Cardi B is getting ready to launch her highly-anticipated collection for Fashion Nova and she recently spoke to Business of Fashion why she chose to team up with fast-fashion brand.
via BoF:
“They are always loyal to me. It’s like a friendship now,” she said of the bodycon clothing line that churns out 1,000 new items a week. “I’m also really proud of them. Their brand has sold so much, and I have sold so much at the same time and it’s like, ‘Yay, we did it!’ We both did it at the same time.”
Her collection, which goes on sale November 15, comes at a time when Fashion Nova’s popularity may just rival the rapper’s. According to a Piper Jaffray survey last week, Fashion Nova was the sixth most popular e-commerce site among upper-income teens, beating out brands including Forever 21, Lululemon and Adidas.
Since launching as an e-commerce site in 2013, Fashion Nova has managed to harness a lightning-in-a-bottle type of hype, fueled primarily by a network of prolific micro influencers who post photos of themselves wearing the curve-hugging clothing on Instagram. That, coupled with the constant flow of new product that Richard Saghian, chief executive of Fashion Nova calls “ultra fast fashion,” has catapulted the company into the top tier of online retail.
But the exposure and success has drawn competitors, who are taking a page out of the Fashion Nova playbook, as well as complaints from customers about fit and quality. As the marketplace becomes more saturated, the brand is looking to prove it can do more than churn out an endless series of disposable — and easily imitated — dresses, pants and tops.
Enter Cardi B. True to form, the rapper is as candid about her relationship with the brand (she has previously stated that she receives $20,000 a month to wear the label and promote it on social media) as she is her plastic surgery and personal life. But though she was among Fashion Nova’s earliest fans, recently, she’s worn Moschino, Tom Ford, Dolce & Gabbana and Alexander Wang for events ranging from the Grammys to the Met Ball and New York Fashion Week. She’s following fellow female R&B stars like Rihanna and Beyoncé who have had success with their break into fashion, expanding their brand and sartorial influence into their own lingerie and streetwear lines, respectively.
No doubt the impressive lineup of designers clamoring to dress Cardi B has only bolstered the Fashion Nova brand, which she continues to wear with the same frequency she does high-end items. Cardi B’s collection, the first celebrity collaboration for Fashion Nova, comes at a time when there is a seemingly perfect storm of her popularity and a growing appetite for authenticity and inclusivity among consumers.
The line will consist of 80 looks ranging from junior to curve, with an average price point of $40, including suiting, blouses, dresses, outerwear, denim, knitwear and accessories. In designing the collection, Cardi B said her goal was to create clothing that would blur the lines between expensive and inexpensive, with a focus on quality fabric and fit.
“Every little detail to me matters,” Cardi B said. “I want to make these women look so happy — so radiant, sexy, so corporate and poppin’. I want them to look like they’re wearing Gucci and Prada, but they’re not, they’re wearing my line.”
The pre-launch promotion stays true to Fashion Nova’s roots — relying on influencers to spread the word — but on a vastly amplified stage. Cardi B, whose real name is Belcalis Almanzar, has been teasing her forthcoming collaboration with Fashion Nova on social media for several months in the same manner that she evangelizes the brand on Instagram, whether she’s wearing it head-to-toe or paired with Christian Louboutin boots and a Balenciaga bag.
Fashion Nova will have a launch event in Los Angeles starting November 14 at 8pm, featuring musical performances and drumming up even more excitement for the collection launch which happens at midnight. The event will be livestreamed for fans anywhere to watch, but the brand also has plans for a “Party with Cardi” online sweeps in which 10 customers will be flown out for the event. Shoppers will be able to purchase in real time when the collection goes live at midnight, November 15.
“Because Cardi styles our product with high end luxury brands such as Gucci and Givenchy, we will be able to slowly dissolve the perceived separation between ‘high-end’ and ‘cheap’ clothes and make trendy fashion accessible to everyone,” said Saghian in an email. “This will really resonate to a wide consumer base who essentially want it all; it doesn’t have to be one way or the other anymore.”
Read more via Business of Fashion.
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