The first time I went to PLATFORM was for a CAPSULE pop-up shop opening party. Platform is an open-air mall, more or less, located in Culver City, Calif., just east of Venice. I brought my friend Matt to the party, we enjoyed the free drinks and the cute crowd, then took to exploring the rest of the shopping center, which I have since come to call "the amusement park for aging millennials with disposable income." My eyes bugged larger with every hip retailer, eatery, and service: AESOP, BLUE BOTTLE, SWEETGREEN, VAN LEEUWEN, TOM DIXON, SOULCYCLE (more recent additions include TENOVERTEN, REFORMATION, POKETO, and BIRD). It felt like retail satire; these similarly not-quite-corporate companies with name recognition for a distinct group, all in this perfectly INSTAGRAM-y layout with upgraded mall benches and cacti in geometric planters. It turned me off, and it took me awhile to figure out why. Anyone with some money could show up to this place and leave with their entire lifestyle decked in "good taste," no effort or exploration required, just a credit card. Even if you spent no money, you could leave with enough like-inciting #content to last you for weeks. Essentially, this alternative mall does the same thing a "traditional" mall does: Makes us all the same. But different? I’m still grappling… PANTONE and the PRINCE ESTATE have settled on a distinct shade of purple to represent the late artist, called “Love Symbol #2” (see the hue here). My first thought: Merchandise must be nigh. A press release confirms my suspicions, saying the Estate is “in conversation” with "various partners" for product collaborations. I wonder if BRAVADO is involved. I’d love to see a Prince pop-up shop executed in Minneapolis... UBER for sheet masks—sorry, I mean sheet masks in Ubers... Suggested day dreaming: Which fashion mogul-owned mansion would you choose? I’m partial to TOM FORD’S Santa Fe ranch, personally, and I’ll definitely need roommates: At 20,000 acres, it’s big enough to fit Manhattan, with 5,000 acres to spare.