On Thursday, Oct. 3, the University of Maryland hosted a pop-up event with clothing brand PrettyLittleThing as part of their East Coast Pop Up Tour.
Student Entertainment Events (SEE), UMD’s principle event-planning organization, coordinated the event. The pop-up was initially planned to take place on McKeldin Mall but was relocated to the parking spaces in front of the Memorial Chapel due to recent inclement weather.
Vice president of finance and operations for SEE, senior technology and information design major, Wayde Parham, collaborated with SEE president Yuri Kim and a team at PrettyLittleThing to organize the event.
“They connected with us…we just found ways that we can help them out, with them coming to our campus,” Parham said.
SEE organizes on-campus events such as lectures, comedy shows and concerts, but this is the first time the board has done a brand collaboration with Parham’s involvement, he said.
“If this is something that goes well, and we feel that the UMD community likes, it is definitely something we’ll be open to in the future,” Parham said.
PrettyLittleThing team members running the event declined to comment.
The event featured a pink bus, decorated with an array of advertising images. Additionally, there was a photo station and a prize wheel where students had the opportunity to win free tote bags, phone charms, sweatshirts, sippy cups and selfie lights. The interior of the bus featured clothing and jewelry, as well as an array of pink decor.
Freshman finance major Taylor Anderton shared her first impressions of the event as she waited in the line approaching the pop-up.
“Everything’s pink and it just looks really cute,” Anderton said.
Freshman finance major Emma Pitcher and sophomore psychology major Elizabeth Sappington also noted the unicorn decor on the exterior of the bus and expressed their appreciation for the multiplicity of mirrors on the inside.
However, sophomore technology and information design major Kelechi Ogbonna observed the somewhat jumbled feel of the pop-up. There was a long line and the QR code to scan for a discount on PrettyLittleThing’s website was not working, according to Ogbanna.Â
Prizes available from the prize wheel were also running low when she arrived about halfway through the event’s timeslot.
“It almost felt like they were kind of rushing us to get out,” Ogbanna said.
Ogbanna was still thrilled to meet La La Anthony, TV actress and PrettyLittleThing ambassador, while at the event.
As a self-proclaimed accessible and trendy clothing brand, PrettyLittleThing makes it their mission to inspire and bolster confidence in their customers. The pop-up tour bus will continue its venture to various other universities along the East Coast throughout October.