall — King of Prussia, PA, 7/25 • Burlington Mall — Burlington, MA, 8/1 • The Fashion Centre at Pentagon City — Washington, DC, 8/8