Stay Vain to Stay Sane

It’s safe to say that in 2020, nothing is permanent and the future is unpredictable. Maybe one of the only things we know for sure is that masks are here to stay—for the foreseeable future at least. Although they may not be our favorite thing to wear, they are now an essential component of our looks. Why not make them fashionable? This is the question FIT alumni Samantha Lopez asked herself in the midst of the pandemic. As a former student at FIT, she understands how image-conscious our generation is and that there is great business to be made in fashionable masks. I spoke with Sam about Green Velvet’s emergence and it became clear that the pandemic brought her a blessing in disguise: a way to start a brand and business that she had always dreamed of.

WHY NOT MAKE THEM FASHIONABLE?

Q: WHERE DID YOU GET THE IDEA FOR YOUR MASK CHAINS?

Before I came up with the idea for the Necklace Masks I had been on a continuous search for a way to make wearing masks more convenient and also stylish. I was thinking to myself, if this is something we have to do for what will probably be a long time, I might as well try to make it a positive experience that I actually enjoy. I knew that I wanted a mask that was stylish and aesthetically pleasing; those blue medical ones are so ugly to me (I know the purpose is safety and not fashion, but I seriously can’t get past how bad they look). Then, the idea design for the mask having a chain attached came to fruition for convenience–when you take it off, it still stays on your body (I’m constantly losing my mask). It also reduces contact that your mask would otherwise make with unnecessary, possibly dangerous surfaces, like your bag, the table, and even your hands. I was then motivated to share my necklace mask designs with my community; one of my beliefs is that fashion should be accessible for all–and so that’s exactly what I did.

Q: HOW DID YOU GET THE BUSINESS STARTED?

I started Green Velvet for two reasons. The first is, my friends saw the first prototype of a necklace mask I made for myself and said they wanted one and would “literally buy one from me.” So within seconds I was convinced and decided that that’s exactly what I would do. I immediately went into that creative high you get from starting something new and running wild with it. The second reason I was so easily convinced to actually do this, and do it right, is because–and don’t laugh at me–over quarantine, after graduating from spending what seems like was my entire life in school, I decided I actually really like not working and having ultimate free time (who doesn’t?). It enabled me to spend all my time being immersed in whatever creative endeavor I actually wanted to do, not something I was assigned to complete. And so I knew that if I wanted to keep it this way, I should find a way to make a career out of it.

Q: WHAT IS THE MOST UNEXPECTED CHALLENGE AND VICTORY YOU HAVE ENCOUNTERED IN THE PROCESS OF STARTING YOUR OWN BUSINESS?

The most unexpected victory I encountered in the process of starting my own business was the overwhelming amount of support and attention my company received from the community around me immediately. A lot of people responded well to my designs and my business, and understood my brand ethos and where I was coming from. I created Green Velvet without expecting any kind of immediate following or interaction, but unexpectedly that wasn’t the case.

An unexpected challenge I encountered in the process of starting my business has been all of the unforeseen setbacks (usually minor) that happen when running a business. Whether it be setbacks with vendors, running out of inventory and having to wait for more products to arrive before continuing production, to even organizing campaigns and shoots–it’s all very hard to manage and keep to a tight deadline. In reality though, even the challenges are victories because as each day passes I’m learning more and more about the industry, and about myself as a designer, and am excited for the growth that starting my own business will make way for me to reach.

Q: WHAT CAN WE EXPECT FROM GREEN VELVET IN 2021?

A:

In 2021, I think that you can expect to see a lot of growth and success for Green Velvet. I want to develop Green Velvet as a business and also develop myself as an artist. I have plans to release Necklace Masks in collections periodically–based on the season, an occasion, or just a random inspiration. I have a vision for a line of bridal masks; ones that are elegant, probably lace and silk; I also would like to do a collection of hand-painted masks, and eventually take commissions from people and work with them to create a mask design entirely tailored to them. I also plan on collaborating with some other creatives and their brands, independent from the Necklace Masks, which will be across a variety of media–from digital design to fashion design–and will be accessible on GreenVelvetNY.com. I want to expand my creativity through printmaking, which is something I used to do a lot in high school. You can expect to see my future print work on clothes, accessories, and posters!

Q: WHAT IS A PIECE OF ADVICE THAT YOU WOULD GIVE TO OTHER COLLEGE STUDENTS/GRADUATES THAT WANT TO START THEIR OWN BUSINESS?

A:

Just go for it if you’re thinking about it. In my opinion, there are never any losses from going after something you’re passionate about.If it’s something you love and are passionate about, that will translate through your business and in turn it will be a success. The best way to get started on developing your business idea is to start small. Sometimes doing the smallest of tasks feels daunting to me, even cleaning my room. But what I learned to do when I feel this way and need help starting something that I’ve been putting off, is to just start with baby steps. It’s cliche, but true. Start by making a Pinterest board, making a dedicated Instagram page (or don’t, until you’re ready), or simply think about it and manifest it. A business you’re proud of doesn’t happen overnight, and there’s definitely a journey to be had, but it only takes a thought to start. It is important to make the best out of a bad situation, and that is exactly what Sam did with Green Velvet. That’s all we really can do in this difficult time: keep pushing forward and allowing our creativity to take us to new places. Safely, of course. So if you have an idea you’ve been too scared to act on, take the risk. You never know, maybe you will end up with a successful business or a newfound passion.

@GREENVELVETNY @GREENVELVETNY @GREENVELVETNY @GREENVELVETNY @GREENVELVETNY

Thank you so much to FIT’s Blush Magazine for giving me the space to share a piece of myself and my business with you. Please feel free to check out my (soon to be in action) website, greenvelvetny.com, and follow my instagram @greenvelvetny, as I continue my journey–and good luck to all of my fellow designers and small businesses owners out there. –Samantha Lopez

GREENVELVETNY.COM GREENVELVETNY.COM GREENVELVETNY.COM GREENVELVETNY.COM

The idea of going to work in pajamas was a luxury found only in our dreams. Now, the idea of wearing those old bleached, VS PINK sweatpants one more time can be devastating. This is where the feeling of dressing up has now become a luxury. It has transformed from a chore, to now an act of self care. The rise of loungewear is one of the most prominent shifts, emphasizing the idea of dressing for yourself. It has been proven in multiple studies that when you dress up you actually perform better. There have been definitive links between dressing formally and an increase in not only productivity, but creativity too. While wearing the same old high school t-shirts is comfortable, it can take a toll on one’s confidence and even mental health. With global closures and classes online, unprecedented times have made way for an unprecedented way of dressing.

Brands are introducing new loungewear lines and responding to the desire to work from home in style. From matching sets to knitwear, fashion is focusing on comfortability. This season’s wardrobe staples are comfortable, from basic tees and chunky cardigans, right down to stylish slippers. Head to toe, it is all about feeling good. Now, as the world settles into our new normal, we are filling our wardrobes with loungewear pieces, made to help us feel our best as we sit on our couches for the work day. As we dress to impress ourselves, we are reaching away from the heels and red lipstick, to comfortable loungewear that produces the same effect.

Before the pandemic hit, Kim Kardashian was constantly ridiculed for wearing athletic clothes and coining the looks as high-fashion street style. Now, she is taking the idea of wearing comfortable clothing as fashion and building onto her empire. Skims put out a new line of loungewear just in time for us to settle into our couches and online shops. The line features fuzzy pants, tanks, and robes meant to be worn from the comfort of our homes. The line can be considered the canon of loungewear fashion, influencing fast fashion knockoffs and other high end lookalikes.

The line made way for a new era of fashion— introducing a new middleground between pajamas and athleisure. Feel Good fashion includes elevated versions of what you would wear to bed: knitwear, matching sweatsuits, and all things fuzzy would never be worn to the gym, but the looks are more elevated than what you wear to bed. This new niche, allows us to feel good about getting up and getting dressed— without having to spend the day working from home in a pair of those rigid jeans.

PHOTOGRAPHY/MODEL SHRUTHI NATTANMAI

PHOTOGRAPHY/MODEL STEFANO VARELA

While Skims helped transform the industry, it is not the only line created focusing on comfortable clothing with fashion in mind.

Zara’s new line of knitwear perfectly embodies the idea of feel good fashion. Their knit culottes paired with a coordinating oversized cardigan is calling you to snuggle up on your couch with a bottle of wine and The Bachelorette. However, this comfortable set is versatile enough to be worn separately, or together anywhere from back to work, to running errands. Companies have been playing to our weaknesses-- we have more time to online shop than ever before, but we have nowhere to go. Brands have decided to showcase and promote their loungewear, matching sweatsuits, and all things knitwear, positioning them as workfrom-home must haves.

Businesses have even created specific workfrom-home niches on their website, showcasing feel good fashion looks made to make sure you feel confident and comfortable as you take on the world from the constraints of your space. Nordstrom, for example, has a styling guide called “Casual Friday, Every Day.” There are more ways to dress up a basic sweatsuit than ever before. Instagram is flooded with tie-dye sweatsuits, matching knitwear, and TK. We haven’t put on real work clothes in months, as the cold settles in, there is no sign of it stopping. Feel Good clothing has transformed the fashion industry, creating a new niche to be explored. As new lines emerge, and more brands hop on the trend, we can expect to be dressing cozy and feeling comfortable and chic for a long time. Head to toe, it is all about feeling good. So, pour yourself a glass of wine and find yourself a power sweatsuit to finish 2020 on a high note.

“Where do our clothes come from?” is an important question becoming more pressing than ever as the next generation of young consumers gains buying power. As consumers, we’ve become increasingly conscious about our purchases, trying to make a positive difference for the people in the production of our clothes and goods. The fashion industry is one of the most polluting industries in the world. Deciding to shop with sustainable and ethical brands can have a positive impact on the environment. Ethical style seems to be booming now more than ever, with brands merging both design and environmental convictions into one idea. Ethical fashion addresses the problems with the way the fashion industry currently operates, such as exploitative labor, environmental damage, the use of hazardous chemicals, waste, and animal cruelty. While sustainable fashion focuses more on the materials used to make the clothing, ethical fashion focuses on the practices to make the clothing. Supporting both sustainable and ethical labels is important to the industry’s future because the more they grow, the more pressure is put on bigger companies to do better. The clothing produced by fast fashion brands are far from durable, forcing you to buy more. Shopping sustainably saves money by only buying what you truly need. Fast fashion is about fleeting trends while many ethical brands focus on creating long-lasting, timeless pieces. The brands featured below focus on quality, using materials and finishes that are both made to last with a more minimal impact on the planet.

Reformation

Reformation has become a favorite in the eco-fashion world. Its celebrity following has made sustainable clothing more fashionable. Their brand started in 2009, in downtown Los Angeles. Each product is designed, made, photographed, and shipped from its innovative eco-facility in LA. Every style is made using repurposed vintage clothing, salvaged deadstock fabric, or new sustainable materials. This brand purchases carbon offsets and offers inclusive sizing all in a fair wage environment and all of their items range from $80-$330. Reformation also prioritizes transparency by including product descriptions that explain where the fabric comes from and its environmental impact. They inform their consumers of the dangerous impacts that some materials and practices have. Making clothing with organic cotton is better to use compared to non-organic clothing, but it still isn’t the most sustainable choice. Reformation understands this and so they put a description on all of their items that have organic cotton that says, “Our organic cotton doesn’t allow genetically modified seeds and restricts the use of many chemicals. It still uses water and land, but it helps sustain the land it is grown on through crop rotations and natural ways of controlling pesticides.”

FAST FASHION IS ABOUT FLEETING TRENDS WHILE MANY ETHICAL BRANDS FOCUS ON CREATING LONGLASTING, TIMELESS PIECES.

Levi’s PANGAIA

A global leader in denim, Levi’s is available in more than 100 countries worldwide. The brand uses eco-friendly and sustainable practices such as recyclable denim, ethically sourced cotton, and innovations to reduce water use, in addition to giving back to its workers and community organizations. The main material they use to make their clothing is cottonized hemp which grows quicker than regular cotton, uses less water, and leaves behind cleaner, healthier soil. Levi’s puffers and vests are also made from recycled plastic bottles and waste. Recycled polyester requires less energy to make than virgin polyester and it reduces dependency on fossil fuels. The finishing process is the most crucial step in denim production, this is what gives jeans and jean jackets a broken-in look. This process usually requires a lot of water but Levi’s has created Water<Less innovations since 2011. Levi’s has saved more than 3.5 billion liters of water and recycled over 5 billion more ever since. Levi’s prices are about $58-$178. PANGAIA is an ethical fashion collective that offers seasonless loungewear crafted out of bio-engineered materials. They create lifestyle products that have a positive effect on the planet. They are known for their vegan, matching sweatsuits and their prices range from $55 to $110. These sweatsuits are made up of bio-based fibers and materials from recycled plastic bottles. The brand uses a lot of high proportion of eco-friendly materials as well as the upcycled materials. They also use low impact non-toxic dyes in all of its products and use compostable packaging. PANGAIA uses eco-friendly materials that limit the amount of water and wastewater used in production as well.

We sometimes forget the impact of our purchases and the power we have as a consumer. By shopping ethically, we can protect the environment and still look good doing it.

THE FUTURE OF FASHION

BY DONNA HELLBERG

Fashion/Photography

CHRISTINA ST CLAIR

WE’RE ALL CURRENTLY GOING THROUGH MAJOR LIFE ADJUSTMENTS - THE FASHION INDUSTRY IS NO EXCEPTION.

Fashion is an untameable, creative force. No pandemic or stay-at-home order can stop it. We need to look no further than the S/S 2021 shows to see that designers are defying tradition and circumstances to make way for the future of fashion. I spoke to my mother, Kristin Hellberg, a trend forecaster who has had the honor to speak with Jean-Paul Gaultier, to get a better insight into how the fashion industry is likely to transform. Kristin predicts two main changes in the fashion industry: the end of the front row, and a new age of creative expression. It is also important to consider the role that Blackowned brands are going to continue to play in the future of this industry.

THE END OF FRONT ROW

The pandemic has made it impossible to host traditional fashion shows with A-listers in the front row, and lucky attendants behind them. As a part of a collective effort to slow the spread, fashion shows have moved to a digital platform making them streamable for a larger audience. This digitization creates new freedom for designers to showcase their work in unexpected environments.

On September 18th, 2020 Eckhaus Latta, a streetwear brand, took to the East Side of New York City for their Spring/Summer 2021 show. Models, who are mostly friends with the designers, walked under the Manhattan bridge to showcase the new collection centered around community. The show was out in the open air, making it possible for passerby pedestrians to enjoy the show.

Burberry took social distancing directives to another level for the 2020 London Fashion week by ditching the runway for the woods. Kristin notes that this creates a new dimension for the fashion show, taking it beyond the spotlight-lit stage into a naturally lit setting. What makes their presentation most unconventional is that it was streamed live to the popular platform Twitch, accessible to the masses. They were the first—of what I think are going to be many—luxury brands to stream their show to an unspecified audience. The outcomes of this shift in the audience will be interesting to see. Up until today, fashion has been very elitist: there is honor in being invited to a show, and an aspirational quality to being able to watch a major show live. Shows being streamed and displayed to the masses might bridge the gap between A-listers and mere mortals, and dim some of the glitz and the glam of the luxury fashion realm. But will that also dim its magic? As a little girl, I grew up hearing about the amazing NYC shows and dreamt of the day I’d be “important” enough to attend a big show at New York Fashion Week.

While I was able to just hop on my computer and watch the shows online, there was something quite lackluster about the experience. There’s a reason so many of us want to see a show live—and it’s not just about status. Fashion is all about detail in everything from hemlines to fabric, and those details simply aren’t as vivid on screen. My mom has never been one for technology: rather than using powerpoints, she has always held her consultations for major brands with physical mood boards. No matter how much technology develops, she believes that the tactile dimension is more evocative than its technological counterpart. You can really get a better understanding of colors and textures when you are physically present and able to interact with the material. Even from the spectator rows of a runway, it’s still more impactful than viewing through a screen.

A NEW AGE OF CREATIVE EXPRESSION

The pandemic has pushed artists to showcase their work in new ways. In the words of my mother, “Creativity is the future.”

Zac Posen did a live dress draping session in Central Park without alerting the public of his plans. On September 17th, he just showed up by the Conservatory Lake with mannequins and one assistant, and started draping. Passers-by were able to enjoy the show of his famous silhouettes coming to life in front of their eyes. This kind of spontaneous event is something that we are likely to see more of as the world, and especially NYC, is bursting out of the cocoon created by long quarantines. Because people can’t convene in the same volume as before, Kristin believes that an “I’ll show when I’m ready” mentality will arise. Designers will take their time to create out of the box content rather than creating under the pressure of fixed seasonal shows.

During Milan Fashion Week 2020, Haute Couture was taken to a whole new level. For their SS21 collection, Moschino broke the mold and put on a fashion show with marionettes walking down the runway. The clothes and accessories were altered by hand to fit the 15-inch tall plastic marionettes, and the fashion house went as far as recreating their usual front-row audience in puppet-form, with the appearance of fashion icons like Anna Wintour. This version of the show helped create buzz for the brand by showing extraordinary, out-of-the-box thinking for a pandemic friendly show.

Bags TELFAR

THE GROWTH OF BLACK-OWNED BUSINESSES

We have lived through truly unprecedented events these past few months. The Black Lives Matter movement rocked the nation and brought our neglect of black-owned brands to light. Black-owned brands are constantly innovating, and the industry is taking notes. Take a look at the New York City brand that created what has been nicknamed the “BrooklynBirkin”; Telfar. The founder, Telfar Clemens, won the 2020 CFDA Award for American Accessories Designer of the Year, and their sales skyrocketed this summer. Because of this burst in sales, Telfar came up with a unique online shopping event: the Bag Security Program. They gave shoppers a 24-hour window for shoppers to pre-order any design that they’d been attempting to get all summer long. This is a really creative solution to satisfy a thirsty demand without having to replenish their entire stock. Telfar is a great example of the way black-owned brands are driving innovation and creativity forward to build the fashion industry of the future.

COVID-19 has catapulted the fashion industry into unexplored territory. Designers’ creativity amid the pandemic play to their advantages and is something that we should all look toward. Three words to describe the core values of the brand were used by Nicolas di Felice when he was appointed artistic director of Courreges. Kristin believes that those same three words are essential attitudes in fashion as it adapts to the new challenges posed by a global pandemic: “Simplicity, clarity, and optimism.”