Happy Easter celebrations! The fashion industry was packed with lots of exciting news this week. This week in fashion news from around the world, Italian luxury house has created a quarterly digital journal in place of an Instagram account, LVMH is set to sell its unused fabrics at an online marketplace and more.
Bottega Veneta Sets Up Digital Journal in Place of Instagram Account
Recently, Bottega Veneta cut all ties with social media without any explanation. Now, the Italian luxury fashion house is replacing its social media accounts with a quarterly online magazine. Its founder, Daniel Lee, hopes that this will offer “more progressive and more thoughtful” content than scrolling through an Instagram feed.
“Social media represents the homogenisation of culture,” Daniel Lee said in a report. “Everyone sees the same stream of content. A huge amount of thought goes into what I do, and social media oversimplifies it.”
The digital journal called Issue features a newly commissioned for Missy Elliott’s 1999 classic Hot Boyz. Issue is an audiovisual magazine with fashion photography, music and video. There are voiceovers and music, but no text.
“There is a mood of playground bullying on social media which I don’t really like,” says Lee. “I wanted to do something joyful instead. We are not just a brand, we are a team of people who work together, and I don’t want to collude in an atmosphere that feels negative.”
In a world where fashion brands rely heavily on social media, this is a bold and unusual move.
LVMH to Sell Off Unused Fabric Online
Luxury conglomerate LVMH is launching an online marketplace for unused fabric and leather. The brand which owns Louis Vuitton Dior and Givenchy hope you help designers who use discarded fabrics with this move. This deadstock fabric will help designers that need cheap alternatives to quality materials for collections.
This move by the conglomerate is sure to help fashion become more circular and sustainable. France, the home of LVMH, is also looking into the possibility of banning brands from burning or dumping unsold clothing. This would force more brands to consider upcycling and deadstock sale as an option.
“For so long this waste and unused inventory has been going on and nobody was paying attention to it,” Stephanie Benedetto, co-founder of Queen of Raw, told Business of Fashion. “It doesn’t make sense for people and the planet, but it sure as hell doesn’t make sense for profit.”
Discova Creates Travel Clothing App to Fix Holiday Fashion Faux Pas
Discova has launched a travel clothing app that offers clients personalised travel recommendations. This app was created to help fashionistas avoid making fashion-related errors abroad.
Named Travel Tailor, the app is made up of an easy-to-use interface and an AI tailor. It will be free to all Discova partners to share with their customers. The app is set to become the next essential travel companion.
“Our partners trust us to deliver high-quality, tailor-made travel experiences, so extending our offering to tailored fashion was a logical progression. When Covid forced our industry into hibernation, we got to work… After countless trials and ill-fitting samples, our Travel Tailor app is now ready for release. From budgie-smugglers to socks and sandals, we know that mistakes can be made when you travel, and we want to do our bit to help travellers stay on the right side of good taste,” said Andrew Turner, global director of sales at Discova.
All shoppers have to do is download the app to their phone, take a selfie and let technology do its work. The AI technology will create a profile complete with accurate measurements and the user’s perfect colour palette. All of the user’s travel itinerary is uploaded to the device automatically and weather reports, climate history and altitude information is analysed by the computer to give the best suggestions.
Users can access the app at any time during their travels for an update on their attire. The AI tailor will provide no-holds-barred commentary, leaving the user with the option to simply ignore the advice or click-through to the ‘Fitting Room’. This is a unique feature where the app comes into its own. Using the user’s profile and itinerary information, the app creates outfit options and then uses geolocation information to identify the nearest clothing stores where the outfit may be purchased.
Guess Stops Sale of Telfar Knockoff Bag in Response to Public Outrage
Fashion brand, Guess has been accused of copying black-owned independent brand Telfar’s handbag design. The bag, designed by its founder Telfar Clemens, won the Design Museum’s 2020 fashion design award.
The popular bag, made from vegan leather, is recognised by its circular-shaped ‘TC’ Telfar logo on the front, rigid rectangular shape, and two sets of straps of varying lengths. Guess also created a similar bag but with their ‘G’ logo on the front. Diet Prada, a fashion-based account on Instagram recently shares a photo of both bags side-by-side.
“While the design is admittedly simple, that Guess appears to have duplicated nearly every element there is to duplicate, is more than a little suspicious,” Diet Prada shared on Instagram. They also pointed out how both bags come in the same size but the Guess bag is reasonably cheaper.
“I think the most annoying and yet interesting part of this is the fact that a company like GUESS has the capital and resources to produce this bag in great quantities when the original designer could not. And it really just speaks to the lack of access granted to Black designers. The lack of capital. The lack of resources the industry provides them,” Antoine Gregory, fashion director and founder of Black Fashion Fair, also shared on Twitter.
Following this, Guess has withdrawn the tote bag from sale.
Fashion Brand Revolve Mocked for Covid Vaccine Shirt Section
Fashion e-commerce site, Revolve.com is currently being mocked on social media for its section for vaccine ready shirts. The section features many off-shoulder tops priced between $70 and $300. “Shoulders out for the vaccine,” the site declares at the top of the product page.
The section contains tops with 100 different shoulder-baring styles tagged “Vaccine Ready” under the copying category. These tops range from tubes to halternecks, and fully off-shoulder blouses. They make it easy for the shoulder to receive a jab without having to roll up sleeves.
After being revealed on social media by a TikTok user, it was picked up by the @Betches Instagram account. Now, it has garnered comments from thousands of users, some expressing delight and some dismay.
“This is actually the most moronic thing I’ve ever seen @revolve,” one follower mocked. Others mocked the marketing of the tops.
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