LONDON, ENGLAND – JUNE 22: Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge visits ‘The Urban Nature Project’ at The Natural History Museum on June 22, 2021 in London, England. The Natural History Museum’s five-acre site is being transformed into an accessible and biologically diverse green space. There will be new outdoor galleries showcasing the Museum’s scientific research, providing a space for the public to learn about the diversity of life on Earth and how our planet has changed over time. (Photo by Chris Jackson/Getty Images)
Though Middleton has long worn skinny jeans, back in May, she traded the silhouette for a pair of capri trousers. With this most recent look, the Duchess is joining celebs like Katie Holmes and Hailey Bieber who have taken to baggier, cropped styles.
If you’re ready to make the switch, too, Middleton’s pair is only $89 and available in a wide range of colors. Shop them, below.
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TikTok is obsessed with the early 2000s, so it was just a matter of time before the reigning queen of ’00s pop-punk herself, Avril Lavigne, joined the platform and taught some lessons in Y2K styling.
On Tuesday, Lavigne made her TikTok debut while lip-syncing to her 2002 single “Sk8 Boi” and donning some early aughts fashion staples. The Complicated singer paired a black graphic tank top and black denim shorts with a striped men’s tie and black suspenders, along with black Vans sneakers. The whole outfit looked straight out of a Friday night spent at the local mall perusing the latest Hot Topic arrivals.
Back in the early ’00s, ties and suspenders (that hung from the hips, rather than shoulders) were the appropriate combo to wear with tank tops, black jeans, matching nails, and loads of rubber bracelets (preferably from Claire’s). Lavigne was especially known for this look, pairing the two with studded belts.
While Y2K fashion is already back in full force, the punk rock accessories from the era are just starting to make waves again. Back in May, Chanel approved the comeback with garter belts, lip rings, and fishnets for its Cruise 2022 show. Meanwhile, Megan Fox and Kourtney Kardashian have recently taken their musician boyfriends’ aesthetics to heart, donning black leather jackets, beanies, and skull-printed clothing to accompany Machine Gun Kelly (who reportedly will appear on Lavigne’s forthcoming album) and Travis Barker, respectively, to their gigs.
Following the comeback of whale tails, trucker hats, low-rise jeans, and platform sandals, it was only a matter of time before ties and suspenders returned. And who better to welcome their arrival on TikTok than Lavigne?
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– New York, NY – 06/18/2021 – Katie Holmes leaving a breakfast meeting and looking ready for Summer in a kate spade new york dress and white bag. -PICTURED: Katie Holmes -PHOTO by: Joey Andrew/startraksphoto.com -JO169225 Editorial – Rights Managed Image – Please contact www.startraksphoto.com for licensing fee Startraks Photo Startraks Photo New York, NY For licensing please call 212-414-9464 or email sales@startraksphoto.com Image may not be published in any way that is or might be deemed defamatory, libelous, pornographic, or obscene. Please consult our sales department for any clarification or question you may have Startraks Photo reserves the right to pursue unauthorized users of this image. If you violate our intellectual property you may be liable for actual damages, loss of income, and profits you derive from the use of this image, and where appropriate, the cost of collection and/or statutory damages.
Gingham has long been the unofficial print of the summer. So it comes as no surprise that Katie Holmes, who is always on-trend, stepped out donning the style in black-and-white on the first day of the season.
Holmes is a fan of relaxed summer looks that are perfect to wear to any summer outing. Recently, she stepped out in a knitted, polo-neck crop top from Mango, a nod to the cottagecore trend that’s taken over Instagram and TikTok last year, and a pair of mid-rise light wash jeans that waved goodbye to skinny jeans.
Gingham — the epitome of #picniccore, which is having a moment this summer — has popped up on everything this season, from blazers and pants to dresses and swimwear, making it an unsurprising addition to Holmes’ wardrobe. The actress also took a cue from the BAFTA TV Awards, where billowy sleeves were the biggest trend — one that promises to continue throughout the fall with brands like Alexander McQueen making statement sleeves to wear to all the post-vaccination parties.
For your next picnic outing, shop the dress (also available in green and a daisy print) at Kate Spade New York.
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QR codes found success during the pandemic when little else did. They replaced paper menus, credit and loyalty cards, and, in some cases, physical proof of vaccination. And now, the scan-happy craze is coming for fashion. The little black box is the new little black dress.
Though fashion QR codes were around prior to that, they made news in September when Ganni announced a collaboration with Levi’s, for which the Danish brand reworked the heritage denim label’s signature 501s, among other denim items, and made them available for rent. The idea was that the pieces would get better with wear, with no two people ever getting the same pair of jeans — each one uniquely faded and worn down by the person who rented them last. To share each item’s story, the brands used Near-Field Communication — technology that allows you to transfer information from close distances, like QR codes — in partnership with connected-consumer agency SharpEnd to give renters (who chose to participate) the opportunity to see who’d worn the pieces before them and go behind the scenes.
“By tapping the signature Levi’s back patch with a smartphone, renters can unlock a connected universe of storytelling and information, including videos and exclusive content from the global campaign shoots, style inspiration from friends of the Ganni family, content from previous renters, and much more,” Nicolaj Reffstrup, the founder of Ganni, tells Refinery29. Renters also have the option to leave stories of their own for the next wearer, though it’s not a requirement of renting. Reffstrup, who worked in tech prior to entering the fashion sphere, thinks contactless technology is an essential tool for keeping people connected, especially during the pandemic: “It is an effective way to offer a unique experiential moment to connect with our community and directly link them to our universe.”
Michael Kors seems to agree. For the New York-based designer’s 40th anniversary collection, which debuted in April, the brand reissued 16 iconic ensembles from its archives, worn on the runway by supermodels like Bella Hadid and Alek Wek. Every reissued piece comes fitted with a QR code on the tag, which, when scanned, takes customers back in time to when the piece was first designed and presented. For example, if you were to scan the code on the tag of Hadid’s patent leather red coat, you’d be taken to video footage of Cindy Crawford in the original red coat on the runway at Kors’s spring ‘99 show.
More often, though, designers are tapping into the power of QR codes to demystify the supply chain. “Through the use of innovative blockchain technology, we can share more on how and where our clothes are made,” Ganni’s Reffstrup says. Soon, he says, renters will be able to access detailed information about the lifecycle of their garments, as well as digital, 360-degree access to global stores and products, simply by tapping their phones on a Ganni item.
Millennial favorite Reformation also jumped on board this year. The Los Angeles-based fashion brand recently teamed up with a blockchain platform called FibreTrace to increase transparency with their customers. Using QR technology, the brand is able to verify each and every step of a garment’s lifecycle. “The benefit of QR codes is that they allow us to easily, directly, and conveniently communicate key information to our customers about their clothing, so they can feel more informed and empowered about their purchasing decisions,” says Reformation’s Chief Sustainability Officer and VP of Operations, Kathleen Talbot. “Using blockchain technology makes our supply chain assurance claims even more automatic and irrefutable, which we see as a huge value across the board.” Like Ganni, the brand initiated the technology with a denim collection. On each pair of jeans from the FibreTrace collection, customers can scan a QR code on the tag and gain full access to their denim’s lifecycle, from “farm to butt,” says Talbot.
“Our goal is to empower our customers to make the best possible choices.”
– PANGAIA COLLECTIVE
The ability to build trust between customers and a brand is what convinced PANGAIA to utilize QR codes in their recent Horizon collection. For the collection, the science-backed fashion collective partnered with EON, a products innovator, to develop Digital Passports for their signature sweatsuits. The QR codes, which are printed on each item’s care label, allow shoppers to unlock the entire lifecycle of their purchase, be it information about the distribution center it was sent to post-production or tips on how to dispose of the item upon its eventual demise. The codes also function as portals to information on the product’s environmental impact, including data on the carbon and water usage needed to create it.
According to the brand, QR codes also allow them to update information in real-time; that way, as they develop better and more conscious technologies and products in the future, their customers can immediately be updated. “We are able to layer on information about resale and recycling as we move forward on our own circularity journey,” the collective tells Refinery29. “Our goal is to empower our customers to make the best possible choices.”
Given that we get so much of our information from QR codes these days, be it the appetizers list or our pre-vaccine forms, it only feels right that we’re starting to learn about our clothes from them, too. Welcome to the future.
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