I can’t believe I’m not going on vacation at all this year, it still hasn’t quite hit me yet and I think the moment it actually does I’ll go insane. I mean who doesn’t like a holiday? Time to refresh, be at peace. This staying in the country for an entire year thing isn’t really my vibe. SOMEONE NEEDA TO PUT AN END TO THIS AND GET ME OUT OF THIS COUNTRY!!!
For some of you, online shopping has become an addiction and I’m only here to make it worse!
If you don’t go to the airport with a carry on or as we call it in the U.K. then I’d assume that you are a certified serial killer. How can you just go on holiday and not have any hand luggage?? You gotta be prepared, what if your actual luggage gets lost or something? where do we go from there? Ever since I started travelling myself, I always but the most valuable items in my carryon/ my favourite pieces to wear because lord knows if I lost an entire suitcase and ended up with nothing to wear on a holiday, I would genuinely murder somebody.
For when we are ready to travel, here are some of my favourites;
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that the coronavirus pandemic has taken a huge hit on the fashion industry – especially in terms of luxury fashion. Donatella Versace herself said, “THE WORLD IS OVER AS WE KNOW IT.” And I cannot say that I disagree with her, COVID19 has put a stop on so many things; fashion weeks have been cancelled and moved to virtual runways, designers like YSL have pulled out, stores have been forced to close, orders have been cancelled, factories have shut or repurposed to make PPE. Fashion, for the first time in history, was and has been put on hold for the foreseeable future. But was this a blessing in disguise? Did the industry need this to rethink their purpose? What is the future of fashion? What will emerge? Could a more responsible sector — one less damaging to the environment be the future?
For the last few years, seasonal trends have slowly been disappearing with designers choosing more classical items for their runways and collections, items which can be worn all year round, items that we would all call staple pieces, items that stay on store shelves longer and can be sold for years rather than just a season. Think about all the trends that have made a come back in the last few years and have stayed dominating the fashion scene for not only a season but for the last 5 years – think blazers, cycling shorts, leather jackets, flared jeans – staple items that everyone needs! With the pandemic, I ‘m sure that more designers will realise the importance of this as I can imagine that they have so much excess stock that won’t even be sellable after this is all over because, they’ll essentially be out of fashion, by the time this is over, we’ll be going into a new season and what’s fashionable will be different – Burberry famously burnt £28.6m in bags, clothes and perfume in 2017 to prevent them from being stolen or sold for too little (a practice it has since halted). So what’s going to happen to unsold items that can only be found and sourced in luxury boutiques because last time I checked the likes of Chanel, Dior and Hermes don’t do online delivery?
VOGUE GLOBAL CONVERSATIONS
I recently watched an episode of vogue’s global conversations and they brought up some very important points that we need to assess when it comes to this industry;
We Still Need Catwalk Shows—But We Also Need to Invest In Digital Experiences
Fashion Needs to Slow Down, and Designers Can Lead the Way
Sustainability Is A Growing Conversation, But Action Is Needed, Too
Now’s The Time To Share Your Creativity With The World, Especially If You’re A Young Designer
The Industry Has To Change, And Much Of It Comes Down To Doing Less
To summarise for you guys; ideally, fashion weeks will be smaller mainly because many designers won’t actually be able to host them and magazines won’t be able to afford to send editors to attend them, instead most of the seats will be filled with influencers. It’s sad really, that something like this has caused such a detrimental effect on an industry I love.
In addition, unable to host showroom appointments, brands will invest in better showroom software, leaving buyers with less reason to travel in the long-term which will be good in helping to reduce the industry’s carbon footprint. And to no surprise, shopping habits will change – with less disposable income, consumers will be more conscious of what they buy, treating luxury items as investment pieces that will serve them for years — or at least hold their resale value. The shift in spending from high-end handbags to health — skincare, supplements, boutique fitness classes — already on the rise pre-pandemic, will continue. Online shopping will become more of a habit. Similar to the 2008 recession, there will be more support for buying second-hand and directly from small businesses who manufacture responsibly whilst others will turn to fast fashion for cheap thrills.
Fun Fact; Akademiks is well and truly still alive and unlike the other brands that I have included in this series, I couldn’t find any sufficient information on the brand – it’s like it never existed, even the pictures I saw, they did not look good enough to put on my blog! The only information I could find on it was on Wikipedia and we all know how unreliable that is as a web source. I have spent the last week trying to ensure that this will be as informative as the rest, but I had no luck, so I thought why not give you guys the reasons why today I would not buy from Akademiks. Let’s just say that they have a lot of rebranding to do!
The label was founded by two brothers, Donwan and Emmett Harrell in 1999, along with a group of partners. They gained popularity just like any other brand, through celebrities wearing their clothes – the brand is described as the intersection of art, music and fashion. Worn by style icons including Jay-Z, Kanye West and tastemakers worldwide. The collection is always evolving and is always first to set the trend with distinctive graphics, and fabric innovation.
Akademiks, an intentional spelling of the word “academics” makes a lot of sense for a brand that rose to fame in the time that it did. This was the era that men believed it was acceptable to mix preppy styles and urban fashion together, I still can’t believe that people were pairing Ralph Lauren polo’s with dropped baggy jeans, has everyone stopped dropping their jeans or is that still a thing? I originally thought that this was the main idea behind the name because that is what makes sense to me, however, it actually turns out that the name Akademiks was based on the idea that education was essential. This was as we know it, is, of course, an American brand among the urban legends that I mentioned in the first blog post of this series, with devotees of hip hop music, art and fashion but why did the reign of Akademiks not see past 2005?
On the front page of their site, you’ll see that “Akademiks continues to add to the celebrity roster of brand enthusiasts.” However, I highly disagree, when was the last time you heard someone say I’m wearing Akademiks, me, myself being the fashion enthusiast I am, I couldn’t find anything to wearable on their and everyone knows that I am the queen of making a bad item fashionable, but that just wasn’t possible with this brand. They have not evolved correctly for the times, in all honesty, I am surprised that they are still active because really and truly who is buying from them?? As you can all see from the screenshots below they are still in the early 2000s era of fashion, they are not in 2020 like rest of us. Personally, I would love to speak to the in house designer and really ask them what is going on because this is not it, right now it’s so easy to brand as fashion label – with menswear, simplicity goes a long way and they just have not understood this.
Then we have their Instagram which has not been active in 156 weeks, which is basically 3 years. As we speak influencer and social media marketing is now part of the marketing mix so the fact that they are not utilising this is a shame really, because people of my age demographic who grew up with social media, most of the clothing brands I wear is because I have seen my favourite influencers wearing them! During the 2000s Akademiks utilised celebrities as they were the influencers back then so why are they not doing the same now. They also have to ask themselves why the same celebrities that wore their clothes back then, are not wearing them now and the answer is simply because they have lacked, they don’t wanna change – look at fubu, they have adapted to the times and are still making sales! If it’s money, why still sell if you cannot brand/ market yourself. They simply need to shut down and that’s that.
Is any outfit ever complete without the perfect bag? I don’t think so! For all of my fashionable babes on a budget, this post is for you. For all the girls who know the importance a bag adds to a fit, this is for you. And of course, for all my designer bag lovers who don’t want to break the bank this corona season, this one is also for you.
The Designer dupes you need in your life;
From the Bottega pouch dupe to the Louis Vuitton multi pochette dupe. We at PLT have got you covered …..
Louis Vuitton’s Multi-Pochette bag has been spotted draping on every ‘It’ girl across the globe and we are loving it – as it stands this is the most in-demand designer bag ATM! But I mean how can it not be? The 2019 edition of the bag is a new take on the ’90s classic and you can get your very own dupe right here!
I think we can all agree with me when I say that the Dior Saddle bag dominated 2019. If you do not have a shoulder bag in your wardrobe by now then I honestly do not know what you’re doing with your life!!!
If you don’t know about Bottega Veneta then where the hell have you been this past year? This is the brand of the moment and every dupe I see, I will get because look at this bag! It is to die for.
Is it a clutch? Is it a shoulder bag? Or is it a crossbody bag? This Bottega Cassette dupe can be anything you want it to be! Add some colour and fun into your life with this fun little piece.
I kid you not, this to me looks like an exact pouch, you literally cannot tell the difference! This is the perfect bag to add class to your outfit, because guess what, you are the 2020 Blair Waldorf ?
I can’t lie to you guys, the bags on the high street are really not it, I literally tried so hard and could only find a few, when in reality I was expecting to find a bunch of super cool bags! I spent hours looking and I’m so disappointed! Even Topshop which is usually my holy grail destination for bags disappointed me. I’m actually so annoyed, why is it hard to find cute affordable bags, why are all the nice one’s designer?? Can the Hugh street please step up their game because us uni students want to look adorable on a budget, not break into our overdraft!
I’ve realised that lately, over the last few years unless they’re huge shopper bags, the high street only does fashionable mini’s and shoulder bags, which of course are on-trend but what about us uni students who want a cute bag to carry our books in?? Or the workaholics who are fashionable queens. We’re suffering here. River island even tried doing a dupe to the Dior book tote and I have never hated a bag so much in my life, it was so disgraceful.
But any who, these are my favourites and deffo the best on the high street, a lot of them are dupes but still cute af
Every time I wear a bralette or a cute slip dress my mum LOVES asking me if I’m going to sleep or if I’m going outside. Does anyone else’s mum do this thinking they’re funny, because I know I can’t be the only one who suffers from these jokes??? It’s so annoying ?
I feel like I say this all the time using different words but this has to fashion’s cutest trend and by far my all-time favourite. I know for a fact it’s here to stay – it’s been popular since the 90s and to this day it continues to reinvent itself. Whoever came up with the idea to wear underwear as outerwear and then made it mainstream honestly deserves the world and more! I used to be one of those people who would literally buy the most basic bras and bralettes because in my head i was like “who else is gonna see this but me?” and then lingerie became acceptable to wear as clothing again and now I pride myself in owning cute lace bras because one day they could contribute to a cute outfit, so technically underwear companies owe fashion for this!
A BRIEF HISTORY OF UNDERWEAR AS OUTERWEAR
1984 – Madonna wears a lace bustier on the album cover for Like A Virgin 1990 – Madonna dons the (now infamous) John Paul Gaultier corset bustier during her Blonde Ambition tour 1996 – Princess Diana gives slip dresses the royal seal of approval 1996 – Sporty spice makes wearing a sports bra as a top a thing 1998 – Carrie Bradshaw (styled by Patricia Field) makes a visible bra a must-have style 2002 – Christina Aguilera releases the video clip for Dirrty and flaunts her underpants 2018 – Kim Kardashian popularizes the trend for wearing lingerie bodysuits with trousers and skirts 2019 – Kim again wears her underwear outside, this time popularizing the current trend for lace bike shorts
All I am going to say is, the key to this trend is to make it look intentional!
Founded in 1992 by Daymond John, J. Alexander Martin, Keith Perrin, and Carlton Brown as a hat company FUBU ( “For Us By Us”) became a fashion staple during the 1990s street-wear scene. By the early 2000s, it was known globally as the “IT” brand for many black teens. So where did the idea come from? During the 80s, wool hats with cut tops were very popular amongst rappers. Huge companies sold these hats at an average price of around $20 which you can imagine at the time for a wool hat was a little ?. This is where John spotted an opportunity. He went home and shared the idea with his friend Carlton Brown. They both made around 80 hats and went out in New York the next day selling each hat for $10. They managed to sell out the same day ending up with $800 in revenue. That same day John went home and persuaded his mother to take out a loan, mortgaging their apartment. They borrowed $100, 000 in start-up cash and invested the money into the business. And that is how FUBU was born.
In the beginning, they were sewing the FUBU logo on t-shirts, jackets and other clothes trying to make the brand popular. However, they didn’t see the same success as they had had with their hats. Things were tough. The clothing line was not an instant success. In an interview with Hot97 in 2017, John explained that for three years— from 1989-1992— FUBU didn’t make any money. In fact, the company was closed down three times before it began to generate income. However, In 1994, things began to pick up, John exposed his clothing on the popular trade show Magic, held in Las Vegas. Despite FUBU couldn’t even afford to rent a booth, they got orders for around $300 000. They were about to become really popular. In the next years, FUBU signed some decent contracts with big names like NBA, JC Penny, and some others. By the year 1998, the company declared around $350 million in sales. Today, FUBU’s sales are around $6 billion, Daymond John’s net worth has reached $250 million in 2015.
In 1995, a few years after John mortgaged his house for $100,000 to invest into FUBU with his business partners (and run the company out of that same house), Samsung became investors of the company after seeing John’s ad in the NY Times which read”A million dollars in orders, need financing.” By 1998, FUBU was totalling $350 million in yearly sales.
Then by luck, John managed to convince LL Cool J (who lived in the same neighbourhood as him and was a good friend of his) to wear a promotional t-shirt with the FUBU brand on it on some of his videos (around 40). Later, LL Cool J wore a FUBU hat while shooting a short video clip for The Gap which gave the company there exposure they needed!
“He was wearing a pair of Gap jeans and a Gap shirt, but he was somehow able to sport one of our hats during the commercial. Then during his thirty-second freestyle rap, he looks directly into the camera and says, ‘For Us, By Us, on the low.’ No one at Gap nor any of their ad execs thought anything of it. It wasn’t until a month later that someone at the Gap found out, pulled the commercial, and fired a whole bunch of people after they had spent about $30 million running this campaign.”
But the damage was already done.
However, just like the other brands in this series, their reign didn’t last after a few missteps and investing $5 million into a compilation album titled ‘the good life’, FUBU left the U.S. market completely in 2003. In a book he co-authored, The Brand Within, John explained that one of the major factors that led to the company’s demise is that they had too much product. “Once you hit mark-down bins, it’s tough to climb out, because you’ve lost the sense that your clothes are fresh and vibrant,” he writes.
Having said that, FUBU did make a comeback and last year they paired with Sorella Boutique for a collaboration, releasing a new 90s inspired women’s collection. They also came out with a Black lives matter capsule collection in late 2019 and patent suits under their name too. So hopefully FUBU can be the brand that it once was “for us by us”
We need to take into consideration that Kanye West, he had made several attempts in the fashion industry before Yeezy became a household name, most notably 9 years ago with the debut of Dw by Kanye West named after his late mother, Donda West. However, the critics did not give ’Ye an easy out. “Kanye West’s collection was so Givenchy-esque that it’s embarrassing that Givenchy designer Riccardo Tisci was an expected guest,” wrote the Wall Street Journal’s Christina Binkley in her review.
Naturally, West hit back with a signature rant at the show’s afterparty. “This is my first collection. Please be easy. Please give me a chance to grow. This is not some celebrity shit. I don’t fuck with celebrities. I fuck with the creatives in this room, the amazing people who spend every day of their life trying to make the world a more beautiful place. The number of people that tried to get me a celebrity fucking deal. They said, ‘You need to do boot-cut jeans, or you won’t sell.’ Shut the fuck up!”
Despite this, his fashion show came to be the most hyped of the entire spring 2012 season, creating expectations that are often impossible to live up to, even for trained, established designers but it, unfortunately, lasted for just two seasons, funded solely by the rapper-turned-designer, and was ultimately shuttered without the backing of a larger brand.
Kanye outlines his frustrations with the fashion industry during an interview On BBC Radio 1 With Zane Lowe
In this extensive and endlessly talked-about interview with Zane Lowe, West expanded at length on the ideas from “Black Skinhead,” articulating his frustrations and gripes with the fashion industry in great detail. Over the course of an hour, he made the case for why he deserved the chance to design a full collection, not simply collaborate on one-offs. He explained to Zane Lowe that in traditional celebrity endorsement deals, the celeb’s input on the products themselves usually amounts to nothing more than “patina,” and took shots at the empty “creative director” titles celebrities are often given. By contrast, he said he has so more to offer to brands, and to the world, as an actual designer of products, from high school basketball uniforms to film.
“I want a joint venture the way Stella McCartney has,” he told Lowe. This was the first time West expressed his feeling that he couldn’t impact culture with fashion without the support of a mega-corporation like Adidas to back his mega aspirations. (He told Lowe he hopes to eventually be “the anchor of the first trillion-dollar company.”) He said that without a large corporation’s infrastructure, the most he would be able to design would be T-shirts, likening his limitations to the time before Rocafella gave him a record deal. “Me doing the Yeezys and not having a joint venture with Nike the next day would have been like if I made ‘Jesus Walks’ and then wasn’t allowed to make an album,” West said. “There’s a reason I was the only rapper allowed to design a shoe with Nike,” he stated, “which means there has to be another step. It has to keep going. People didn’t love the Yeezys the way they did for no reason.”
Kanye Reveals He Previously Designed Sneakers for Giuseppe Zanotti and Balmain
In an interview with Los Angeles-based 97.1 Amp Radio, Ye revealed that he had worked on sneakers for high-end fashion labels without previously taking any credit.
“I designed the [Giuseppe] Zanotti sneakers and people don’t know that. I designed Balmain sneakers and people don’t know that,” he said to demonstrate his authenticity and to be taken seriously as a legitimate voice in the fashion industry.
West Leaves Nike For Adidas
2013 was the year Kanye began his battle to be recognized in the corporate world. His album Yeezus was him at his most anti-establishment with songs like “New Slaves,” but the drive really can be pinpointed to his frustration with Nike for only being interested in his name, not his ideas. By the end of the year, West had moved over to Adidas who have allowed him to be one step closer to creating a trillion-dollar fashion business!
A.P.C. X KANYE WEST
Before West presented us with Yeezy season 1, he already had two collaborations with French brand A.P.C. underway. Released in 2013 and 2014, his first ready-to-wear collection with the line included rugged denim pieces, pants, shirts, sweaters, coats, and even accessories.
YEEZY SEASON 1
In early 2015, after a couple of years attending rather shows, the rapper returned to the fashion week scene, this time in New York launching his Yeezy line. With this came a few now-signature aspects, as it was a striking stagnant presentation which used relatively unknown models and mixed neutral basics with athleisure. And it was from this moment that athleisure wear became one of the biggest trends of the decade, all thanks to MR West!
YEEZY BOOST
To date, no shoe has been more successful or (in)famous than the Yeezy Boost. Especially in 2015 and 2016. They retail for between $200 and $350, but because they are so limited, people often resell them for ridiculous prices and make an enormous profit.
PABLO POP-UP SHOPS
The rapper’s 2016 album, The Life of Pablo, came when interest in his fashion endeavours were at it’s highest, so he capitalized on this through limited-edition merchandise, which sold at his tour stops as well as 21 temporary stores.
Kanye West, you either love him or you hate him, there is no in-between. Personally I fucking adore this man. When it comes to fashion he is so ahead of his time, he is a visionary, a creative and one of the best that this generation has ever seen, he took simplicity to another level with his brand Yeezy. Think about all of the fast-fashion brands that he influenced to copy the Yeezy style and think about all of the sneakers and trainers that resemble every single Yeezy he has ever created and then come back to me and tell me this man isn’t influential.
As I am sure you are all aware, Thursday last week Forbes announced that Ye is officially a billionaire, they estimated that he is worth $1.3 billion, however, Mr Wests states that he is worth more than that and that his net with is actually $3.3 billion. Either way, he’s now a billionaire and I thought what better way to celebrate his new status than to dedicate an entire blog post to this incredibly innovative man! Today I am taking you through the years of Kanye’s fashion history, this man is more than Yeezy and has clearly always aspired for a career in fashion! Despite his critics and haters – West has wedged his way into the archives of high fashion building himself an empire and definitely a brand that will go down in streetwear history!
West Collaborates with A Bathing Ape on a “Dropout Bear” Bapesta
In 2007, Bape was by far one of the most popular streetwear brands on the planet and to this day still remains to be iconic. The Bapesta sneaker was their crown jewel, and Kanye designed a version that featured his mascot, the “Dropout Bear.” This marked the first time West collaborated with a brand on an original sneaker. Around this time West was freely name-dropping his label in songs like “Stronger”, despite its non-existence.
“I have that opportunity to put my name on something and people will buy it, but I want to create something that has its own voice, and other designers can look at it and be inspired by. I wasn’t put on this earth to make money – I was put on this earth to make magic” – Kanye West
Alain Milki Shutter Shades
Who remembers these?? OMG, the nostalgia is real, I can guarantee you that my oldest brother owned a pair of these in every single colour, I’m not even over exaggerating! Although the existence of shutter shades traces back to the ’50s, it was West himself who made them mainstream during the late aughts. Premiering the distinct shade style in his music video for “Strong” back in 2007, West wore a contemporary design custom-made for him by designer Alain Mikli. Featuring bars of metal or plastic running horizontally across them, they became known as “Kanye West shades” and spawned dozens of knock-off versions after.
In the same year, he also teamed up with Australian fashion label Ksubi to produce eyewear for Pastelle. Instead of getting too DIY, West was to consult with designer George Gorrow, who previously created stage eyewear for his music videos. The designs would include limited-edition gold frames and priced at $2,000. Apart from the announcement, there is no evidence the designs ever surfaced. But above you can see some of the samples and what was expected from the collection.
Around this time, West also started expressing his desire to break into the realms of high fashion. “I’m in the same position I was in with music before I got it together and finally managed to figure out what my style was,” West told Clash magazine. “I used to have tracks that sounded like Timbaland and the next track would sound like DJ Premier… So when I’m doing designs I have one thing that looks like Venice and Ralph shit and the next thing is in the BAPE area. So it’s really about figuring out how to embody all of these things I like but have my own voice. ”
Kanye Collaborates with Louis Vuitton
West spent a lot of the late 2000s working with the French luxury house LV, being a major part of their ongoing streetwear interests through a series of sneakers. Working on styles like the Don and the Jasper, he added his personal touch with bright colours and lace and strap play. he had flashy pink soles, tassel embellishments and gold shoelace rings, this collaboration itself yielded a mean range of collectables. The Jasper sneaker is the most valuable sneaker in the world right now – with a pair going for £22,763 having increased by 2,532% in value. I did a blog post on it a few months ago, check it out here.
The Nike Air Yeezy is Launched
How can we ever forget Kanye’s first every Yeezys?? 11 years later and he’s built an empire big enough to rival Nike’s Air Jordans, all in the space of less than a decade!
After him dissing Nike in his songs it was surprising to many ‘Ye’s response to being asked how he felt about Nike retroing the Air Yeezy line. West has given Nike his blessing to re-issue the Air Yeezy 1 and Air Yeezy 2 because The People having what they want is most important.
Ye Interns at Fendi
Back in 2009, Mr West wanted to learn more about fashion before he launched his own fashion brand so he interned at Fendi alongside designer Virgil Abloh CEO of Off- White and the artistic director of menswear for LV. The rapper described his sartorial training as consisting of learning from the best, as well as typical “intern work” like “every day, going to work, walking to work, getting cappuccinos…”
Givenchy Merch
Newly appointed Burberry CCO Riccardo Tisci not only designed the artwork for West and Jay-Z’s collaborative Watch the Throne album, but Tisci also created the designs for the tour merch and the Givenchy clothing that the duo wore on-stage during concert performances.
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