Selma Blair is not the first person to talk about adaptive fashion.Evan Agostini/Invision/AP
Ever since actress Selma Blair came forth about her multiple sclerosis diagnosis last October, she has been advocating for fashion lines to include adaptive clothing. Most recently, Blair made a debut with her walking cane on the Red Carpet at a Vanity Fair Oscar party, claiming that assistive devices can double up as fashion accessories.
In an exclusive interview with Vanity Fair, Blair states, “I would like to partner with someone like Christian Siriano on a line for everyone—not just people who necessarily need adaptive clothing, but for those who want comfort, too. It can still be chic. You shouldn’t have to sacrifice style. Like, let’s get elastic waistbands to look a little bit better.”
Although it’s praiseworthy that Blair is being unapologetically bold about her M.S. diagnosis and shining a light on the inaccessibility of fashionable clothing, she is not the first person to do such advocacy work.
Often, the voices of disadvantaged, minority groups are only heard only when those who come from more privileged backgrounds speak on their behalf. Although it’s important to have allies and supporters, their advocacy should not overshadow the years of work that came before.
Each person with a disability experiences it differently and at varying times of life. Disability is one of the only social identities you can acquire at any stage of life because humans are prone to unforeseen accidents and conditions that cause permanent impairments. One’s experience with a disability doesn’t outweigh that of the next person. However, the problem occurs when you are not cognizant of other people in the community and those who came before you.
The “invention,” or recognition, of adaptive clothing, started to become mainstream in the 1980s when caregivers and loved ones of people with disabilities realized the need for easy-to-wear clothing. So, certain manufacturers and distributors began to design and create specific garments for people with limited mobility. However, such designs often resembled a hospital gown and were not fashionable, per se.
Over the past few years, fashion designers and people with disabilities have been focusing on manufacturing functional and presentable clothes. This movement was significantly heightened in the public eye in 2014 when psychologist and model Danielle Sheypuk became the first-ever New York Fashion Week model to work the runway in a wheelchair.
Danielle Sheypuk at NYFW in February 2014.Craig Barritt/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images
“I think it’s very important for the spectrum of fashion designers (low- to high-end designers) to recognize their consumers with disabilities, and I don’t think that any designer really does a good job at that. We are essentially never pitched to, and virtually ignored when it comes to fashion,” Sheypuk told The Guardian in 2014, and people worldwide put her words into action.
During that same year, designer Mindy Scheier launched Runway of Dreams, a nonprofit that promotes and supports inclusive clothing design. She was inspired to create this organization by her son who has multiple dystrophy and who wanted to wear jeans instead of wearing sweatpants all the time. Since she couldn’t find any pair of jeans that’d fit over his leg brace, she designed one herself!
In 2015, Tommy Hilfiger and Nike launched their respective lines specifically for adults and children with various needs. Tommy Adaptive has fashionable and adaptive sportswear, from jeans that fit over prosthetic legs to shirts with easy-open buttons. In the same year, Nike came out with its FlyEase line that features easy-on zippered sneakers, which were launched as a response to a letter from a teenager with cerebral palsy who struggled with regular sneakers.
Since 2016, the Cerebral Palsy Foundation teamed up students from the Fashion Institution of Technology to design clothing that’d transform the fashion experience for women with disabilities. The students’ final products are showcased at the Design for Disability Gala each spring.
Those are only a few samples of the work of dozens of organizations and designers to make fashion inclusive of people with disabilities. Adaptive fashion has already been a growth industry, long before Selma Blair entered the narrative.
The disabled community will surely welcome Blair with open arms — there’s no doubt about that. But it’s crucial that Blair, or any other new member of the community, acknowledge and credit the work that people with disabilities have long been doing.
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Everlane/Instagram
The San Francisco Bay Area is well known as a hub of innovation, particularly in tech.
11 online clothing startups, including industry disruptors Stitch Fix, Everlane, and ThirdLove, are proving that the area's penchant for innovation extends into the world of fashion as well.
By making use of data, cool and sustainable fabrics, and personalized solutions, they're signaling to the rest of the world to pay attention to San Francisco — for more than just its tech scene.
In a fast-paced game of word associations, you're more likely to shout out "tech" when the card for San Francisco/Bay Area is drawn, before you even begin to consider "fashion" or "clothing."
On the other side of the country, New York City — home to Fashion Week, boutique-ridden SoHo, and the offices of iconic fashion magazines — might more confidently assume the role as a top fashion capital of the world.
Still, a group of clothing startups is proving that fashion born in San Francisco has its place, too. Some of the most talked-about industry game-changers, including Stitch Fix, Everlane, and ThirdLove, were founded in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Their proximity to the unique innovation happening in San Francisco and the nearby Silicon Valley provides a strong impetus to weave tech and sustainable practices into the DNA of their businesses. The Bay has long been home to new ways of thinking about how we live, and with these startups, it's now also changing how we dress and shop for clothes.
A few themes connect these San Francisco-based clothing startups, including the use of data to create customized or personalized solutions, missions of ethical and sustainable consumption, and the belief that clothing can do more than just look pretty. Not that SF has ever needed help getting people to pay attention to it, but now you'll have reason to consider it in a new light.
Learn more about the 11 San Francisco-based clothing startups that are changing the fashion industry:
Disclosure: This post is brought to you by the Insider Picks team. We highlight products and services you might find interesting. If you buy them, we get a small share of the revenue from the sale from our commerce partners. We frequently receive products free of charge from manufacturers to test. This does not drive our decision as to whether or not a product is featured or recommended. We operate independently from our advertising sales team. We welcome your feedback. Email us at insiderpicks@businessinsider.com.
Between the notion of clothing for clothing's sake and seasonal fashion exists style. A subjective and at times anxiety-inducing concept, style defines what your outfit and how it was ‘put together' says about you. Whether you prefer to put your own outfits together or be told what ‘looks good/is right for you' by a personal stylist, style is a language all of its own.
Artificial Intelligence is emerging as a powerful tool in fashion retail to shape personalized product suggestions and refine the way customers are targeted to drive purchasing. ‘Style' has largely sat outside of this data remit, perhaps hampered by attitudes towards AI that place it as a tool for emotionless decision-making, rather than a tool that can decode something as ephemeral and nuanced as style. Think again. London-based startup Intelistyle took to the streets during London Fashion Week with their AI-driven style app that lets their algorithm do the styling. But how would the fashion industry respond to ‘computer-generated looks'?
The Intelistyle team conducted a modest study by collecting data from 27 fashion week goers ranging from fashion stylists to bloggers and influencers. The subjects were presented with pairs of outfits and asked to choose the one they ‘preferred the style of'. 70% of respondents unwittingly chose the AI-derived looks, which had been pitted against an outfit pulled from an Instagram influencer. But how are the AI looks generated?
Intelistyle AI-derived and human styled outfits. Which is which?Intelistyle
Intelistyle's approach is to "crawl the web for fashion photography examining thousands of outfits put together by stylists, influencers, designers and retailers." Using deep learning, they "extract the essence of style." How does this differ from other AI-driven style apps? Typically, computer vision techniques that focus on pattern recognition are used to find visually similar clothes. However, recognizing that style is a lot more nuanced than finding similar patterns or colors, Intelistyle has deepened their analysis to determine what can make seemingly different or ‘clashing' patterns or fabrics combine together to build a beautiful outfit. They have also devised how two pieces of clothing that would normally clash can be brought together harmoniously with the use of the right accessories. Using the latest in deep learning, they have just started decoding what they term "the genome of style."
If the response to Intelistyle's outfit suggestions at London Fashion Week is to be believed, people who work in fashion design and styling prefer the AI-generated results. This opens up a very interesting conversation about how such tools can impact various areas of the global fashion industry. How can we use Intelistyle to utilize what is in our wardrobes better? Perhaps it can help us to determine what we need to buy - helping us make smarter shopping choices and cutting down on the propensity for fast, throw-away fashion. With our bulging wardrobes and dwindling urban living spaces, this seems like a powerful tool for upping our style while decreasing our spend (and environmental impact through mass consumption).
Intelistyle has managed to ‘decode' the essence of style and their AI-powered tech offers the potential to scale fashion styling advice, creating outfits personal to the needs of each customer. As a direct result, this is a timely tool that celebrates diversity and individuality in an age that is way beyond the ‘one size (or style) fits all' of old. Companies such as Stitchfix have already demonstrated the power of that personalized approach. Intelistyle wants to take this further by "allowing customers to digitize their wardrobe, style their own clothes and receive a personal service across their favorite retailers."
When asked what the crucial change for customer's retail experience might be with the integration of Intelistyle, CEO Kostas Koukoravas stated:
"currently retailers use studio shots to inspire customers and showcase outfits. It’s an expensive process that results in one outfit per piece of clothing that's suitable for just one body type and skin tone. Intelistyle’s technology allows retailers to scale their personal styling services and celebrate diversity by showing each customer outfits that meet their exact needs."
This customer-centric approach mimics the current widespread fashion industry focus on personalized service, with the aim of driving brand loyalty and sales. With customers expecting increasingly personalized and fast service, AI looks set to be a part of meeting these expectations. An exciting aspect of this tool that goes beyond sales and brand loyalty is the value it can place on our existing wardrobe items as part of various outfits. If AI stylists help us get more use out of our clothes and wear them in more ways perhaps it will place a higher value on them and encourage us to love our clothes for longer. Beyond style, this is a much-needed shift in the current climate of fast, disposable fashion.
Wondering which outfit above was AI styled? It's the one on the right with the red boots.
We'd love to hear your thoughts about the environmental and ethical impact of 'fast fashion', and how we as individuals and nations can rethink attitudes to ...
Once considered a commercial stop during Fashion Month’s whirlwind tour, Milan has confidently shrugged off any remnants of its workaday past. This season, exceptional collections ran from Gucci’s eccentricity to a reenergized Bottega Veneta under creative director Daniel Lee—plus Prada’s dark romance, which made for an inspiring trip through a floral-filled wonderland. Here, Style Director David Thielebeule chooses his favorite looks, featuring unexpected accessories, playful patterns and lots of enviable coats
Shoppers in the US can probably think of a few fashion retailers that seem like they’re permanently on sale, their racks packed with clothes that nobody wanted at full price and struggle to move even at a discount. Far from being isolated among a few troubled retailers, the problem has ensnared a large swath of the industry.
At a recent presentation in New York, Nivindya Sharma, director of retail strategy and insights for global trend forecasting firm WGSN, explained some of the forces that have contributed to this state of affairs. Among them is a fundamental shift in the relationship between supply and demand, spurred by the spread of e-commerce, social media, and the new shopper behavior they’ve encouraged. “These are big, momentous changes,” Sharma said.
The best way forward, according to a white paper presented by Sharma and WGSN, is for brands to get smarter and more flexible about when they drop new products, and to find ways to stand apart from the rest of a very crowded, largely undifferentiated marketplace.
The issue of endless discounting is a big one for brands. It cost them some $300 billion last year, according to one estimate. It squeezes their margins, and over time, chips away at their cachet.
Yet many continue to offer bigger and earlier discounts on their products. WGSN analyzed the US e-commerce operations of 57 womenswear retailers and 50 menswear retailers and found that the number of discounts on current season products—defined as those available for less than three months—grew significantly in just the last two years.
In the past, fashion was largely a supply-led market, meaning brands and retailers put the products they wanted into stores, on schedules they chose. Consumers then bought up what was available at the shops they had access to. An example is the way coats and jackets for fall and winter started arriving in stores at the end of the summer, long before the weather turned cold.
But after the internet came along, in particular social media and e-commerce, shoppers gained instant access to a wealth of information and choices. Consumers today can shop anywhere and compare prices on anything, amplifying the competition among brands for their dollars, while a steady stream of images and products in their social feeds drives a ravenous desire for new stuff that they expect brands to satisfy immediately. Demand, not supply, has become the controlling force.
This change has put brands in the position of always trying to keep up with an appetite for newness, but many still haven’t figured out how to do it efficiently. Often the long lead times of their supply chains mean they still have to produce huge amounts of clothing months in advance to fill their shops, leaving them guessing far ahead of time what shoppers will want, and not always accurately. They can get stuck with large and costly amounts of overstock, such as the $4 billion pile of unsold clothes that H&M had at one point last year.
Over the past several years, brands have leaned on markdowns to clear that extra stuff. But in doing so, they’ve led shoppers to expect regular sales. Analysts believe the Great Recession was also a major factor in this pattern of behavior. Many people now buy only when a product is discounted, cornering brands into offering earlier and bigger deals to keep them interested.
AP Photo/Mark Lennihan
Would you walk in?
The way out of this situation isn’t easy. To be competitive, brands still need to feed that appetite for new products, but in a way that doesn’t leave them with a big pile of unsold clothes. Some of fast fashion’s digital upstarts have been adept at this, and WGSN noted it’s seeing more brands dropping new products closer to season.
Brands also need to get shoppers excited about their releases, an ability some streetwear labels have excelled at, and find ways to stand out from the pack. Shoppers have a sea of options to choose from, and many are less concerned about the brand than getting what they want at the best price—part of the reason retailers’ private labels have been so successful.
Sharma pointed out that young shoppers in particular tend to search by product, rather than seeking out specific brands. Companies have to offer shoppers a clear reason to choose them, such as their sustainability credentials or other differentiating qualities, if they want to get their attention, especially at full price.
I bought this orange Fila jacket on eBay when I was 20. In winter, it’s easy to get lost wearing black and navy coats. It’s too big, but so comforting. I missed a flight to Berlin once and had to get a coach, and it was my pillow and duvet for 22 hours.
I was inspired to buy the Fila coat by ‘Post’-era Björk, when she wore lots of orange and pink. She’s the only person who’s really influenced my fashion choices. I loved what she wore in the ‘Vespertine’ era – like a pink leather vest with black chiffon sleeves, a mini, and tall Margiela Tabi boots covered in paint.
I love beautiful, feminine clothes – I’d wear Valentino every day if I could – mixed with a less feminine element, like a masculine perfume with a really feminine dress.
I used to wear my mom’s riding boots a lot when I was younger which is probably where my interest in knee- and crotch-high boots comes from. Neither of us ride horses but I like clothes that look like they’re made for a purpose.
If you thought that the front rows of Milan were populated exclusively by movie stars and influencers, think again. This season one of the most exciting new figures on the fashion scene was Amanda Gorman, the 20-year-old Harvard junior who serves as Youth Poet Laureate of the United States. A rising figure in the world of poetry, the Los Angeles native is the first to hold the prestigious title, which recognizes both her literary talent and her position as a community leader. Gorman, who has done everything from appear in ads for Helmut Lang to perform opposite Lin-Manuel Miranda and Morgan Freeman, is founder and executive director of One Pen, One Page, a nonprofit that provides free creative writing instruction for children in underserved communities. A multifaceted creative whose talents extend into a variety of disciplines, Gorman took a break from academics to enjoy a week at the collections courtesy of Prada. “There’s this idea of the poor, suffering poet, and I try to exhibit that the poet can be stylish, too,” shared Gorman via email from Madrid, where she’s studying abroad, “[and show] that in no way detracts from their poetry.”
For Gorman, the connection between fashion and poetry is implicit. Her outfits serve as a complementary form of expression that informs her creative output. “Fashion brings a distinct visual aesthetic to language. When I’m performing onstage, I’m not just thinking about my clothing, but what my Wakanda Forever T-shirt and yellow skirt is saying about my identity as a poet,” she says. “When I became U.S. Youth Poet Laureate, my mom and I actually talked a lot about my clothing because I act as my own stylist and makeup artist, navigating places as different as the Library of Congress and MTV. Through it all, I want to remain true to myself.” With inspiration drawn from icons such as Maya Angelou, the Duchess of Sussex, and Michelle Obama, Gorman gravitates towards looks that are “regal, youthful but mature” and influenced by her African heritage.
Her first Fashion Week offered a series of immersive, new experiences. Upon receiving the invitation from Carmine Spena, the brand’s public relations manager, Gorman recalls feeling momentary shock. “Poets aren’t well represented in the fashion world, let alone young female poets of color,” she says. “Prada is such an iconic fashion house I was honored to get the invite.” A longtime admirer of Miuccia Prada’s irreverent collections, Gorman jumped at the chance to see the work of designer she considers “transformative and visionary” in the flesh. “She pulls from deep, ever-changing wells of inspiration, the most recent being the anatomy of romance, which means the designs don’t just change, they metamorphosize [sic] entirely,” says Gorman. “She truly dances to the beat of her own drum. I’d love for my poetry to summon even a fraction of that liberty and creativity.”
Seated front row in a whimsical pastel dress and black Mary Janes, the poet fit right in with the fashion month regulars. The show, which moved her to tears, was thrilling, but so was the after-party where she connected with one of her small-screen style idols. Say Gorman: “My wardrobe is inspired by the Amazon show The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, and at the Prada after-party I got to meet the lovely Rachel Brosnahan, who plays the title role. Wild!” More than a chance to come face-to-face with her favorites, Gorman’s fashion adventure provided the one thing every writer is looking for: inspiration. “Miuccia Prada is pure genius, and that motivates me to be a better poet,” she says.
Here, the rising star shares behind-the-scenes glimpses at her Milan trip and a special poem created for the occasion.
A Poet’s Prada Seeking: Well-crafted, high-end Fashion that transcend trends
Looking: To challenge fashion codes Dance off previously carved roads Unafraid to experiment, explore, explode
Demanding: ready-to-wear style in our hands Giving us power, which makes it a power brand
Nothing at all is truer Than fashion that dances In the past, present, future
Style is statement, style is creative power revitalized And never compromised. It is then in no way a surprise That it’s also “uniforms for the slightly disenfranchised.”
This is no cloth on my arm It’s the uniform of an armada A poet’s sonata pulsing in Prada
La moda, quando è coraggiosa, è una lampada La luce feroce trafigge l’anima come una spada Ogni swish di tessuto è una melodia E ogni creazione è la più pura poesia
Fashion is a lamp only when it is unafraid Its fierce light pierces the soul like a blade Every swish of fabric is a melody And every creation is purest poetry
What is fashion if not an industry that’s constantly redefining itself? The 90s was an era enriched by globalisation, opening up a variety of new styles, influences and production methods. In the early 2000s, we saw how fast fashion turned the apparel sector on its head. Today, it’s technology that’s disrupting fashion at rapid pace.
“No area of life or business will be insulated from AI, in the same way that there’s no part of society that hasn’t been touched by computers or the internet,” Kenneth Cukier, Data Editor at The Economist and author of books including Big Data: A Revolution that Will Transform How We Work, told Business of Fashion.
From artificial intelligence dictating the latest trends to luxury brands uphauling communications through social media, machines and the digital world are transforming the fashion and retail industries.
It’s no longer just about sales, but the stories customers seek from each garment they buy, especially among luxury brands. With consumer tastes increasingly influenced by online content, communication teams are rapidly expanding their digital marketing section. According to The State of Fashion 2018 Report by McKinsey and the Business of Fashion, 60 percent of fashion executives say they will invest in omnichannel integration, e-Commerce and digital marketing in 2018.
Last year, Amazon rolled out its first “style assistant”, which analyses outfits through a combination of algorithms and (human) “fashion specialists” to tell you how you look.
Beyond the hi-tech, efforts are in the works to merge technology and fashion to address environmental concerns the industry is yet to shake off. Analysts further predict big changes to come, stemming from the aligning of supply and demand, personal customer service and assisting designers.
What this means for fashion schools and universities is the opening of new opportunities for their latest cohort of students. Gone are the days where career options are limited to designers, photographers and public relations officers. Today, many brands have created jobs with titles like data analysts, client experience directors, chief consumer officer, and chief digital and client officer, to name just a few.
They are the masters of digital trends, acutely aware not just of the long-term socio-cultural factors that affect fashion, but also of how the industry will forge ahead in terms of ethics and sustainability challenges.
These are the talent hot in demand by the present and future fashion industry. Education is often criticised for lagging behind business, but not at these three leading fashion and communication schools in Europe:
For a peek at what the future for fashion looks like, head to Switzerland’s USI University. This is where the world’s first digital fashion communication Master of its kind, the Master of Science in Digital Fashion Communication, was created.
This Master helps USI students make the cut in the competitive fashion world. Armed with a strong foundation in communication skills, in-depth understanding of the creation process and cutting-edge tools to interact in the digital business, the world is their oyster. Experiencing the French, Italian and Swiss cultures in their day-to-day activities adds another boost to the CV, practicing additionally to English, Italian and French, languages of great importance in the fashion world.
With the course split across three semesters at USI (Lugano, Switzerland) and one semester at the Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne in Paris (France), this is one enriching double degree. Students stand to benefit in terms of cultural and social enrichment, opportunities for international networking and the ability to work in diverse cross-border environments.
With all the above, professional opportunities go beyond omnichannel communication management and strategy for small and large fashion companies. USI graduates are equally in-demand to fill roles such as digital and social media marketing, brand development, data and e-Commerce management, advertising and PR support, CSR co-ordination and related experience-economy industries.
At the National College of Art & Design Dublin (NCAD), innovation and sustainability are the core themes behind its School of Design’s education philosophy.
NCAD’s undergraduate Fashion Design course stands out for its emphasis on encouraging students to be aware of fashion in its social and cultural context. To mould informed and creative designers, students are taught the design process as it applies to the fashion industry as well as understanding fashion in a wide range of contexts and the practical application of visual culture.
At postgraduate level, the MA Design for Body and Environment is an advanced degree for radical and creative innovators. It’s an interdisciplinary programme that covers a broad range of areas – from fashion to textiles, and jewellery to accessories – and combines core taught elements in research and critical studies, with advanced studio practice.
This research-led programme serves as an educational foundation that will enhance tomorrow’s entrepreneurs and designers’ cultural and technical innovations within and beyond the design discipline. The 15-month programme is designed so practitioners can undertake their study alongside maintaining their professional career.
Your creative future begins at this world-renowned arts and design college. The dynamic fashion enthusiast can begin their fashion education through its many forward-looking and ambitious pre-degree programmes, from highly-intensive courses in producing fashion and textile portfolios to a Foundation Diploma in Art and Design (Fashion and Textiles).
What all these courses share in common is UAL’s commitment to questioning the cores of the disciplines, “encouraging collision and exchange across boundaries to generate unexpected outcomes,” as its website states. UAL partners with the movers and shakers, local and global, from the industry and public every step of the way, preparing students for a fashion world that never stops changing.
What this ultimately means for the fashion student at UAL is an “environment of extraordinary and diverse creativity and opportunity in which to learn and excel,” as described by Anne Smith, Dean of Academic Programmes for Fashion; Jewellery and Textiles; Product, Ceramic and Industrial Design and Spatial Practices.
*Some of the institutions featured in this article are commercial partners of Study International
If we expect American fashion to lead on any level, it should be on diversity. After all, New York is far more multicultural than Paris, London, and Milan, and that fact is reflected in the data the Fashion Spot has kept in recent years on model diversity and inclusion on the runway. New York Fashion Week has always led its European counterparts on the diversity front, and though Paris Fashion Week has just begun, not only does it seem poised to do so once again, but it has broken its own records.
This season, 45.8 percent of the models booked this past NYFW across 77 prominent shows were models of color. That's up from 44.8 percent last season and more notably, up from just 20.9 percent in Spring 2015. Once again, every single show counted had at least one model of color, which wasn't always the case, especially among some major shows, in the very recent past. The uptick came even as some champions of runway diversity, including Rihanna's various Fenty-branded endeavors and Pyer Moss, sat the week out this time around.
The growing sense of inclusion is also now leading to a growing wave of more diverse booked and busy models. Indeed, nine out of the 10 most booked models at NYFW were of color. That includes Nigerian-born model Mayowa Nicholas, who booked 13 shows (including Tom Ford, Ralph Lauren, and Anna Sui) and tied for the most bookings with French-born Hyun Ji Shin. Here, the top-10 models of the season, according to the Fashion Spot's numbers.
1 (tie). Mayowa Nicholas
1 (tie). Cyrielle Lalande
2 (tie). Hyun Ji Shin
2 (tie). Adesuwa Aighewi
2 (tie). Sijia Kang
2 (tie). Hannah Shakespeare
3 (tie). Anyelina Rosa
3 (tie). Blésnya Minher
3 (tie). Fatou Jobe
3 (tie). He Cong
Though race isn't the only measure of diversity, and on other fronts, New York Fashion Week, as a whole, slipped some. Only 12 shows booked plus-size models this year, the same as last season, but among those 12 shows, only 37 spots were taken by plus-size models, down from 49 last year. Indeed, 10 of those plus-size models were all booked for a single show: size-inclusion-focused designer Christian Siriano. Another nine of those spots were at similarly inclusive-minded swimsuit brand Chromat's show. Many other brands cast just one or two plus-size models, while the vast majority cast none at all.
The number of runway spots booked by openly transgender and nonbinary models was also down this season to 29 following an all-time high of 53 last year. That may be in part because Teddy Quinlivan, among the most in-demand runway models of any identity, decided to sit out New York Fashion Week this year, but that's not the full picture. Still, Gypsy Sport and (once again) Chromat led the way in casting trans or nonbinary models with eight and four casting apiece.
All in all, the numbers paint a picture of an American fashion industry that finally continues to accept racial diversity on the runway as a default and not just an exception or a trend but still has work to do in other areas.
The styles are part of the French fashion label's Womenswear Fall/Winter 2019/2020 collection.
The micro bags appear to have been so small that models could carry them using a single finger.
Jacquemus also showcased oversized bags during the fashion show.
While its unclear how much the brand's runway designs will eventually cost, similar micro bags are sold on the Jacquemus website for $486.
A luxury fashion brand has created the handbag of your dreams — that is, if you're looking for a purse that isn't actually capable of holding anything.
On Monday, models walked down the runaway at Paris Fashion Week holding miniature handbags that appear to have been small enough to carry with a single finger.
The bags were designed by Jacquemus as part of the French fashion label's Womenswear Fall/Winter 2019/2020 collection.
The model standing in the middle held an orange micro bag while posing. Richard Bord/Getty Images A variety of the micro bags were displayed throughout the show, including ones in white, red, and orange. And while some designs featured a single handle, other bags included an additional long strap.
However, each bag shared one detail in common: a gold "J" encrusted on the right corner.
This micro handbag featured two straps, while others only included one. Richard Bord/Getty Images
But micro bags weren't the only accessories carried during the fashion show. Jacquemus also unveiled a selection of oversized handbags at Paris Fashion Week.
The tote styles were so large that models appear to have been barely able to wrap their arms around them while walking down the runway.
Two models carried different styles of oversized bags at the Jacquemus show. Stephane Mahe/Reuters
It's unclear when the new Jacquemus designs will go on sale, or how much they'll eventually cost. But the brand is currently selling similar options online. At the time of writing, the Jacquemus online store offers micro bags in a variety of colors and styles, which range in price from $240 to $504.
Kim Kardashian has the power to turn just about anything into a trend.
Her Instagram posts to her 128 million followers about waist training helped bring back the outdated product. Her makeup routine turned contouring into a lucrative global beauty category. Her role as a Yeezy muse helped make her husband Kanye West’s fashion line as covetable as many legacy brands, and her cachet revived the once-sleepy French fashion house Balmain. She can even drive trends in the gaming world; her video game, Kim Kardashian: Hollywood, debuted in June 2014 and made more than $70 million its first year in the app store.
Because of her massive impact, Kardashian has become an unrivaled icon in the fashion world, and in fast fashion specifically. Brands like Zara, H&M, Missguided, Fashion Nova, and Asos have built enormous empires by ditching classic styles and opinionated creative directors for quick, easy wins, based on what’s trending from celebrities and the runway.
These fast-fashion giants look to Kardashian, among other celebrities and influencers, for cues on what to create because they know what she wears will soon be trending, if it isn’t already. After she was spotted wearing translucent dresses and boots, for instance, nearly every fast-fashion website made copies. And her signature look — the tight bodycon dress — has made bandage dresses a staple in fast fashion. It’s become a popular search term for the Chinese shopping sites AliExpress and Alibaba, as well as on Amazon.
In the past, Kardashian has seemingly welcomed this spotlight, and has even joked about it on social media.
But lately her relationship with fast fashion hasn’t been so cozy, and she’s been clapping back at some of these brands, both on social media and in court. She alleges that certain companies, like Missguided and Fashion Nova, have taken the whole copycat fashion thing a little too far, particularly when it comes to the use of her image.
The situation speaks to the symbiotic and simultaneously adversarial relationship that celebrities — and the Kardashians in particular — have when it comes to companies repackaging their personal branding for mass consumption.
Many people have ill feelings about fast fashion — and rightfully so.
The business largely consists of creating cheap, quick knockoffs for consumers everywhere. Zara, which is credited with pioneering the fast-fashion sector, rose to popularity precisely because of its ability to knock off designer trends from the runway in as little as five weeks. Because of social media and nonstop access to celebrities and influencers, coupled with the ability to have clothing made cheaply overseas, fashion has never been faster, or more contentious.
“Big businesses think us small businesses are just here to pull ideas from, and they think we are weak,” one designer told me last year when discussing the fast-fashion industry.
These days, when compared to some digitally native fast fashion companies, Zara’s five-week turnaround time is considered slow. Over the past few years, new brands have risen to prominence, including Missguided, Boohoo, Asos, Pretty Little Thing, and Fashion Nova.
Missguided, Boohoo, and the Boohoo-owned Pretty Little Thing hail from Manchester, England; their design strategy is to comb social media, study the fashion of celebrities and influencers, and identify looks that are trending. They can create Kardashian-inspired outfits in as little as two weeks. As Boohoo’s buying director told me in 2017 when I visited the company’s headquarters, “Speed is absolutely critical to the shopper today. People see Kim K. wearing something one day, and they want it the next.”
Fashion Nova, which some have referred to as a brand that’s “tailor-made for Instagram,” has become huge in the digital fast-fashion space. It has more than 14 million Instagram followers and an army of influencers it calls #NovaBabes. It works with celebrities like Cardi B, Teyana Taylor, and Amber Rose, sometimes paying them as much as $20,000 to wear its clothes.
Fashion Nova is “ultra-fast fashion” because the company can make clothing in 24 hours, according to WWD. It’s an astonishing turnaround time for a brand, so intended because “customers post so much online and need new clothes,” according to its founder, Richard Saghian. Fashion Nova often clones fashion straight from celebrity closets, especially when it comes to the Kardashian family. It recreated all the Kardashian outfits that were worn to Kylie Jenner’s 21st birthday party last year, for example.
Fashion Nova works with more than 1,000 manufacturers that help it put out 600 new pieces a week, many of which are direct celebrity-related knockoffs. Boohoo debuts 700 new styles on its site every week, and Asos 4,000. Although these brands are plagued with concerns about environmental impact and troubling labor practices, they continue to grow.
Nearly all of the Kardashian family appears to be quite comfortable doing business with the fast-fashion industry. The Kardashian and Jenner sisters work with legacy brands like Estée Lauder, Calvin Klein, and Adidas, but Kourtney, Khloé, and Kylie have all been paid to wear Fashion Nova, and Kim has said openly that she shops at Zara and H&M.
It’s a symbiotic relationship: Fast-fashion brands knock off the very looks that celebrities wear, all the while paying those celebrities promotional fees. This is part of what’s helped give Fashion Nova so much visibility.
When it comes to keeping up with the Kardashians, though, some fast-fashion brands may take their mimicking a step too far, and this is where things get complicated.
On February 20, Kim filed a $10 million suit against Missguided. According to the Hollywood Reporter, she’s accusing the company of using her name and image without permission in order to “generate interest in their brand and website, and to elicit sales of their products.”
“Missguided does not merely replicate the looks of these celebrities as seen on red carpets, in paparazzi photos, and in social media posts,” Michael Kump, a lawyer for the heavyweight Hollywood law firm Kinsella Weitzman Iser Kump & Aldisert, writes in the suit. “Missguided systematically uses the names and images of Kardashian and other celebrities to advertise and spark interest in its website and clothing.”
It makes sense that Missguided has developed a brand persona that relies heavily on Kim’s image. It targets women ages 16 and 35 and, per a 2016 Racked profile, is “the millennial’s brand of feminism evangelized by the Kardashians: Empowerment means celebrating your sexy to the max, and let no one tell you otherwise.”
The company, which was started by one of Britain’s richest men in 2009 and has been selling in the US since 2013, sells bodycon short dresses, skimpy swimsuits, and eveningwear with plunging necklines, all priced between $15 and $65. It’s sold explicit knockoffs of Kardashian looks in the past, from neutral-toned Yeezy dresses Kim has worn to classic athleisure looks sported by Kylie. Most recently, it copied a Yeezy dress Kim posted about on her Instagram feed, and even teased her about ripping off the dress in its Instagram caption.
But what’s particularly egregious about Missguided’s marketing strategy, Kim claims in the lawsuit, is that the brand uses her name and photos too. Missguided had a special landing page dedicated to Kardashian, filled with photos and outfits of the reality TV star. From that page, shoppers were redirected to a page of Kim-inspired looks. (The pages appear to have been recently removed. Vox reached out to Missguided for comment and has not heard back.)
”Missguided’s U.S. website has included entire pages that are devoted solely to the sale of clothing inspired by Kardashian, and on which Kardashian’s name and likeness are prominently used without her permission to promote the products,” the suit against Missguided reads.
A Kim Kardashian montage on the Missguided site.Missguided
If Missguided were merely knocking off an outfit of hers, Kardashian would likely have no case, since fashion doesn’t have copyright protection in the US. Names, however, can be trademarked — Kim’s is — so there’s a good chance that Missguided will have to pay up, especially because Kardashian is alleging that the company has caused her to lose money. She, along with the rest of the Kardashian-Jenner clan, frequently promotes brand products on Instagram (including those infamous laxative teas). According to the suit, “a single social media post by Kardashian can fetch fees of several hundred thousand dollars, and her longer-term endorsement arrangements regularly garner fees in the millions of dollars.”
The lawsuit against Missguided is not Kim Kardashian’s only attempt at getting back at fast fashion. On February 17, Kardashian wore a black vintage Thierry Mugler dress that featured a thigh-high slit and a cutout top to the Hollywood Beauty Awards in Los Angeles.
Kim Kardashian wears a vintage Thierry Mugler dress to the Hollywood Beauty Awards in Los Angeles on February 17, 2019.Star Max/Getty Images
A day later, Fashion Nova had a replica of the dress, the “Winning Beauty Cut Out Gown,” available for $49.99. (The dress apparently sold out, and the page was later taken down.)
Kardashian slammed the brand via both Instagram stories and Twitter.
“Only two days ago, I was privileged enough to wear a one-of-a-kind vintage Mugler dress and in less than 24 hours it was knocked off and thrown up on a site — but it’s not for sale. You have to sign up for a waitlist because the dress hasn’t even been made to sell yet,” she tweeted. “This is a way to get people to sign up for their mailing list and make people believe there is some kind of relationship between me and this fashion site. There is not.”
One fashion watchdog Instagram account, Diet Prada, suggested in a post that since Fashion Nova knocked off the dress so quickly, Kim’s team must have tipped off the company in advance. The prospect that Kim is working with Fashion Nova in some capacity isn’t all that far-fetched, considering her sisters are a part of Fashion Nova’s large army of influencers.
But Kardashian vehemently denied these allegations and accused Fashion Nova of profiting off other designers, her husband included:
It’s devastating to see these fashion companies rip off designs that have taken the blood, sweat and tears of true designers who have put their all into their own original ideas.
I’ve watched these companies profit off my husband’s work for years and now that it’s also affecting designers who have been so generous to give me access to their beautiful works, I can no longer sit silent.
Like Missguided, Fashion Nova’s website also includes references to celebrity names and uses their photos to promote their products. It copied a white Christian Siriano maternity dress Cardi B wore while performing on SNL (called the Cardi Party Ruched Dress), and it knocked off the Stella McCartney gown Meghan Markle wore to her wedding reception.
Fashion Nova knocked off Meghan Markle’s wedding reception dress and posted a side-by-side comparison.Fashion Nova
Fashion Nova copied the dress Cardi B wore on SNL and sells it alongside photos of the singer.Fashion Nova
But Kardashian hasn’t filed a suit or anything of the sort against Fashion Nova — perhaps because her sisters work withthe brand, or perhaps because it’s all a part of this sometimes-uncomfortable relationship between fast fashion, Instagram, and celebrity.
The Kardashians, in general, are extremely controlling of their image. This is a family with decades of experience with the media, from Kris Jenner orchestrating drama in order to catch the public’s attention (like potentially leaking that sex tape of Kim) to purportedly calling the paparazzi on themselves to Kylie keeping her pregnancy a secret last year before carefully rolling out the news. The family consistently refuses to comment on rumors and scoops, preferring to reveal these life updates on their own TV shows and media platforms instead. As Zan Romanoff wrote for BuzzFeed in a story about the family’s PR strategy, “that they now have their own platforms — Keeping Up as well as their paid subscription apps — only highlights how much control they have over their own narratives, and this power can work both with and against them.”
As the Kardashians have become more mainstream in fashion and beauty, they’ve also largely left their former partnerships to head up lines of their own. Kim and Kylie have lately focused on their mega-successful beauty lines (to the point that the family even got sued in 2016 for failing to promote a beauty line they’d launched with a third-party distributor).
The Kardashians in a Calvin Klein ad from 2018.Calvin Klein/Facebook
The constant attention from fast-fashion brands that regurgitate their fashion choices to the masses helps the Kardashian family because they stay at the top of the public’s mind. But once the Kardashians start to lose control of how their images and names are being used — as in the case of Missguided — is when things appear to cross a line.
Kim’s suit against Missguided probably won’t stop brands from knocking off the looks she and her sisters wear. And the latest drama likely won’t kill Kylie or Kourtney’s partnerships with Fashion Nova, either. These stars might not admit it, but they arguably need the fast-fashion attention, and the fast-fashion brands certainly need their celebrity cachet. It’s drama, but all parties rely on each other.
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