Afro puffs mounted on top of a body adorned by a plaid multi-colored blouse and bell bottoms may not seem too appealing in the 20th century, even though plaid is the new black this fall, local malls are getting interactive and allowing teens to travel through vintage styles while learning about current back-to-school fashions.

Detroit-area Taubman Centers, including Fairlane Town Center, Great Lakes Crossing, The Mall at Partridge Creek and Twelve Oaks Mall recently launched an innovative online and in-center experience that allows teens to see styles from when their parents were in school and catch up on the latest fashions.

Fairlane Town Center and Twelve Oaks Mall will also feature a “Yearbook Yourself In-Center Experience” through September.

This gallery-like exhibit displays vintage products through the ages and end with a 3D yearbook highlighting teen photos from the 1950s up through today with the current products and fashions found at the centers.

Darla Bowen, Fairlane’s marketing and sponsorship director, said the website and in-center experience have been very well received and had a great response from visitors at the site.

“At the in-store site people can actually see the poodle skirts and past trends and relate them to current trends,” Bowen said.

The campaign’s website, www.yearbookyourself.com, allows visitors to upload their photos and morph into yearbook photos from the past five decades. Going back in time from the 1950s through the 1990s visitors see themselves with the hair and styles of the time while listening to music inspired by that era.

Visitors are able to see which stores in the different centers carry today’s hottest back-to-school looks while transforming their styles. Bowen said visitors get to see what styles are absolutely not in style and the site offers alternatives and what store in the center to find the products.

“We wanted to offer teens and their parents a unique online experience that also helps them get ready for school.
“Teens can have a lot of fun with technology while learning about vintage styles and the influence those styles have on what we wear today,” Bowen said.

Although the site is geared toward teens from high school or college who are going back to school Bowen said she has gone through the site and enjoyed seeing some of the old hairstyles she wore in the 1980s. She noted that the in-store site is also great for parents to enjoy with their children.

The site features “homeroom” pages where visitors can save their favorite yearbook photo and invite friends to post their photos as well. After invited friends post their photos, a virtual yearbook page is created.

The in-store experience will end in the Fairlane Town Center and Twelve Oaks Mall on Oct. 1; the website will run to the end of October.