Welcome to the Weekend Briefing, a rundown of the fashion and beauty news to know now.
The Week Ahead
5 stories we’re following
Festival season is on
Festival season kicks off on Friday, when Coachella returns after a two-year hiatus with its first weekend of music performances.
The event is set to spotlight how the pandemic’s digital acceleration has changed brands’ marketing focus. Compared to pre-pandemic times, the event will host fewer brand collaborations, which were already in decline in 2019. Those that have invested in the past that are not doing so this year include YSL Beauty, Too Faced and Pacsun.
“This year will be the first [in many years] that we’re not activating at Coachella,” Brie Olson, president of Pacsun, told Glossy last week. “We used to host really large partner partnerships with [L.A. nightclub] Bootsy Bellows, and we realized that, although that was really exciting a few years ago, there’s more value in what we can do on TikTok and YouTube, in terms of celebrating Coachella and reaching people. At really large activations, it’s hard for your voice to break through.”
Still, there will be a good presence of fashion and beauty brands. Official Coachella partners include Adidas, H&M and Ray-Ban, and Revolve is set to bring back its signature Revolve Festival, which drove 2 billion social media impressions in 2019. In addition, Bustle Digital Group’s Nylon House and “Zoeasis,” hosted by The Zoe Report, are set to be bustling with brand partners. For the former, luxury leather goods brand MCM and E.l.f. Beauty will be on-site. The latter will feature Express, European Wax Center and Alicia Keys’ Keys Soulcare.
New Jersey’s American Dream mall will look even more like an amusement park
Owner Triple Five Group’s vision for American Dream is slowly but surely coming to fruition, as the project that first broke ground 19 years ago continues to face challenges. Triple Five Group took over the development in 2011.
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On Wednesday, a 300-foot ferris wheel the company planned to open by the end of 2019, according to a company spokesperson that year, will open to the public. Dubbed the Dream Wheel, it features 27 gondolas that will hold 16 general-admission ($27) passengers or six VIPs ($55). Visitors can also partake in newly opened Deep Fried Love, serving funnel cakes and fried Oreos.
In 2019, Ken Downing, the project’s chief creative officer at the time, told Glossy that American Dream was created “for the absolute pleasure of the customer,” and a place where “communities could gather to shop, dine, maybe see a movie and ride on a ferris wheel.” But it’s faced obstacles at every turn.
On Wednesday of last week, American Dream announced a multi-year partnership with Live Nation centered on bringing live concerts and events to the space, starting with a Ludacris performance on May 7. Meanwhile, on Thursday, multiple New Jersey news outlets reported that an isolated shooting occurred in the mall on the second floor.
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The Masters effect?
The Masters Tournament, which wraps today, has doubled as a good fashion show for spectators. For example, Norwegian golfer Viktor Hovland sparked Twitter buzz for wearing a pair of pink pants by J. Lindeberg. Meanwhile, ESPN noted that, while some players have worn shoes from Tiger Woods’ Nike collection, Woods has not. Speaking of shoes, custom Jordans and an Adidas x Waffle House collab shoe in a “batter-like” colorway have also been spotted on the greens.
Both the golf and tennis apparel markets have been on the rise, fueled by the pandemic. After all, early on, making plans of any kind meant finding an activity to do outside. For its part, 9-year-old golf and tennis apparel company Redvanly expects to grow its revenue from $8 million this year to $20 million in 2023, founder Andrew Redvanly told Glossy last month.
And retailers are increasingly leaning into the opportunity. In its fourth-quarter earnings last month, Lululemon announced it would be introducing first-time tennis and gold collections, which have since hit its stores and website. And Bill Murray’s William Murray Golf expanded its offerings to include women’s apparel last week. Meanwhile, on April 5, Poshmark’s customer email, with the subject line of “Meet me at the (country) club,” was centered on “golf cart styles” by the likes of Lacoste.
Rent the Runway will announce earnings
Rent the Runway will reveal how its business has shaken out since the start of the pandemic, when it announces its fourth-quarter and full-year 2021 earnings on Wednesday. The company has seen its fair share of highs and lows in the last two years: When it filed for an IPO in October 2021, it revealed that its revenue had plunged to $158 million in 2020, down from $257 million in 2019. In the same period, its active member count dropped from 134,000 to 55,000. But it’s since been winning back members and making strategic moves to get on track. For example, it launched resale in June 2021 and, just last week, it increased the prices of its memberships.
Luxury’s primary and secondary markets will continue to merge
Yet another multi-brand retailer is set to announce a partnership with a luxury resale company, bringing secondhand items to its shoppers. The deal will follow MyTheresa linking with Vestiaire Collective for a similar partnership in June and Neiman Marcus launching a partnership with luxury handbag reseller Fashionphile two years prior. For its part, luxury vintage company What Goes Around Comes around operates many retailer partnerships. Co-founder Seth Weisser said last month that the company quietly sells styles through 20 retailers, including Kith, Goop, Shopbop and Dillard’s. Those partnerships drive more revenue for the company than its owned channels of an e-commerce site and three physical stores. Luxury resale became a $37 billion market in 2021, according to Bain & Company,
What You May Have Missed
Noteworthy stories from last week
Glossy introduced the Influencer Index, providing brands a guide to the Instagram influencers worth partnering with. The Index ranks 40 top influencers according to their performance on Instagram, including their audience reach; level of engagement on sponsored and non-sponsored posts, based on their audience size; and the brand prominence in their posts. According to the Index, Abby Roberts, Plastique Tiara and Emma Chamberlain are among the influencers with the most strength and focus as brand partners.
Announced on Instagram, Alexander Wang will host its first runway show in nearly three years, in L.A.’s Chinatown on April 19. The show will be part of a larger brand event dubbed “Fortune City” that will also include a night market and live music. Designer Alexander Wang was the subject of several sexual assault allegations starting in 2020.
Venture capital firm Imaginary Ventures announced its third fund, to the tune of $500 million, bringing its total assets under management to $1 billion. The 4-year-old company’s portfolio includes Skims, Glossier, Brady and Mejuri, as well as other consumer, tech and retail businesses. Among its plans for the new fund are taking advantage of emerging opportunities in Web3.
A vintage Anna Sui dress captured the attention of social media, proving the current power of ’90s nostalgia. After the dress was posted on Poshmark, designer Anna Sui DM’ed the seller on Instagram, asking to buy the 1998 design as it was missing from the brand’s archives. But it had already sold. The new owner took photos of herself wearing it, and the internet rushed to take sides about whether or not she should hand it over to Sui.
Russian influencers are cutting up their Chanel bags, claiming the brand’s response to the Russia-Ukraine war is “Russophobia.” The trend started when Chanel confirmed that – on top of closing its stores in Russia, like countless other brands – it was cutting off sales of its products to anyone intending to use them in Russia.
Mark Your Calendar
Things to see and do in the weeks ahead
Join us for a Glossy+ member-exclusive event! On Thursday, April 28, we’ll be at Frame’s Soho store (51 Greene St.) for a live podcast featuring Frame co-founder and creative director Erik Torsetennson. The podcast discussion will start at 6 pm ET. Plan to arrive early to mix and mingle. Get all the details here.
Follow Glossy on TikTok, where our reporters are breaking down the week’s buzziest stories.
