Isosceles, designed by Cicely Travers, launched in 2015 during London fashion week. The brand’s aim is to create lingerie garments that are functional as well as beautiful. Isosceles strongly believes that lingerie should be designed for ourselves and with no one else in mind. The brand sells practical, figure hugging lingerie for a consumer that believes underwear should not be overlooked when creating an outfit ensemble. The brand is created with the belief that beautiful underwear must work beyond seduction and offers women a means of physical freedom and self expression. They endeavour to boost the wearer’s self-confidence, dressed or undressed. They have done this by combining British corsetry heritage with the benefits of rigorously researched, light, high, performance materials. Colour is essential in embodying their ethos, so they use bold bright colour combinations to convey strength and positivity.

‘Isosceles creates garments that are functional and beautiful’- Cicely Travers.

Isosceles derived its name because of the geometric nature of its design. The garments are made up of panels that experiment with material, colour and opacity, creating an almost futuristic design.

I have chosen to research into Isosceles for my Summative Brief because my interest in  the story they are telling. Their ethos is so relevant, it is in today’s society, in terms of its beliefs and values. With stereotypical bodies being so sought after, I think Isosceles have taken a brave approach.

Isosceles understand that women nowadays choose comfort over sex. Their adverts don’t play on seduction like most lingerie brands, but rather, they are trying to empower women to feel confident and beautiful in their underwear, on show or covered up, allowing them to express themselves boldly.

The story the brand is telling is one of empowerment. It’s saying that underwear should be so much more than something you buy to seduce someone else. It should be used to boost your confidence and make you feel beautiful and proud to be a woman. They communicate this story by using a variety of models, all shapes, sizes and ethnicities. They also shoot the underwear in somewhat humorous ways, eg squatting behind a car. It shows that women aren’t always the perfectly behaved stereotype.

Isosceles’ consumer is a female audience who want to feel empowered by what they’re wearing underneath their clothes and don’t want to be restricted by underwear that is simply deemed seductive. Isocleles is for all shapes and ethnicities. Isosceles is inclusive. Isosceles is for women who understand that underwear should not be overlooked when creating an outfit ensemble. It’s for women on-the-go. It’s for women to be confident in their own bodies.

“Beautiful lingerie can serve as a wonderful mood boosting pick-me-up.”

In order to successfully define innovation in the fragrance industry, I have picked out 3 key areas of recent innovation I have recognised during secondary research.

1.Personalisation

Personalisation has become a mega trend in many industries, but most importantly for the beauty industry.

Le Labo is a brand in my opinion that’s taking an innovative approach to the fragrance industry. The brand has recognised that consumers want individuality and they have approached this gap in the market my allowing them to personalise their experience.

Labo has created a questionnaire in order to identify each individual’s taste in scents, and then hand-create and deliver the bottle to customer. They also offer the option to personalise or engrave the bottle itself, as well as creating a fresh scent (after you pick your favourite one) in front of you so you can see exactly what is being used in your unique fragrance.

2.Transparency

With the rise of veganism and activists for climate change and animal welfare, the ride of brand transparency links arm in arm. In my opinion, transparency is an innovative way of gaining the trust of consumers. More and more environmental health organizations and even more consumers are calling for full fragrance ingredient disclosure – so they can make safer, more informed purchases.

From an industry conference with Sarah Clark-Martin about beauty trends shaping the market, she explained: CONSUMERS NEED/WANT TO SUPPORT CLEAN AND SUSTAINABLE BEAUTY.

Frank Voelkl collaborated with Beauty Pie to create 3 fragrances transparent in their ingredients. Voelkl used quality ingredients from Grasse. No glossy ads or fancy packaging, just a simple scent with its ingredients enlisted on the bottle, and I believe this is the type of honestly consumers are growing to require.

3.Technology

Technology could disrupt but potentially boost the future of the fragrance industry. IBM has developed a fragrance algorithm and it’s on its way to the fragrance industry. This database has the ability to record, people’s demographics, best sellers and even who was buying them. The database will analyse the data and create brand new formulas aimed at particular consumers. Consumers can then purchase the scent from the website, creating a bespoke perfume for you, creating a whole new retail experience.

The fragrance market is over saturated and quite frankly consumers are getting bored because brands are lacking innovation and confidence. If the industry does not adapt, fragrance risks being left further behind. Nevertheless, perfume is still a luxury product and the global perfume market is projected to reach US$64.6 billion by 2023. there is an obvious demand towards prestige and niche fragrances , proving to be very successful in todays market. There are particular trends in the current fragrance market that are becoming more and more popular, being the reason large commercial fragrance lines are falling behind.

From secondary research, I have decided on three main trends that seem to be making a break through in the fragrance industry

1) Simplicity/ Purity

2) Green fragrance

3) Genderless scents

“Sales of prestige fragrance grew by 1.4% whilst celebrity fragrances fall by 22%”

The 1^st trend I picked up on is simplicity-

A prominent trend in the current market is simplicity and the pure, organic aesthetic. Niche brands are releasing basic yet poignant scents that appeal to all. They are also using this in their marketing, creating minimalistic packaging that isn’t restricted to a single gender.

Byredo do this well, using the simplest high quality raw materials, they are able to focus solely on quality rather than appearance. Consumers are conscious of brands that are using organic and sustainable ingredients, and reflecting this in the product packaging also allows a consumer to use their imagination to make it their own- revealing a potential gap in the market whereby consumers need individuality.

The 2^nd trend I picked up on is ‘Green’-

“33% of American women polled claimed that purchasing all-natural fragrances was important to them”

The green movement is sweeping across the fragrance category. Retailers and producers are also striving for product ingredient transparency in fragrances, including, animal welfare and sustainability. With veganism growing so rapidly, vegans are looking for perfumes without animal extracts/fixatives. Its important the beauty industry recognise this demand.

The 3^rd trend I found was Genderless scent-

A huge trend that’s becoming increasingly popular is unisex fragrances. Gender is no longer the first question that customers ask about a fragrance. Today’s consumers are looking for a scent, an experience or an emotion, whatever is going to make it their own. Before ww2, perfumes were already unisex, so the trend is essentially being brought back to its roots. From primary research, I visited the brand Le Labo because I wanted to find out more about these unisex fragrances. ‘Being a unisex brand, there is no specific target audience, it appeals to everyone and that’s what I love about it’. I particularly liked the organic feel of the store, packaging is clean, simple and the aesthetic of the store was very monochromatic, reflecting the unisex choice well.

Since Hæckls began, the brand has designed parfums and candles designed to invite you to explore their location. Their ethos has been to capture scent as an adventure. Being based in Margate, there are many local plants that aren’t traditionally made into perfumes but the brand transforms the unique characteristics of the fragrances.

Each of the fragrances has been directly inspired by a particular local location the brand feels an affinity with, with each scent being given distinct GPS coordinates as a name. This forms an innovative aspect of this brand giving consumers a personal experience and story to feel when using the perfume. The use of coordinates looks unusual and creates engagement with new consumers.

Designed from recycled waste, the brand is keen on their packaging, reducing any impact on the environment. It is their responsibility to reduce the waste consumers receive rather than put the pressure on a customer to recycle. The brand offers a refill discount also to save creation of wasted packaging.

Here are two fragrances that highlight the development of using specific locations and natural ingredients. Each fragrance joins with a film exploring the experience and story behind the scent.

Botany Bay / GPS 26’ 3”E

Picked on 1st August 2014, a cloudy day

A picturesque bay which is a natural area of outstanding beauty but one which is used a lot by tourists and also for film locations. In winter, its true elegance comes through with less people and more wildlife able to take advantage of the chalk reef, chalk cliffs and cliff hedgerows. This beauty is perhaps shown best on days when it rains, as the rain hits the chalk a fresh and clear fragrance comes off the rock to give way to the freshness of cliff grasses, annual seablite and sea orache.

The experience is light, elegant citrus, with fresh ozone and subtle green florals.

Blean Woods / GPS 8’ 27”E 

Picked on 30th July 2018, a sunny day

The natural core of the landscape of Blean Woods, a location that is further inland than any other scent we have created and by far the most undisturbed. The citrus freshness of the crab apple sits within an ancient forest, the sound of a nearby stream and small creatures will sooth and relax you as you examine the range of indigenous trees, plants and herbs that surround you. Ferns and purple orchids grow along the path whilst further in the distance silver birch, hornbeam and crab apple trees thrive. In a clearing amongst this natural and undisturbed beauty lies the remnants of an abandoned camp fire with large logs gathered around the central point of charred wood and ashes.

The experience create is fruity, warm and citrus, with woody and clear base notes.

Chef-turned-inventor, Kille Enna has spent the last seven years figuring how to bottle the taste of scent. Her latest project is a range of botanical extracts that she describes as “an intimate experience of nature from roots, seeds, flowers, herbs and bark” bottled”. She has created flavour combinations that are evocative and striking, using ingredients from around the world. To taste these, the extract is sprayed into a glass, where it clings to the side. Breathe in the scent and then slowly drink from the glass. This ritual is taken from the world of wine.

California Dreaming

“Louis Vuitton sets sail for California, inviting artist Alex Israel to bring his signature West Coast style to this set of three sunny scents”

Louis Vuitton, an established house in the fragrance industry has released a new collection created by Master Perfumer Jacques Cavallier Belletrud. Titled ‘California Dreaming’, artist Alex Israel used the concept of light to surround the scent with creative radiance. He envisioned a joyful design with pop colours that celebrate this summer.

The first scent is ‘Sun Song’, an ode to the orange blossom to brighten summer. The perfumer has captured the serenity of summer in a perfume seemingly made of light. Creating a moment of feeling the warmth of sunlight on the skin from the first days of summer. The ingredients used have a joyful expression with the vivacity of lemon to complete the scent.

‘Cactus Garden’ is the 2nd scent representing the cool freshness of an exotic patio. The scent comes together with powerful and voluptuous Calabrian bergamot, while tangy, bright lemongrass illuminates the image of an extraordinary garden. The bottle is coated green emphasising the smell of the fragrance of a tropical forest.

The scent completing the range is ‘Afternoon Swim’ Described as ‘A plunge into an ocean of sensations’, feeling all the energy of the waves washing over the skin on a hot summer’s day. This fragrance pays homage to the citrus scents with ingredients of rare Sicilian orange and bergamot drifts.

All the fragrances are available to be refilled and have the option to be engraved. This personalisation makes the fragrance individual and suited to the consumers desire.

To put this blog into context i’ll give you a little background information…

Throughout Primary and Secondary education, the breadth of compulsory subjects left me incredibly confused and I constantly worried that I didn’t have particular interest within school, it was almost as if my passions were diluted with the sheer amount of subjects we had to take.

As my subjects were whittled down to 4 when studying A-Levels, I soon realised my strong subjects and my weak ones. My interests were fine tuned and directed so I could focus on just 3 in my final year. I think this is so beneficial in terms of finding and developing your passions.

After choosing to study a degree in Fashion Communication and promotion, I strongly believe that my mindset and outlook as a creative individual has changed. I now analyse every little bit of media that crosses my path. I think this shift has changed me from ‘consumer’ to ‘critique’. Don’t get me wrong, I am still very much a Consumer, I still spot items of clothing on passers buy and think ‘Where did she get that, I want it!’ But I certainly find myself being more critical than I used to be. I find myself questioning peoples choices of style or clothes, automatically placing them into a consumer tribe, the same goes for advertisements; I question whether adverts are successful in their narrative and wonder what their target audience must be. I can’t help it, Its just the way my brain has now been taught to think. I am able to view things from another perspective which is all down to my fine tuning of interests and University path choice.

-Kirsty