BY NAFIA TAHAR
SEPT 23, 2024
A nook of fashion you probably want to know about exists in the heart of Mayfair on St.George’s Street on a sunny Tuesday of London Fashion Week. Buyer’s Issue is a digital showroom by Oggy Nikl that connects new start-up brands with potential wholesale and international buyers. At St.George’s Street, the showroom consisted of several collections from a new generation of high-end luxury brands. It’s glasses of bubbly and small racks of clothing, all spread throughout the room, impressing whoever may walk in. These brands are distinct as you comb through them. They are startups with less than three years of experience selling ready-to-wear clothing in the premium to high-premium market. Oggy explains that the brands vary in style and DNA, but they all share one thing: they produce their pieces in Bulgaria, source their materials, and manufacture them locally.
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Oggy talks us through the first brand, Noire Officiele, and the vision the creator of this company has, which is achieving true confidence and empowerment for women through clothing. She was inspired by the ancient Egyptian goddesses, their strength and power, to create something for women to have that will help them “unleash essence, and redefine power”, a phrase that has become their pledge to their customers. The collection, named “The Goddess Within”, is inspired by the fashions of the British aristocracy, wanting to create a wardrobe that evokes the same aesthetics of someone undeniably linked to wealth while still maintaining affordable pricing. It’s a capsule wardrobe consisting of eight pieces, completely interchangeable. The designs are elevated versions of classic, chic, and sleek styles of key pieces all women should have in their wardrobe, and they are finished with the same gold buttons, creating a sense of coherence and consistency.
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Alice Evis was next introduced to us. They specialise in high-quality seamless knitwear and are a strong contender for a name in contemporary luxury. Their collections are limited to one size, with a drop happening only once every few months, and they are currently performing very well in Bulgaria and the Balkans. They have a solidly established colour palette of white, beige, and black for their releases but are not hesitant to introduce occasional bold drops like their all-red collection.
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The last brand presented to us was the impressive House of Le Meme, also Bulgarian. Who focuses on retro-chic styles from the eighties and nineties, sleek and sharp styles that ooze sexy and modern. In the showroom, we were given a feel for all their pieces, fabrics, and materials, which are durable, perfected, and timeless, with designs that always look in style.
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Oggy explains that the brands all aim to grow, speaking of plans for a warehouse in Bulgaria and a separate one in London to eliminate the added cost and logistics of shipping. Their vision is not to become another name for fashion's big leagues. The goal here is not Gucci, Chanel or Prada. It’s something new, a redefining of luxury for the next generation. To us, in this fashion era, luxury is knowing you are purchasing something that does not add to the environmental damage that the fast-fashion companies of today have so long committed unblinkingly. For our luxury now, we want our brands to have a responsibility that they plan to hold up in the years to come, even as to which they might grow, globalise and expand, to understand the importance of ethical sourcing, sustainability, to be uncompromising in the necessity of creating things that last, not only in the wardrobe of the people that purchase from them but where these pieces might go afterwards. Their final place is not to add to the landfills of trend cycles created to be thrown away but to be pieces made to last.
Courtesy of @xoyadoesitall
The new generation of luxury, as showcased in Oggy’s digital showroom, includes brands like Noire Officiele, which evokes the elegant styles of women from the past; Alice Evis, known for creating knitwear designed for everlasting comfort; and House Of Le Meme, a brand that prioritises timeless designs over fleeting trends. These luxury brands aim to establish themselves as classics, not through high prices and exclusivity but by embracing our modern definition of luxury: the true luxury of contributing to long-term sustainability efforts.
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