Events – South Coast Plaza https://www.southcoastplaza.com Tue, 11 Jan 2022 20:34:35 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.1.1 Visit Our Trio of Giant Christmas Trees https://www.southcoastplaza.com/stories/2021/11/visit-our-trio-of-giant-christmas-trees/ Fri, 19 Nov 2021 20:36:25 +0000 https://www.southcoastplaza.com/?p=65029

VISIT OUR TRIO OF GIANT CHRISTMAS TREES

Yes, we have not one but three trees to enjoy, each unique and beautifully decorated

 

It’s warm, brilliant and gorgeous in all 96 feet of its majestic height. Our giant outdoor Christmas tree, along with its two other towering siblings indoors, are ready to evoke wonder and get everyone in a holiday mood. Our fir in Town Center Park was unveiled Nov. 18 during the 40th anniversary of our Tree Lighting, a complimentary annual event featuring a musical show and a countdown to the tree’s illumination presented by the Segerstrom Family, owners of South Coast Plaza.

South Coast Plaza is the only shopping center in all of California with a trio of magnificent giant Christmas trees – one located outside and the other two inside, in Jewel Court and the Crate and Barrel/Macy’s Home Store wing. Each tree is unique and beautifully decorated with a theme, making all of them popular sites for our guests’ selfies and photos with family and friends throughout the holiday season.

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Our fabulous tree trio up close:

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The Tree at Town Center Park

 

Our outdoor tree from Shasta County in Northern California comes alive at dusk and is purposely decorated entirely with more than 94,000 colorful lights and a radiant star, giving it picturesque brilliance. It’s bright enough to be visible like a welcome beacon to passengers on planes descending westward toward John Wayne Airport on clear fall evenings. Located in the middle of Town Center Park, the tree can be reached by crossing Unity Bridge next to Claim Jumper in the Din Tai Fung wing.

 

The Segerstrom Family’s Annual Tree Lighting Celebration

The tree was unveiled in spectacular fashion at the end of a special show produced by one of South Coast Plaza’s longtime arts partners, the Orange County School of the Arts and hosted this year by Broadway and TV star Matthew Morrison, an OCSA alumnus. Morrison performed two songs, even accompanying himself on the ukulele while singing the charming classic Hawaiian Christmas Song, Mele Kalikimaka.

The high school student dancers, singers and musicians of OCSA’s performing arts troupe Montage delivered a high-energy repertoire of holiday classic favorites, including Winter Wonderland and Let it Snow (and “snow” did fall), and contemporary songs such as Hot Chocolate from the 2004 animated film Polar Express.

Always delighting little children when he makes a surprise visit every year, Santa arrived in time to lead the countdown to the illumination of the tree – the finale of the evening. Visit the tree beginning just before sunset for the best photos.

MOMENTS FROM THE 2021 TREE LIGHTING SHOW

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The Great Tree in the Crate and Barrel/Macy’s Home Store Wing

 

This colorful tree filled with carved figures stands three stories tall and has a distinct Santa theme with numerous delightful details children will love. Two giant Santa figures dramatically rise 15 feet tall from a Victorian miniature village on a mountain nestled in the tree’s roots. At regular intervals, two vintage steam engine trains pass through and around 12 small Victorian houses. The giant tree also features 13 carved smaller trees adorned with 700 ornaments, while the canopy is decorated with more than 7,000 LED lights.

Here’s a fun family activity: View the tree from levels 2 and 3 and see if you can figure out who’s who among the 14 figures in the big canopy: Pere Noel, Thomas Nast Santa, Dun Che Lao Ren, Father Christmas, Julnisse, Jultomten, Weihnachtsmann, Christkindl, Ded Moroz, Belsnickel, Baboushka, Pelznickel, Knecht Ruprecht, Santa Claus. Crowning the tree is a gold star supported by a vertical icy swirl and white and blue frosty figures representing winter winds. Keen eyes will spot a wintry snow globe.

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The Tree in Jewel Court

 

Undoubtedly a South Coast Plaza guest favorite and the most photographed among our giant trees year after year, our dazzling tree in Jewel Court is lavishly decorated with giant iridescent finial, round and other vintage-inspired traditional ornaments in red, green, yellow and silver. The polygonal muted gilt base is covered with elegant bas-relief panels featuring toy soldiers inspired by The Nutcracker. The toy soldier theme is especially fitting because South Coast Plaza is a longtime supporter of the American Ballet Theatre’s annual December production of The Nutcracker at Segerstrom Center for the Arts.

Crowning this knockout of a tree is a large gold star topper, but continue to look upward to view the stunning mosaic dome by Los Angeles artist Marion Sampler, encircled for the holiday season by a gleaming ornament-festooned garland from which a radii of twinkling lights emanate. The result is opulent and splendid.

 

Perfect for Photos: Our Poinsettia Trees

As you walk through South Coast Plaza, stop by our trees made from tiers of red poinsettia plants. Located throughout the center, they’re festive and ideal for photos.

A Holiday Tree Walking Experience

To walk through the South Coast Plaza campus to view all our three trees, we recommend beginning at dusk. Start with the tree at Town Center Park (illuminated just before sunset), followed by the tree in Jewel Court. Take the Bridge of Gardens and end at the Great Tree in the Crate and Barrel/Macy’s Home Store wing. You also can reverse the order.

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]]> Q&A: Monique Lhuillier Marks 25 Years of Design https://www.southcoastplaza.com/stories/2021/11/qa-monique-lhuillier-marks-25-years-of-design/ Fri, 05 Nov 2021 06:39:41 +0000 https://www.southcoastplaza.com/?p=64021

Q&A: MONIQUE LHUILLIER MARKS 25 YEARS OF DESIGN

BY INGRID SCHMIDT

The LA designer discusses her journey in developing a successful lifestyle brand

Celebrating 25 years in business, Los Angeles-based designer Monique Lhuillier made a name for her dreamy bridal gowns and has since built a lifestyle empire. Her brand is known for a distinct aesthetic that she describes as “feminine and glamorous, but with a modern twist.” 

To mark the occasion, Lhuillier has debuted a 25th anniversary dress produced in a limited run of 25 and inspired by her red carpet gowns worn by Taylor Swift and Kaley Cuoco. Also in the mix is her new book Monique Lhuillier: Dreaming of Fashion and Glamour, which includes a foreword by long-time client Reese Witherspoon.

Monique Lhuillier 25th anniversary dress

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“If you look at my work from early on until today, you’ll see that my point of view hasn’t really wavered.”

– Monique Lhuillier

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The center is a fitting venue for marking the anniversary, given that her achievements in creating a coveted brand are manifested in her year-old boutique, the only store to carry the widest range of products reflecting the Monique Lhuillier lifestyle. They include her signature bridal, evening and ready-to-wear collections as well as the more affordable ML Monique Lhuillier ready-to-wear and Bliss bridal collections, shoes, accessories, lingerie in collaboration with Hanky Panky, home fragrance, and a namesake eau de parfum that debuted last year.

Lhuillier’s design signatures are omnipresent, including every hue of pink, wedding gowns crafted in fresh iterations of lace, and convertible dresses with details such as detachable sleeves or capes.

At the Pottery Barn, Pottery Barn Kids and Pottery Barn Teen stores at South Coast Plaza, collaborative Monique Lhuillier collections span bedding, lamps and rugs to tabletop, toys, wallpaper, home accessories and holiday decor.

Since launching her company in 1996, Lhuillier has worked alongside her husband, Tom Bugbee, who serves as CEO. She talked to us about this experience, her advice for fashion entrepreneurs, and what’s on the horizon.

A conversation with Monique Lhuillier about 25 years of design:

Tell us about how you grew your brand.

When we started our company, I was a bride-to-be looking for a wedding dress and I had graduated from fashion school (the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising) in L.A. I didn’t think that there were a lot of options for brides, so I decided to start this brand. The struggle wasn’t just breaking through, which was the biggest challenge, but also keeping it owned by us and growing, because we never took outside money. 

So we were always very lean and smart about our decisions. At the same time, we were not an overnight success. We did not have access to PR, marketing, or funding, so we did a lot of things by ourselves.

After four years, I could see that the tide was turning. People started to say my name correctly, and I knew we had some momentum. We opened our first retail store in Beverly Hills in 2001. Because so many celebrities are based in Los Angeles, I had stylists saying, ‘If you could make that dress in a color, I would love to put it on the red carpet.’ That really helped to build our brand and our name recognition and visibility for the world to see. I became a member of the CFDA (Council of Fashion Designers of America) in 2002 and showed during New York Fashion Week for many years. That also helped cement our place in American fashion. 

As our brand grew, I wanted to expand into other categories. I didn’t want to just be in a woman’s life for her wedding. What about for her special occasions? So that’s where the evening gowns came from. 

Then it was, what does her home look like when she gets married? And when they have children, what does the nursery look like?  So we started designing home products with Pottery Barn.

Most recently, my fragrance is part of finishing the look. All the puzzle pieces are coming together.

Any mistakes you’ve learned from along the way?

Sometimes our collections were too large, because I wanted to be something for everybody. Then I realized that people come to us for a specific thing. It’s so easy to over-design and make big collections. But then when you go to produce, it costs a fortune and you never get to regroup before the next collection comes out.

Can you call out a dress moment that was particularly meaningful to you?

In 2019, I dressed a record eight women on the red carpet for the Golden Globes. I mean, that’s unheard of! Normally you dress two, maybe three. That night was really remarkable because I knew two were going to wear my designs, but I didn’t know that all the others were going to decide to go with it at the last minute.

Dressing celebrities, you don’t know until they hit the carpet what it is they decide. So we were watching, saying, ‘Oh another one! Another one! Now there’s four, now five!’ They all looked completely different and beautiful in their own way. So that is a night that I will cherish forever.

How has it been to work side by side with your husband, Tom, from day one?

Back then, Tom was getting his MBA at USC and working for Deloitte & Touche, so he has a business background. Our roles were defined, business and creative. But when you’re a start-up, you wear many hats. Now 25 years in, we are still involved in everything from day to day, but have great teams in place, so we can function more efficiently and effectively.

Tom and I have been married for 26 years and the first ten years, we didn’t  start a family because the business was our child. It can be challenging. We may have different opinions about something and then sit down for dinner in 20 minutes.  The benefit is we both really want what’s best for the company. We’ve stayed authentic to what it is that we do.

What’s in the future for you and your business?

I would like to see more international growth from our brand. South Coast Plaza was a fit for us because they have a lot of international clientele. I’d also like to explore getting into the beauty business, because I feel that a color makeup palette makes sense for our brand, especially on those special days. We have more footwear coming in the fall and are expanding our accessories collections. I now want us to go on vacation with the customer, so I have a resort collection coming out in December for spring 2022 that is new to my offering.

An exhibit of Monique Lhuillier’s favorite archival gowns from the past 25 years is on display steps away from her boutique on level 1 in the Saks Fifth Avenue wing through Nov. 15

What advice would you give to young designers who want to succeed in the fashion industry?

If you look at my work from early on until today, you’ll see that my point of view hasn’t really wavered. My biggest advice is to have a very clear vision of what it is you stand for and stick with it.

Monique Lhuillier

LEVEL 1, SAKS FIFTH AVENUE WING
714.241.4432

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