Good American’s Open Casting initiative. We set up an email Q + A with Co-Founder, Khloe Kardashian, about what Open Casting means to her, her involvement in the process and the campaign’s growth over the past 3 years. Is this something Refinery29 would still be interested in covering? We’d love to make it work! I’ve included Khloe’s responses below as well as some background on Open Casting for reference. Let us know if you have any questions! BACKGROUND ON OPEN CASTING In search of a diverse cast reflective of who the Good American woman is, the brand launched its first-ever Opening Casting campaign in 2016. With immediate success, the campaign has started a movement, pushing the fashion industry to be more inclusive, diverse, and real. You can find video of last year’s Opening Casting process here! The program gives women over the age of 14 the opportunity to join the Good American #GoodSquad – a group of real women who celebrate and inspire the brand’s commitment to inclusivity, diversity, body positivity and female empowerment. For those not aspiring to be a model but would like to learn more about the fashion industry, Good American is also offering the chance to win a week-long mentorship with top executives from Good American. This November, the brand launched Good American’s fourth Opening Casting in partnership with IMG Models and Klarna – this time expanding to more cities and more countries including U.S., Canada, Germany, and U.K. KHLOE Q + A What are you doing to help improve diversity in the fashion industry and how can other people do it? With Open Casting, we’re able to give all women from anywhere in the world the opportunity to join the inclusivity movement and our #Good Squad – real women who celebrate and stand for the brand’s commitment to inclusivity, diversity, body positivity and female empowerment. Part of our mission at Good American has been to show a diverse representation of all women in our campaigns and what better way to achieve this than to give our customers the chance to be cast? With this they will join a campaign shoot with #GoodSquad members and myself which I’m always really excited for! In the past, designers have been hesitant to create more sizes– many times due to the lack of experience with a process that differs from the industry standard. At Good American we hire a diverse range of experts to make sure we have the best fit and quality. This is something that has been baked into our business model since day one, so now we are thinking how can we push the boundaries of inclusivity even further. What is your approach to merchandising the products and what seems to be the lasting effect of the way you merchandise? We’ve always listened to our customers over anything else – in person, online, on social, you name it. It’s our #1 goal to provide not just an inclusive offering, but an inclusive experience in everything that we do. It’s one thing to represent women of all sizes in campaigns, but it’s another to actually show every product on body in every size. This led to the launch of our sizing tool earlier this year after hearing our customers pain points when it comes to online shopping. We invested heavily in how we merchandise online to feature product shown on 15 sizes across 15 different fit models in sizes 00-24.

It might be Carolina Herrera’s 81st birthday today, but it’s not the Venezuelan designer who’s getting a gift — we are. This week, the designer label known for dressing Jackie Kennedy Onassis and Michelle Obama announced its first foray into extended sizing, with an exclusive partnership with luxury plus-size e-tailer 11 Honoré. The site, which currently sells curve offerings from Cushnie, Prabal Gurung, Jason Wu, and Marc Jacobs, will house Carolina Herrera’s growing size-inclusive collection, which, for now, includes three pieces: A cotton shirt dress, a red carpet-ready gown, and a stunning red caftan — all available in sizes 14 through 20. A total of 8 resort and spring styles are set to drop throughout 2020. 

This announcement arrives after years of begging from 11 Honoré’s loyal customers. “Carolina Herrera has been a top-requested collection by our customer since the launch,” 11 Honoré founder, Patrick Herning, said in a press release. “I’ve known the president of Carolina Herrera, Emilie Rubinfeld, since 2015. As mutual fans of each other since the beginning, we’ve been in conversation with each other about some type of partnership since I first launched 11 Honoré.” Three years and over 70 luxury brands later, the designer on everyone’s wish list is finally available. “Listening to our customers and exceeding their expectations will always be our ultimate goal,” Herning says. 

Priced between $1,690 and $3,990, 11 Honoré’s Carolina Herrera selection doesn’t come cheap — but trust us when we say that a Carolina Herrera original is worth the investment. After all, the label is famous for dressing the First Ladies. So to wish Carolina Herrera a happy 81, shop her brand’s first-ever plus-size designs now on 11Honore.com.

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