Simone Legno of tokidoki at Nordstrom

This Saturday marks the return of tokidoki designer Simone Legno to Hawaii.  If you remember from the last time he was here, lines were ridiculously long at both Sephora and Le Sportsac.  This time around, he’ll be at Nordstrom promoting the release of his latest collabo with Japanese footwear maker Onitsuka Tiger.

He’ll be doing a meet and greet from 1pm-4pm on the second floor.  BUT! you have to be quick, as only the first 350 get a chance to meet Simone and only one item can be signed, so think long and hard about what item to bring.

Also, find Lofa there and win respect and adoration from the atypicalLIVING crew.

For more info on this event, check out the tokidoki website for more.

atypicalLIVING covers… the Nordstrom wing of Ala Moana

So, if you were paying attention last week, we noted that Ala Moana was launching a weke-long shopping event called “Shop A Lea” culminating in the grand opening of the newest anchor store of Ala Moana: Nordstrom.

True to it’s mainland couterpart, this Nordstrom is huge, complete with a live piano player, an XBOX 360 in the men’s dressing room and countless items for the fashinistas to go nuts over.  Of course, the selection inside of Nordstrom definitely did not appeal to us (considering the clientele they’re trying to reach).  So, we decided to explore the rest of the wing.

Since Metropark isn’t slated to open until May, we really struggled to find things to do in this new section.  If you’re a guy and your girl brings you along to this section of the mall, here’s a primer on things you can enjoy in the meantime.

The first stop was Williams-Sonoma.  Of course, the kitchen gadgets are dope and, for some reason, Lofa went on a question spree asking about kitchen towels.  Don’t ask, you just had to be there.  Anyway, I dunno if it was the store remodel or because the store is in a bigger spot, but we defnitely felt the lack of food found in the store.
Kinda disturbing.  But, to make up for it, we found this:

Creme Brulee Torch? Butane powered?  Word.

After another couple of stores where we wadered aorund, we happened upon Design Within Reach.  It’s there that we found the ultimate…

The Aeron Chair. The ultimate in high-end pimp office accesories.  Remember, save your money and go buy Lofa this chair (because I’m not gonna pony up the cash for this one).  In black.  Size C.  Or you could buy his plane fare and accommodations to ComicCon.  They’re around the same price.

So, to review: if you’re a guy, outside of the XBOX 360 in the dressing room, Design Within Reach and, perhaps, Williams-Sonoma, you’re best bet is to have an iPod, DS, or PSP handy, because the girl will go nuts.  The dope girls stuff outnumbers the dope guys stuff by at least 3 to 1 here.  It goes down to 2 to 1 if you’re the type to rock the hella trendy metrosexual type gear.  There’s a couple stores full of that, plus the Nordstrom “urban” section is full of that steez (Ed Hardy, expensive denim, and tight fitting shirts).

That number will change once Metropark opens up, but still… not enough.

This one was designed or the female fashionista with money to burn.  And it’ll look like it will stay that way.  Guys, stick with the corner of the mall that has BR/Footlocker/T&C/GAP/AE in it or the opposite side of the mall that has the Apple Store/Shirokiya/A&F/PacSun/Blue Hawaii in it.

But, I suggest giving it a couple of months… wait for all the shops to open up and revisit.  There’s heavy money invested in this, and so far, it looks like it might pay off… if the right people come to it.

Shop*a*lea this week at Ala Moana

Today starts the biggest shopping event that’s ever been seen in the history of Ala Moana.  The event, which runs today until next Sunday, will feature demonstrations and personal appearances by fashion gurus and celebrity chefs, as well as giveaway aplenty throughout the next week.

The crown jewel of the event is the grand opening of Nordstrom (aka that huge structre they’ve been building on Kapiolani) and a slew of other stores.  I’m perosnally stoked that they’ve decided to bring in a Metropark to liven up the shopping atmosphere at Ala Moana.  It’s still shopping inside of a mall, but it’ll be a lot more lively.

The list of events can be found here.

For more information on the event, check out the shop*a*lea website.