By Megan Carleton
When Paris Hilton drops a line like “That”s hot,” it gets snatched up by onlookers, printed across T-shirts and echoes through the halls of schools across America”s pop cultural landscape.
America”s obsession with celebrity gossip renders attentive observers wanting to follow the relationships, the breakdowns, the successes and especially the styles of what the rich and the famous are wearing.
With shoppers craving to look fashionably in tune, What”s Hot, a local boutique in Provo, caters to its customers with the trendiest fashions found in celebrity closets.
“We try to focus on what celebrities are wearing,” said Brittany Willis, a BYU student working part-time at the boutique. “Our store is called What”s Hot. It kind of speaks for itself.”
Keeping the stock up to date means that the staff and the buyers for the shop need to keep track of the hottest celebrities and their wardrobes.
“We look in magazines and such, and whatever is popular with celebrities, we purchase,” said Mandy Ohman, the store manager who shares the buying duties with the owners.
What”s Hot focuses on celebrities like Jessica Simpson, Paris Hilton, Mischa Barton and Lindsay Lohan to determine what styles to carry. Ohman called them “the It girls.”
Neatly framed clippings from trendy magazines exhibit the celebrities sporting featured items found throughout the store.
“We have the biggest selection boutique-wise around here, especially of jeans,” said Chelsea Liddiard, an employee and business student at UVSC.
The boutique focuses mainly on women”s fashion with some men”s shoes and clothes. The clothes and accessories come directed toward the college crowd, but they don”t always come with college crowd friendly prices.
“The clothes are very expensive, so it”s geared toward people really into fashion and name brands,” Ohman said.
What”s Hot provides brand names such as Juicy, Seven For All Mankind, True Religion and Citizens of Humanity.
“We have name brands but we don”t mark them up outrageously high,” said Ohman, comparing prices to those found at department stores.
Situated in downtown Provo, the buyers keep the cultural standards of their customers in mind, especially with BYU”s policy of dress.
“In Utah, modest fashion is what sells best,” Ohman said.
To meet the needs of customers, the boutique adopted the modest clothing line ModBod. The line provides the modest tees for layering that are popular with local shoppers.
“We just try to update our stuff and make sure we have what people are looking for and can”t really find in other places,” Willis said.
After finding the right trends to put on its shelves, the boutique focuses on creating a fun yet personal place to shop.
“The nature of the store, it”s very small,” Ohman said. “We want a one-on-one relationship with our customers.”
For more information on What”s Hot, see whatshotclothing.com or visit the store at 110 W. Center Street in Provo.
(For comments, e-mail Megan Carleton at )
