Fashionado is a fashion and lifestyle brand where readers indulge in a myriad of trending topics from the world of design, art and culinary. Via the FashionadoTV digital platform, Fashionado founder, E. Vincent Martinez, hosts interviews with celebrities, fashion designers, artists and industry professionals.
It was in Karen Blixen's Out of Africa that Matereza drew inspiration for her latest collection. The author - a free and committed woman - bewitched by the magical beauty of Africa and its magnificent flora and fauna, transcended by the spectacle of this nature, declares: “I was both grass and grass. meadow. With the trees, I breathed the night wind… ”
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Debuting today, Dara Senders presents her new collection UN REVE SUR LA COTE D’AZUR and digital presentation/ look book in collaboration with Emily Brickel Edelson, co-founder and lead fashion illustrator of Chic Sketch.
A mixture of pastels, muted jewel tones, and gilded metallics sets the color pallet for this collection. Hues reminiscent of a bright sunny day that leads into a magnificent sunset over the Mediterranean Sea and lavender fields. The array of sophisticated ready-to-wear separates such as ruffled floral print organza and textured metallic threaded chiffon statement blouses and kimonos provide the ease and comfort of day to night dressing. Romantic cocktail dresses and flowy evening gowns sit alongside plenty of sequin numbers to make life and dressing more fabulous. Whether you are dressing for a zoom call for business or pleasure, a dinner date, all the way to an intimate outdoor gathering with family and friends Dara Senders’ 2020/2021 collection will have you looking your best.
All garments are made to order in Paris, France by Dara Senders’ team of couturiers with an incredible attention to detail and craftsmanship. Each garment made is cut with the brand’s innovative pattern making technology that allows each garment to fit with perfection and ease from sizes XS-3XL. The first drop of Un Rêve Sur La Côte D’azur by Dara Senders will launch for pre-sale on October 5th on DaraSenders.com with a scheduled Holiday delivery. The second drop is scheduled to launch on the designer’s website for pre-sale at the end of October. The Pret-a-Porter collection prices under $400.00 USD while the couture collection prices under $700 USD.
“Designing luxurious well-tailored clothing that can elevate a woman’s style and allows her to feel beautiful from the inside-out and vice-versa, no matter her physique is what I find most fulfilling! I believe all women, no matter their shape and size deserve to feel and look fashion forward, fabulous every day.” - Dara Senders explains.
Given the world’s current climate with COVID-19, Dara knew she had to think outside of the box to create a visually captivating, zero contact, digital presentation to not risk the health and safety of others that a traditional fashion show or editorial photoshoot may have. She loved the idea of two female entrepreneurs joining creative forces to create a unique way of bringing her brands collection to life. This is how the colorful collaboration between Emily Brickel Edelson, co-founder and lead fashion illustrator of Chic Sketch and Dara Senders came into fruition. Dara explains, “I knew collaborating with Emily Brickel Edelson to artistically and visually showcase the ambiance of my collection as its presentation would be a perfect fit. Through her art she truly captured my collection’s ambiance and gave a 2D presentation movement, emotion and depth. It is so wonderful when young women entrepreneurs can come together and support each other wholeheartedly!”
Both women have worked closely to tell the captivating story of “Un Rêve Sur La Côte D’azur” by Dara Senders. Through Emily’s art and renowned fashion illustrations in which visually showcases this collection magnificently, tickles one’s senses of completely emerging into the French Riviera. “On behalf of Chic Sketch, we are thrilled to collaborate with Dara Senders for her new 2020/2021 Collection. Dara's designs are the epitome of what fashion forward women want to wear to feel beautiful at any size. Through the Dara Senders’ collection, in collaboration with my artwork, one thing we have in common is wanting women to always feel and look beautiful and inspiring women globally to live their dream lives. Now more than ever, we all need something to look forward to and something to wear that reminds us of who we are and gives us a reason to glam up everyday with a little sparkle and a lot of chic!" says Emily Brickel.
FASHIONADO
The luxury market is changing because consumers are changing. The rise of environmentalism, sustainability, and digital activism mean that luxury brands can no longer take a step back and cater to what feels and looks good. They now are expected to be the world leaders when it comes to their industry. The fashion industry, in particular, has faced massive backlash over its wasteful processes. After all, when thousands have died in the process, rivers run with chemical dyes, and massive lakes dry up from cotton production, it’s no wonder that the consumer is up in arms.
They want fashion; they also want to feel like they’re leaving the world in a better place. Though the middle market is still having difficulties (budget consumers would rather prices didn’t go up) that doesn’t hold true for the luxury market. Today luxury means great quality and design, but it also means being socially and environmentally conscious.
The Rise of Environmentalism
Perhaps it started with Blue Planet, or with the concept of minimalism, or perhaps it has been building for years and only in the last few has taken worldwide attention. Plastic is demonized, luxury fashion brands have faced massive backlash over their burning policies, and the true cost of fashion has been driven home.
Fast fashion brands are putting out more sustainable collections. Clothes recycling has become more common, and the second-hand market is set to out-value the luxury market in a few short years. Luxury brands cannot afford to ignore this, not when top trending styles are often just rehashes of the past.
A jacket on the catwalk could easily be replicated by buying a retro coat online at JACK1T. A key look can be replicated by buying vintage items and tailoring them. Fashion has come full circle, so luxury brands need to offer something new.
The Rise of Diverse Beauty Representation
For luxury brands to succeed in the future, they must cater to greater representation. This means using a diverse cast of models in their campaigns, but it also means crediting and caring about the communities whose designs they have adapted or whose hands created their clothes. Dior came under fire recently for appropriating a traditional style of dress. By giving back to communities and tracing heritage where it belongs, luxury brands can give their customers more value and meaning, while also lifting up these traditional communities.
The Rise of Mobile Activism
Digital activism cannot be ignored, especially when it is how big stories spread. That is why luxury brands must be socially conscious and care about the people along their supply chain, from inspiration to production, to marketing.
What this Means for the Luxury Industry
This means that the luxury market is now expected to:
Do more for the planet
Ideally commit to a circular business model
Aim to clean emissions and output from production
Use less water
Support local communities
Use innovative materials that do not harm the planet or animals
Represent real people, not one beauty standard
Use innovation to offer personalized products
The luxury world cannot afford to slip up here, because emerging luxury fashion brands will take their place and second-hand fashion is already set to overtake them in sales.
FASHIONADO
Moncler 1 Pierpaolo Piccioli Fall 2018 Ready-to-Wear collection from Milan Fashion Week.
Kenya Freeman, photo: Project Runway
She keeps two notebooks by her bed. As thoughts and ideas make their way into her dreams, she awakes, rolls over to jot them down and goes back to sleep – and possibly dream some more. By morning, as the alarm clock goes off and sleepy eyes open, she glances in her notebook and inspiration is born. Designer Kenya Freeman, of the label Sylvia Mollie, is literally living her dream. Kenya seeks inspiration from everything and everyone. If it’s not coming in her dreams then she finds it in nature, in her surroundings and on the street. Her mind is always wandering and conceptualizing.
Kenya didn’t know she was a designer right away. In the twelfth grade, she signed up for a fashion co-op class where she learned to create mood boards and studied merchandising. This came to Kenya with such ease that her mother enrolled her in fashion school. In her first year in college, she started sewing, watching her designs transform from sketches to garments. Everything felt so effortless. For the first time, Kenya felt like she had been given a gift. She felt like a designer. There is a lot to be said about a mother’s intuition.
Photos by Prince Williams/ATLpics.net courtesy of Ragtrade Atlanta.
Strong lines and architectural patterns are things Kenya embraces in her designs and textile choices. Other elements such as shape and texture – the feel and touch of fabric is very important to her – also play a part in the DNA makeup of the brand. Her aesthetic comes from the allure of the classic woman. So who is the Sylvia Mollie “woman?” Well, firstly, she has a name, Kenya calls her “Tony.” “This is a powerhouse of a woman whose classic looks must transition to evening. Everything she wears has to be bold, beautiful and make a statement,” adds Kenya. Flowing fabric and a feminine sensibility, with a conscious attention to silhouette, perfectly balance the brand’s timeless yet modern approach. Strength and femininity are harmoniously woven together within the Sylvia Mollie collections.
So while Kenya Freeman may be living her designer dreams, it is also fair to say that her future is now – and it’s unfolding on national television for the whole world to see. Her personal life and professional career was uprooted, tested and turned upside down – in the name of fashion– when she was selected as a cast member to the Emmy Award winning Project Runway on Lifetime TV. Kenya is featured on the sixteenth season of Project Runway and said this was the best experience ever. She believes that being on the show will elevate the Sylvia Mollie brand to the next level from the tremendous exposure she receives week after week and though it wasn’t always easy being on the show and working under so much pressure, she absolutely “made it work!” Speaking of “making it work” Tim Gunn is wonderful according to Kenya, going on to say that the warm and nurturing gentleman you see on tv is consistent off air as well. Of course, she was tight-lipped about Project Runway specifics, not able to discuss how far she got in the show or who were the celebrity judges. She wouldn’t even drop hints. This is how Kenya described her Project Runway experience: “It was so many things – it was great, it was emotionally draining, it was fantastic, it was exciting and stressful, I’ve never absorbed so much caffeine, I’ve never gotten up so early - it was a lot of things. A very unique experience like no other and just to say that I am now a part of the Project Runway family at this point is something few can say.”
Kenya Freeman and her label Sylvia Mollie may very well be on their way to designer stardom and making its way to a closet near you. Kenya aspires to see her brand carried in the high end markets such as Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf’s but for now, the most accessible place to shop Sylvia Mollie is online at http://www.sylviamollie.com/
Among the minimal, warm-toned rooms typical of any Wright structure, Reid placed mannequins cobbled out of archival trims and hardware, from copper buttons and brass rivets to scrap leather and his signature heirloom ribbon. The mannequins had on a selection of relaxed Reid signatures like washed linen jackets, jacquard sweaters, distressed denim shirts, raglan sleeves, knit pants, pleated shorts, as well as Reid’s debut eyewear line, and leather lace-up sneakers with K-Swiss, some with an antiquated cracked effect.
VOGUE
Billy Reid presented his Spring 2018 mens and womenswear collection on mannequins, posed and styled, inside a Frank Lloyd Wright house in Alabama.
Fashionado is a fashion & lifestyle brand where readers indulge in a myriad of trending topics from the world of fashion, design, art and culinary. Via the FashionadoTV digital platform, Fashionado founder, E. Vincent Martinez, hosts interviews with celebrities, fashion designers, artists and industry professionals.
EVM FILMS VIDEO PRODUCTION
