Lifestyle Round-Up

Theophilio goes digital for NYFW

New York-based, Jamaica-born designer, Edvin Thompson, of Theophilio, will go digital this New York Fashion Week (NYFW). Digital presentations emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic and have stuck around for their cost-effectiveness and efficacy.

Theophilio’s digital presentation will be released on September 12 according to the final Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) NYFW calendar.

While, Jamaican designer Brandon Blackwood’s Fall/Winter 2024 collection drops September 15, with a runway show happening September 11. It’s set to include the brand’s evening clutch and Yuta bag, a miniature version of the Lisa bag.

Diotima making NYFW debut

Jamaican designer and creative director Rachel Scott will make her NYFW debut on Monday. A finalist for the LVMH Prize for Young Designers and CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund, Scott has had quite the year and it is only set to get better as she reveals her highly anticipated new collection.

Winnie Harlow appears in new Victoria’s Secret film

For more than 20 years, Victoria’s Secret had bolstered its image built on a man’s vision of sexiness with one big annual event: its fashion catwalk extravaganza, with supermodels like Naomi Campbell sashaying down the runway in Swarovski-crystal covered wings, thongs and million-dollar fantasy bras.

Now, after a four-year hiatus, the lingerie brand came back Wednesday night with a complete overhaul that was part fashion event and part preview of a documentary-style film featuring 20 global creatives and top models, including Winnie Harlow, in some of the designs.

The Victoria’s Secret World Tour, to be aired globally on Amazon Prime Video on September 26, marks the company’s biggest marketing investment in the past five years and its latest efforts to reverse its supercharged sexy image that left it irrelevant to many women, leading to several years of sales declines.

Those efforts include revamping its marketing to highlight more diverse and fuller-figure women in ads and store mannequins, and expanding into mastectomy bras and comfy sports bras. It’s also refreshing its stores with brighter lights and blush pink walls. And it replaced its supermodel ‘Angels’ with a group of 10 diverse women who have advised the brand and promoted it on social media.

Naomi Campbell pulls on Edvin Thompson for PLT collab

Naomi Campbell pulled on two emerging designers for her collaboration with PrettyLittleThing.

The supermodel, who is of Jamaican descent, worked with Edvin Thompson, of the Theophilio label and Vicnate’s Victor Anate, who is based in Nigeria.

Not only did Campbell serve as creative director for the fast fashion line, she also walked the runway show at Cipriani Broadway in lower Manhattan.

Lest anyone think strutting the runway has become easy for the pioneering supermodel with decades of experience, Campbell said it was “nerve-racking to do that walk – on every level.” But she added in an interview that she was deeply proud of how the collaboration came together. “This is what I wanted,” she said.

Campbell deflected criticism that she was ignoring the issue of sustainability by partnering with a fast fashion brand. But she added: “It’s a journey of change. Sustainability will come. It will have to.”

Campbell acknowledged that walking with her high-profile friends present felt intimidating. “I’m always nervous when I walk,” she said. “But I was extra, extra extra nervous today.”

Naomie Harris designs capsule collection with sustainable fashion brand, Omnes

Naomie Harris is calling her new collection with Omnes the fulfilment of a lifelong passion. The four-piece collection with the climate positive brand is made from deadstock, organic cotton and recycled materials, and is inspired by red carpet outfits. The British actress, with Jamaican roots, who is known for her role as Eve Moneypenny in the James Bond film franchise, studied social and political science at Cambridge University and has a strong interest in the environment and also, fashion.

“I have wanted to design clothes since I was a child, and during lockdown that passion got reignited when I decided to use the time on my hands to start designing again. I then came across the incredible clothing brand @OMNES whose ambition to create sustainable, price inclusive, and size inclusive clothes perfectly aligned with my own,” wrote Harris on Instagram.

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