Fashion in the news: most interesting fashion reads in May 2019

Every month, FashionUnited selects the most interesting reads about the fashion industry published across American and British news outlets. Here’s what you may have missed this month:

“In Conversation: Rihanna”, The New York Times Style Magazine

May marked the launch of Rihanna’s new luxury house under French conglomerate LVMH. The New York Times Style Magazine interviewed the singer turned fashion mogul about the new brand’s concept and her incursion of the fashion world. Read it in full here.

“Target was the first chain to master high-end fashion collaborations. Here’s how they pulled it off”, Vox

H&M made headlines this month thanks to the announcement of a collaboration with Giambattista Valli. But the Swedish fast fashion chain is not the only one offering consumers a chance to own a designer item for a much friendlier price tag. Target, the giant American retailer selling a gazillion categories from food to electronics, is the pioneer of highbrow collaborations, having teamed up with the likes of Michael Graves, Isaac Mizhari, Proenza Schouler, and Victoria Beckham, to name but a few. To understand why and how Target has made this strategy so successful, head over to Vox to read their analysis.

“The struggles of plus-size fashion for men”, Fashionista

Plus-size womenswear is one of the fastest growing apparel categories, valued at 21.4 billion US dollars in 2016. Many womenswear retailers have expanded their size range lately, and we’re seeing brands like Universal Standard rise in popularity. But what about plus-size men? They’re often forgotten in body positivity messages. Fashionista published an article this month driving attention to the fact that plus-size men still struggle to find clothes their size because most people (and brands!) assume big buys don’t care about their appearance. Nothing could be further from the truth.

“Kate Hudson Was Destined For Hollywood Greatness. Then She Pivoted To Leggings”, Buzzfeed News

Kate Hudson’s activewear brand, Fabletics, is on fire. The brand plans to add 12 new stores to its portfolio of 27 stores across the United States by the end of the year. The ultimate goal, according to a recent press release by the brand, is to scale up to 100 stores. Fabletics was launched in 2013 to fill up what Hudson considered “a big whole in the market”: fashionable activewear with performance technology for an affordable price. Want to know more about the story of her business? Buzzfeed tells it all in this article.

“Clickbait fashion: you won’t believe what brands are doing now”, The Guardian

From see-through jeans to denim panties, some fashion brands are carrying things to extremes in the hope that people share pictures of their products as memes: after all, in the social media age, any publicity is good publicity. What matters is going viral. Demna Gvasalia, founder of Vetements and creative director of Balenciaga, is perhaps the king of this strategy, which is trickling down to fast fashion retailers such as Fashion Nova and Asos. The Guardian delved deeper into the phenomenon. Read the article in full here.

Pictures: Topshop website, Fenty Beauty Facebook, Victoria Beckham for Target SS17 Lookbook (Courtesy of Victoria Beckham and Target), Fabletics Facebook, Balenciaga Facebook