In 2024, fashion is the emerging designer’s stage. With social media progressively encouraging the democratization of the industry in a way that leaves trade secrets, once kept tightly sealed away for the eyes and ears of the who’s-who only, more accessible to newcomers by way of social media, up and coming players are met with the tools to compete with industry giants, even without investors or significant startup capital. New industry darlings are just as likely to be self-taught designers cultivating a tribe on social media as they are to be graduates of a prestigious trade school with inherent industry connections. What’s more, in a hyper-trendy and homogeneous sartorial climate, many offer a unique point of few and satiate a collective craving for innovation.
With the barriers for entry to the industry lower than ever, it seems every year breeds a new name (or more) to pay attention to. Especially as younger designers continue to better meet consumer needs around sustainability, inclusivity and transparency, they’re more and more becoming just as key of an industry player as brands backed by Kering or LVMH. Whether employing new technology, presenting a unique and compelling approach to brand story-telling, there is already a line-up of industry insiders, celebrities and fashion fans alike are eyeing closely, and they’re bound to play a part in shaping out the fashion landscape of the year.
DIOTIMA
Jamaican designer Rachel Scott infuses Diotima with Caribbean influences and experiences, resulting in a strong brand aesthetic and a vision that feels true and resonates with audiences. Characterized by its use of color and intricate crochet designs, the brand limits production to two collections a year, all handmade to order in the designer’s home country.
PRODUCTS LTD
Betsy Johnson, London-born multidisciplinary artist and former Visual Director for YEEZY has spent the year foraging a path for her own brand. Debuting in September under the name PRODUCTS, the brand’s first collection was a unisex mashup of apparel, accessories and footwear, each design rooted in cheeky exaggeration and irony. Exploring culture, class and commercialism in the fashion space, Johnson operates with principles that criticize the wasteful industry in which it exists by ethically sourcing materials and production.
ELIZABETH SHEVELEV
The namesake brand of an independent New York designer and seamstress, Elizabeth Shevelev has already graced the likes of Kylie Jenner, Rosalia, Megan Fox and more, and is becoming a frequent name in the press. Thoughtfully designed right in the designer’s own apartment, Shevelev leverages texture and illusion to blend art and fashion, and her designs have even earned a spot in the Metropolitan Museum of Art for the Costume Institute’s ‘In America: a Lexicon of Fashion’ exhibit.
LUCILA SAFDIE
Lucila Safdie may have only just launched its first collection in 2022, but it didn’t take long before the brand began cropping up on industry darlings, having recently made an appearance in the popular K-Pop group New Jeans’ “Super Shy” music video. Led by Argentinian-born Central Saint Martins alum, India Lucila Safdie, the brand explores the concept of girlhood and playfulness through signatures, embellishing hot pants and bandeau tops with signature details such as varsity number emblems, and ruffles.
SPENCER BADU
Helming from Toronto, Canadian-Ghanaian designer Spencer Badu launched his namesake label as just a freshman in college. Artfully referencing the ‘90s and 2000’s in his presentations, Badu’s designs explore the idea of uniforms (“YOU-niforms” as he calls them), deconstructing them through tactile design. Infused with nods to African American culture and built on the idea of collaboration, the brand centers on community, and takes a modern approach to construction and aesthetics, allowing masculine and feminine design principles to co-exist in a contemporary way.
IZZY MCKINLAY
With a stint first at Loewe and Givenchy, designer Izzie Mckinlay explores material, sculpture and form within her own brand by way of 3D printing and unconventional materials. The result? Unexpected statement pieces such as the brand’s fiberglass handbags. Typically pulling from everyday garments for inspiration, Mckinlay’s creations interact with the body in motion with a minimalist flare. Described best as surreal, Izzy Mckinlay is a home for fans of the abstract and unconventional.
VICTORIA LEBRUN
With a graduate collection that won the SOFAM prize in 2022, Belgian designer Victoria Lebrun’s designs explore the developing relationship between two dimensional and 3D components, creating a world rooted in the abstract, and color. The brand’s most recent collection, titled ‘CARRÉMENT,’ was born from the designer’s early memories playing with images in magazines, drawing on top of pages and cutting out images to scrap together her vision.
JC THE LABEL
Jina Cappo is the designer behind the Los Angeles and Shanghai-based brand JC The Label, which infuses womenswear with streetwear elements. With the help of Instagram, the brand’s styles have steadily grown in popularity, being picked up by the next generation of retailers, such as Ap0cene. Cappo borrows from nostalgia in her designs, with love letters to her childhood in China throughout, and a sprinkle of whimsical details such as frills and pleats in each piece.
LAMARCHE LAB
Julie Lamarche, the mind behind Lamarche Lab, comes with an impressive professional background, having worked as an embroidery stylist at Christian Dior. Now, the designer’s work is rooted in innovation, and evokes the mystique of feminine mythical creatures. Catapulted by Lamarche’s personal obsession with glass and her desire to be able to wear it, the brand’s couture pieces are best described as fantastical second-skins that embody fantasies of the imagination.
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