RITU KUMAR | PAYAL SINGHAL | SANGEETA BOOCHRA | ASHIMA LEENA | AHILYA | SATYA PAUL | SHAZE | AZA | RINA DHAKA | GLOBAL DESI | ZARIIN |
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Dresses | Dresses | Designer Piece | Kurtas & Kurtis | Kadda | Sarees | Jewellery | Ethnic Wear | Designer | Women's Shoes | Sportswear |
Kurtas | Western Wear | Jewellery | Salwar Suits | BangleSet | Printed Sarees | Earnings | Sarees | Dress Material | Jewellery | Sports & Shoes |
Jackets | Tops | Bangles | Tops | Pendants | EmbellishSarees | Bangles & Bracelets | Kurtas & Kurtis | DesignerSaree | Fashion Jewellery | Gold jewellery |
Tops | Ethnic Wear | Coin & Bars | Leh Cholis | Kadda | Handbags & Clut | Rings | Salwar Suits | Blouses | Bridal Set | Pumps & Pee |
Skirts | Salwar Suits | Earings | Western Wear | Acessories | Bags & Luggage | Jewellery Sets | Chunnis & Dupattas | Gowns | Jeans | Spectacle |
Jumpsuits | Sarees | Chains | Dresses | Earings | Top-Handle Bags | Sunglasses | Bottom Wear | T-Shirts & Shirts | Jeans & Jeggings | Nightwear |
Wednesday, July 15, 2020
Happy Birthday Katrina Kaif : जब 15 मिनट के लिए कटरीना कैफ ने एक ड्रेस पर खर्च कर दिए 1 करोड़ July 15, 2020 at 08:12PM
जब अमिताभ बच्चन की नातिन नव्या नवेली नंदा ने पहने अपनी मां श्वेता के कपड़े July 15, 2020 at 05:58PM
These Jewelry Trends Are On The Rise Thanks To Harry Styles & Timothée Chalamet
Straight out of the gate in 2020, the influence of male celebrities on the jewelry market was undeniable. In January, we noticed a string of pearls around the neck of Harry Styles, with designer Marc Jacobs and musician Joe Jonas quickly following suit. A month later, at the Academy Awards, Timothée Chalamet attached a vintage Cartier brooch to the pocket of his blue Prada bomber jacket. The glitzy accoutrement arrived just two months after the Little Women actor was spotted wearing a silver Louis Vuitton chain while courtside at the Lakers game. But it wasn’t until May that male jewelry hit its peak. And, you have a thirst account as alluring as @connellschain — created to showcase images of Normal People’s Connell Waldron, played by actor Paul Mescal, wearing a silver chain — to thank for that.
But celebrity photos and popular Instagram accounts can only tell so much. It’s the numbers regarding what consumers are actually buying and searching for following said images that legitimizes a trend. That is where Lyst, a fashion global search engine, comes in. For its 2020 jewelry report, which Lyst releases annually, the platform analyzed over nine million shoppers per month. And what this year’s findings made abundantly clear was that male celebrities are influencing the way people shop for jewelry.
Take Styles’ pearls for instance. According to Lyst, following the former One Direction member’s Fine Line press tour, for which he styled one pearl necklace about a dozen ways (sometimes with a deep-V cardigan, other times with a multicolored sweater vest), the shopping platform saw a 31% spike in demand for like strands. In terms of search, pearl necklaces are averaging 11,000 searches per month since January.
Similarly, Lyst analysts found that brooches, following Chalamet’s appearance on the Oscars red carpet, were searched over 20,000 times, making them the fastest-growing category of the year thus far.
Probably the most (personally) satisfying finding of all was the growing popularity of silver chains for men following the release of Normal People. Directly after the 12-episode show premiered on Hulu, search for chain necklaces on Lyst increased by 23%, according to the report. In fact, “silver” and “chain necklaces” are now the most commonly used search team among male shoppers across the entirety of the site, with searches up 47% from 2019. Speaking of that, Lyst, which is predominately used by females, saw an increase in male shoppers by 150% in 2020, and jewelry remains one of the main reasons why.
Lyst’s report also found an increase in sales of “Zoom jewelry,” items that give off the assumption that people are dressed up in Zoom meetings even if they actually aren’t; kitschy, summer jewelry including fruity charms (is Styles’ “Watermelon Sugar” video responsible for this one?), and lucite baubles; fine and demi-fine jewelry items from brands like Monica Vinader, Maria Tash, and Annisa Kermiche; and sustainable stones courtesy of SVNR, Laura Lombardi, and Alighieri.
So while 2020 has been (and still is) a dumpster fire in more ways than one, at least the reign of the male jewelry influencer is here.
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Harry Styles Makes A Case For Pearl Necklaces
Female Designers Are Taking Gender Out Of Streetwear
Streetwear, a clothing style with ties to skate, surf, and hip-hop cultures from the ‘80s and ‘90s, has traditionally been a market that caters almost entirely to men. Over the last decade, though, that has been changing. “Slowly more and more women have started wearing men’s styles, and because of this demand, streetwear brands also started developing women’s collections,” says designer Daniëlle Cathari. “But a really big part of the streetwear industry continues to be focused on men. Therefore a lot of the people working in the industry are men.”
It’s true: Stüssy, Supreme, Off-White, Noah, Aimé Leon Dore, and more brands at the forefront of streetwear today have men at the helm. Men are, too, in charge at Bape, Yeezy, HUF, The Hundreds, and Palace. Streetwear is also primarily written about by men, with publications like High Snobiety and Hypebeast, among others, having male editors-in-chief.
But female designers like Cathari, Chelsea Ma of up-and-coming streetwear brand TAKEON, Olivia Anthony of LIV Streetwear, and more are disrupting the streetwear space, once and for all.
Ma, who founded TAKEON in 2018 with fellow streetwear enthusiast Jessica Zhou, didn’t go into design with streetwear in mind. As a woman whose personal style was geared toward the streetwear aesthetic though, it didn’t take long for her to realize just how deficient the industry was in options for women. “I noticed that there were things missing,” Ma says. “All the streetwear brands that I was looking at were run by men, for men. Women just had to adapt.”
Back then, if women wanted to buy streetwear, according to Ma, their options were limited at best. “There was no choice but to buy a T-shirt that was oversized with the neckline being too big, and shoes that you had to size down because Jordans hardly come in women’s sizes,” says Ma. “Why aren’t there more shoe sizes for girls? Why aren’t there more tailored options for girls and guys? Why aren’t there more women-run streetwear brands that are accessible to everyone?”
“It’s definitely something that we need to change,” Anthony says of sneaker culture, in particular, being geared toward men. “A friend of mine came up with Common Ace, a website that helps women find sneakers in their shoe sizes.” The retailer’s about page sums up the issue well: “For too long, women have spent an excessive amount of time searching the web to source sneakers from individual e-commerce sites, only to be greeted with a limited variety of options and lackluster user experience.” The site is a one-stop-shop for women on the lookout for hard-to-find sneakers. “It’s sad that you have to have a platform just for that,” Anthony says. “It should be a given.”
It is this gap in the market that led many female designers to create lines geared toward them. “Growing up, I loved to mix tracksuits and started mixing that boy-ish feel of streetwear with more classical pieces to avoid losing my femininity and shape,” says Cathari who, in 2017, presented a collection of refurbished Adidas tracksuits whilst still in her third year of design school. “I just couldn’t find the right items, so I decided to work on making them myself.”
This new wave of designers is also responsible for creating unisex streetwear rather than female-only designs. “Streetwear can seem like a boys club at times,” Ma says. “We wanted to make TAKEON accessible and approachable by everyone, regardless of gender. We wanted to change and adapt for the future ahead,” Ma says.
“My brand is a fluid brand,” Anthony says of LIV Streetwear. “I don’t even want to put a cap on anything. It’s for everybody.” When conceptualizing her brand, Anthony avoided labels entirely, granting her customers the freedom to buy and wear what she creates in their own unique way. “It’s more of a personality than anything relating to gender,” she explains. “We as a population are constantly evolving, so to have a brand that’s evolving with it is a great feeling.”
For TAKEON, the decision to design unisex clothing meant ideating a completely new style of streetwear. “Both men and women want functionality and tailoring,” Ma says, adding that it’s rare to find either in streetwear. To remedy that, she began experimenting with suiting that was still casual and cool like the streetwear she grew up with, but modernized. “Women want a blazer set that doesn’t have to be so dressy that can match with your sneakers,” she says. “Streetwear doesn’t always have to stay within the boundaries of what we know — it’s ever-evolving and changing.”
Even with the inherent gender bias in streetwear, Chelsea Ma, Daniële Cathari, and Olivia Anthony felt strongly enough about the style to focus their entire lives around it — and, in turn, on changing it. Also spearheading the female-led streetwear space is Sofia Prantera, who alongside her business partner Fergus Purcell, co-founded the cult-favorite brand Aries. Rather than allowing her brand to live in the one-dimensional world of modern streetwear, Prantera’s model for Aries allows it to sell out at both luxury retailers like Matches Fashion and under-the-radar streetwear sites like VRENTS. There is also Melody Ehsani, an Iranian designer who made history when she became the first woman to design a pair of Jordans; MISBHV founder Natalia Maczek, who is, in large part, responsible for bringing streetwear to Poland; Mowalola Ogunlesiesi, the British-Nigerian designer who Kanye West recently tapped for the role of head designer for his new Yeezy Gap line; and Ashley Williams, whose return to London Fashion Week last season after a brief hiatus was one of the most-anticipated shows of the season.
The list of female designers in the small world of streetwear is growing at a fast rate and, from it, a new normal in streetwear — one where style and personality influence the culture, not gender.
Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?
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In The Pandemic, Sally LaPointe Rebranded — & Handwrote Thank-You Notes
Since the pandemic began, the fashion industry has stalled. Collections have been delayed as factories closed, design teams have had to work on upcoming lines remotely, and fashion shows have been replaced by virtual presentations and films. And while New York’s LaPointe (formerly known as Sally LaPointe) has likewise faced setbacks like this, the fashion brand has also stayed busier than ever since the quarantine began.
“Similar to most independent designers, retail sales have been stalled as a result of COVID-19, but we have managed to maintain a positive momentum,” says creative director and designer Sally LaPointe. That momentum includes a rebrand (and the aforementioned name change) and an overhauled e-commerce site — updates that were in the works prior to the pandemic, and, in what can only be considered fortunate timing, launched last month, allowing shoppers to buy direct-to-consumer.
Since the ready-to-wear brand came onto the scene 10 years ago, the designer has become known for the type of monochromatic separates that land a punch, with colors ranging from an electric orange and a neon-adjacent chartreuse to ocean deep blues and perfect shades of reds. Now LaPointe is extending that approach to the new website, with looks organized by color rather than product type.
“Over the years we have learned a lot about our customer, and we have realized she shops in full looks, and also by color, so that was the main inspiration for the site,” LaPointe says. “I have always believed in identifying what is working for [the customer] and running with it.”
Those customers include women who like clean lines, versatile pieces, impeccable tailoring, and aren’t afraid of the spotlight. It makes sense that A-listers like Zendaya, Jennifer Lopez, Chrissy Teigen, Hailey Bieber, Kate Bosworth, Kylie Jenner, and Kerry Washington have all worn LaPointe’s looks to events ranging from the red carpet (Bosworth) to Oprah’s wellness tour (Lopez). Despite the change in name, LaPointe is clear that the brand will continue producing the type of in-your-face clothing it has become known for over the years: “Although the name has changed, the product vision and brand promise remain the same — making a statement through bold monochromatic palettes and head-to-toe sets that are easy, intuitive, and comfortable.”
Like most designers creating in the pandemic, LaPointe had to digitally adapt the design process and find solutions to unexpected complications. “So far everything has been over Zoom. I think it has been challenging because I really love the team aspect of working on a collection together. I include my team in a lot of my process, so I have missed that part,” she says. Because of the factory closures, LaPointe’s Pre-Fall 2020 collection, which was expected to be available in late May, was delayed until this month. “The pre-orders that you see on the site now were not a planned business decision for the launch,” she says. “Although it was not the ideal launch experience, it was the best business decision we could make with the cards we were dealt during the pandemic.”
According to her, the last four months have had their share of upsides, too, successful relaunch aside. “I have enjoyed a bit more time, things have obviously slowed down and the demand is less, which I think is a benefit because your product can have the time to fully develop and not be rushed due to the demand of the traditional fashion calendar,” she says. This extra time has also led to LaPointe communicating with the customer more: “I was so excited by the positive response to the relaunched site and those first orders. I decided I wanted to send handwritten thank-you notes to those first customers because I appreciate them so much!”
It has also led her to think more about the brand’s place in the fashion industry following the protests sparked by the death of George Floyd, a Black man, at the hands of the police. “We’ve had a lot of internal discussion about how we wanted to support a more diverse and inclusive fashion community,” she says. The brand has since released a three-step plan of action, which includes a mentorship program. “Following our Instagram post, we have already received interest, which is really exciting,” she says. “The formal program is still a work-in-progress, but we have connected directly with interested individuals to see how we can support until the formal program launches,” she says.
While, according to LaPointe, the pandemic hasn’t influenced a change in her forthcoming collection per se, she says that she is more “focused on simplifying and scaling back.” She adds, “I have always had a message about being direct and to the point, and now more than ever this is important, I think, in all aspects of life.” She is, for instance, very direct in saying that, while the retail model has served the brand well in the past, it’s not entirely working in its current state — something that many independent designers in the industry have expressed prior to the pandemic but even more so during it. “This is obviously a complex issue affecting all sides of the industry. We wouldn’t be where we are without our retail partners, but everyone acknowledges that some things need to change,” she says. “On our side, we’ve been really focused on looking closely at the delivery calendar and designing collections to better align with the actual season and what customers need at that moment.”
As an independent designer, she hopes there will be more of a focus on brands that don’t have the marketing resources of a corporation in the future. “Because of access through social media and the internet, savvy consumers are more educated and in tune with the industry than ever before, but there is a lot of noise to break through as an independent business. The industry as a whole can help create additional platforms that highlight independent businesses and elevate visibility,” she says. “I hope that there is more room and visibility for smaller brands, I hope people are more conscious with their decisions and practices, I hope quality over quantity becomes a reality, and I hope there is a new wave of real raw creation and inspiration.”
Now that’s an image as bright as LaPointe’s shade of chartreuse.
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