Weekend Max Mara opens its first U.S. store at South Coast Plaza

Weekend Max Mara has picked Costa Mesa as the home for its first free-standing boutique in North America, a 1,500-square-foot space on Level 1 of the South Coast Plaza shopping center between the Aveda and Free People stores.

Launched in 1984 and positioned as a slightly more laid-back (as in “for the weekend”) lifestyle label within the Max Mara stable of brands, Weekend Max Mara has a robust international presence of 190 stand-alone stores, but until the opening of the new store earlier this month, it could be bought in the U.S. only through high-end department stores such as Saks Fifth Avenue and Bloomingdale’s. In addition to showcasing the full range of Weekend Max Mara women’s apparel, accessories and footwear, the new boutique will be the exclusive location to stock the brand’s newest bag — a puffy clutch with an oversized clasp that’s been dubbed the Pasticcino — the Italian word for “small pastry.” Buon appetito — and happy shopping for your weekend-appropriatewardrobe.

Weekend Max Mara, 3333 Bristol St., Costa Mesa.

& Other Stories’ second SoCal store is in full bloom on Beverly Drive

The 3-year-old Swedish brand & Other Stories has a soft spot for California, collaborating with the likes of Rodarte’s Kate and Laura Mulleavy, Clare V. designer Clare Vivier and skate-shoe maker Vans. So it’s hardly surprising that the H&M-owned women’s label is enthusiastically growing its retail presence in the Los Angeles area. Barely two months after opening its first SoCal store at South Coast Plaza, door No. 2 is open for business smack in the middle of Beverly Hills.

The store, which officially opened Nov. 11, is located at the southeast corner of Beverly Drive and Brighton Way (in a space previously occupied by the Gap) that’s had its Art Deco façade get an eye-catching green-and-gold makeover. (It’s either sheer coincidence or the Swedes have a thing for Art Deco. The façade instantly reminded us of the Eastern Columbia Building in downtown Los Angeles where fellow Stockholm-based brand Acne Studios opened back in 2013.) Behind that façade is 5,700 square feet of floor space stocked with the label’s full range of apparel, footwear, handbags, beauty products, accessories and jewelry. Perhaps fittingly for a company going through a retail growth spurt, the opening weekend saw the storefront windows filled with a living wildflower installation by Tigers to Lilies botanical director Lili Cuzor, and the interior was dotted with her specially made bouquets.

A third area store is germinating, and if all grows according to plan, an & Other Stories store will blossom at the Americana at Brand shopping center in Glendale in spring 2017.

& Other Stories, 370 N. Beverly Drive, Beverly Hills.

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