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Liam Payne to Perform Virtual Concert for Hugo Pre-fall Launch

Liam Payne is taking his role as ambassador for the Hugo collection seriously.
The former One Direction singer will perform a special three-song acoustic set on Sunday with special guest Rita Ora to promote the launch of the second collection of the Hugo x Liam Payne capsule. The pre-fall collection will launch today on the Hugo Boss e-commerce site as well as at Bloomingdale’s.
The Sunday concert, which will air at 9 a.m. EST on the Hugo Instagram channel as well as on YouTube, will feature Payne and Ora performing separately on a split screen.

Rita Ora rehearsing for Sunday’s concert. 

The capsule is the second designed by the singer who was named the ambassador for the younger-skewed Hugo line last May. The line launched in July 2019 at Berlin Fashion Week and was followed by a Bodywear collection that fall.

A look from the Hugo x Liam Payne collection. 

The sport-inspired line ranges in price from $14 for socks to $280 for sneakers and includes T-shirts, hoodies and track suits. It is intended to document Payne’s journey from teen pop star to a solo artist. The 14-piece collection introduces a new Hugo logo — Hugo93.LP — that references the year the singer was born. The logo is

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Queen of Raw Among the First to Get Funding From MIT Solve

Queen of Raw, a blockchain and AI-powered platform that pairs buyers and sellers of unused fabrics, is one of three teams that has landed funding via MIT Solve, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology initiative.
Led by cofounder and chief executive officer Stephanie Benedetto, Queen of Raw is the “2019 Circular Economy Solver.” Access Afya, a Kenya-based health-care center that caters to the urban poor, and Kinedu, an app that specializes in video-based, research-supported activities for children under age four, are also receiving funding.
With $120 billion worth of unused fabric stowed away in factories and being burned or buried, Queen of Raw works to make those sustainable materials available to people at any time and from any place. Deadstock and sustainable fabrics can be bought and sold online through its marketplace. Factories, brands and retailers post their unused fabric for resale on the platform so that purchasers can have easy access to new materials at lower price points.
Orders can vary from one yard to one million yards. The company claims to have saved more than one billion gallons of water through its efforts. With the global textile market expected to hit $1.23 trillion by 2025, less than 1 percent of material used

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Norma Kamali: Be Yourself, Against All Odds

“Because I didn’t have anything to fall back on, I had to figure out how to make it work,” said Norma Kamali, speaking at FIT’s Hue Live! event Tuesday night about her 53-year career.
“And it wasn’t easy for sure. It took 14 years before anybody outside of the underground, cult-y group of people knew who I was and what I was doing. It took a long time to get to a certain point because I decided to be independent,” said Kamali.
The designer, who graduated from FIT in 1965 with a degree in illustration, was interviewed virtually by Alex Joseph, managing editor of Hue, FIT’s magazine. Topics ranged from fashion shows and gender-fluid clothing to Farrah Fawcett, the pandemic, and an offshore manufacturing proposition.
In the past, Kamali has said she never wanted to be the richest or most famous designer.
“You have to make a decision about what’s important to you. Living a creative life was for sure very important to me,” said the 74-year-old designer, who’s best known for her sleeping bag coat, parachute collection, body-conscious clothes and daring swimwear. She understood that may not mean she’d make a lot of money or be the most famous designer. She never cared

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A Guide to the Retailers Reopening Amid the Coronavirus Pandemic

This month, many states will start easing stay-at-home restrictions set because of the coronavirus pandemic, permitting businesses nationwide to begin reopening their doors.
Fashion retailers have been heavily impacted by the pandemic, which has forced many to shutter their doors, furlough their staffs or reduce operations. Several companies, including J. Crew and Neiman Marcus, have filed for bankruptcy due in part to the virus.
After nearly two months of limited operations, major retailers such as Macy’s, Neiman Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue, among others, have started implementing reopening strategies, which include resuming operations in states with relaxed restrictions, offering curbside pickup or by-appointment services.
Check back on this post, as it will be updated as news develops.
Here, WWD looks at the major U.S. retailers that have started reopening their doors.
Abercrombie & Fitch:
The fashion brand reopened an undisclosed number of locations in states that have eased stay-at-home restrictions.
American Eagle Outfitters Inc.:
The company has reopened 207 American Eagle and Aerie stores across the country. The stores will be practicing social distancing and will offer curbside and in-store pickup options.
Belk:
The department store chain reopened stores in Arkansas and South Carolina and will be operating at limited capacity. Belk also offers curbside pickup.
Bluemercury:
The beauty retailer will reopen

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Le Bon Marché Goes Hippie Chic With Color Theme

RAINBOW BET: Retailers are embracing well-being trends — meant as an antidote to the coronavirus gloom — including Le Bon Marché, which plans to work a color theme with a hippie chic bent across the store starting May 16. The tony, Left Bank institution will offer tie-dye hoodies, T-shirts and bathing suits, as well as earrings — and sneakers — with a dream-catcher motif.
Channeling the original, hippie spirit, the product mix will be eclectic, but sleeker, and more modern, naturally, geared toward fashion-conscious Parisians.
Loewe’s tie-up with the fabled Paula’s Ibiza will figure prominently, with a large space on the third floor, offering clothing and accessories for men and women, while Antik Batik will draw on Mongolian vibes and Farm Rio will attempt to capture the feel of a Brazilian beach.
Jérôme Dreyfuss is selling a colorful, fringed handbag while Isabel Marant is offering feathered earrings. Aurélie Bidermann and Sylvia Toledano are two other fine jewelry labels taking part, while on the higher end, Bulgari and Tasaki are focusing on color. In the dream-catcher department, Notify offers an embroidered jean jacket or sneakers.
The department store’s food hall next door, La Grande Epicerie, will also take part, offering Bloom energy balls and Les Fleurs

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Rewiring Social Media

No matter how you want to slice the quarantine cake, one thing is undeniably certain: social media has undoubtedly experienced a renaissance. For about a decade we’ve been accustomed, and dare I say conditioned, to exude an unrealistic and “perfect” glimpse of life on social media. But since we’ve been quarantined due to the COVID-19 pandemic, social media has taken an expected, albeit much needed, turn to realness.
In the wake of this movement, engagement has skyrocketed for the majority of influencers and brands are shifting their messaging accordingly.
Throughout the 10-plus years to which I’ve dedicated my life to top-tier talent management and brand-influencer consulting, showing some form of authenticity and a “bigger purpose” has always been at the core of my business. How do we show our perfectly imperfect selves on social media while still being able to land those luxurious dream jobs? How do you take social media and actually use it for something bigger than ourselves? Sure, let’s make some money. It’s tremendously foolish to not recognize its powerful ability for posts to be largely monetizable. The elusive questions remain, though: What more can we use social media for? How much longer can we keep portraying an unrealistic

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Digital Fashion Week Presentations – Milan Fashion Week Will Be Digital Because of COVID-19 Concerns (TrendHunter.com)

Digital Fashion Week Presentations – Milan Fashion Week Will Be Digital Because of COVID-19 Concerns (TrendHunter.com)


(TrendHunter.com) In 2020, digital fashion weeks will flood the Internet as we celebrate the hard work of haute-couture designers in a way that does not put anyone at risk of contacting COVID-19.

Milan Fashion Week…

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Virgil Abloh Questions the Future of Fashion in New Video

Is fashion still relevant? That’s the question on Virgil Abloh’s mind.
The Off-White and Louis Vuitton men’s designer posed to his Instagram followers on Monday in a stream of consciousness-like video. Abloh himself feels that it is still relevant, but used the three minute, 55 second video captioned “I think in run-on sentences” to counter his own belief.
Abloh names several muses and sources of inspiration behind his designs to present his argument in the video, which shows scenes from his past collections. His voiceover starts the video by stating his Louis Vuitton collection was “a matter of my call and response to what is luxury clothing — not fashion — so my investigation was at the root of clothing and a human desire.”
In the video, Abloh touches on his own design process, stating “it’s sort of this matrix of using the DNA of a vocabulary I started in, but sending it into the time of the season.” He also states that other artistic professions, such as writer, architect or musician, can work in similar ways and that he’s inspired by the thought process behind creations rather than the relationship to the work.
Abloh said the purpose of the video was to reveal

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Rainbow Contemporary Launches Artist T-Shirt Collaboration for Save the Children

If you think you’ve been seeing more rainbows than usual since the start of the global lockdown, you’re not wrong. “Quarantine rainbows” have been popping up in the windows of homes worldwide as a way for homebound children to spread collective cheer and a message of hope. The drawings are so prevalent that Google Maps has even launched a “Rainbow Connection” map as a way to track the initiative.
Rainbow Contemporary, a new digital museum led by the former chief executive officer of Paddle8, has launched with a similar mission in mind. The creative collective — which hopes to launch a physical presence in New York City in 2021 — aims to bring joy through colorful contemporary art exhibitions while also raising money for charitable causes.
Its first effort is a capsule collection of artist T-shirts benefiting Save the Children. Colorful designs by artists FriendsWithYou, Sarah Cain, Richard Phillips, and Ryan McGinley will be available starting Thursday, May 14, through the end of June. The shirts are being sold for $45, with all proceeds going to support Save the Children’s efforts to help children affected by COVID-19. Each shirt purchase will provide one day of food — three meals — for a

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Digital Auction Closets2Closets to Feature Designer Goods Starting at $20

“You might get a luxury bag for $300 that’s usually $3,000,” said Melissa Akkaway. On May 12 at 4 p.m. PST, the founder of The Particulars — a site decided to accessories — will host an auction on Instagram Live @The.Particulars to benefit Baby2Baby’s coronavirus relief efforts.
Over 20 articles, new and gently used items by brands that include Celine, Goyard, Balenciaga, Fendi and Christian Louboutin, with a combined retail value of more than $100,000, will be featured. All bids will begin at $20.
“It’s important to start at a price point that’s affordable,” Akkaway continued. “We want to raise as much money as possible. We want this to be open far and wide.”
One-hundred percent of proceeds from the digital auction will go to Baby2Baby, a Los Angeles-based organization that provides children with basic necessities, from diapers to clothing and essential goods. Amid COVID-19, the charity has broadened its undertakings to supply urgent needs, like infant formula, baby food and snacks (through a donation by Plum Organics).

Bidding on all items, including these Christian Louboutin heels, starts at $20. 
Courtesy

“It’s about upcycling in a way that is meaningful right now with what’s happening,” said Akkaway. Those opening their closets for the initiative, named Closets2Closets,

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