For the young and the hip

Just because a 3-year-old girl has never heard of the Beastie Boys

doesn’t mean she can’t wear the hip-hop group’s logo on a pink

T-shirt.

Mac & Madi, a children’s clothing store, opened July 18 at South

Coast Plaza, store manager Koko Lerner said. In addition to some of

the smallest rock ‘n’ roll shirts on the market, the shop also sells

dresses featuring images of sushi.

“We’re famous for our sushi dresses,” Lerner said. “Everybody

comes here for the sushi dresses.”

The first Mac & Madi store opened for business two years ago in

San Clemente. Store owner Corey Bauman said she was able to open her

second store in South Coast Plaza after a visit from South Coast

Plaza partner Anton Segerstrom led to a leasing offer. Bauman named

the store after her 10-year-old son and 6-year-old daughter.

If the original Mac and Madi give clothes their approval, the

items stand a better chance of ending up on Bauman’s racks.

“My kids are really good monitors of whether something is going to

go,” Bauman said.

For boys, Mac & Madi sells clothes emblazoned with the trendy Von

Dutch Originals logo and other styles appropriate for youngsters who

are likely to grow up and become part of the Southern California

surfing and skateboarding scene.

Lerner said the South Coast Plaza store attempts to re-create the

beach atmosphere of the first Mac & Madi shop in downtown San

Clemente.

Still, Bauman doesn’t think of Mac & Madi as simply a place to buy

surf wear in small sizes.

“We’re ... a little more edgy, a little more fun,” she said. “Kind

of funky.”

People who buy clothes from Mac & Madi are usually trying to stay

out of the mainstream, Bauman said.

“Usually it’s a mom or grandma -- we get a lot of grandmas -- who

don’t want the same-old, same-old,” Bauman said.

Mac & Madi is near the Macy’s Home Furniture Store on the first

floor of South Coast Plaza.