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Interview with AEON Attire

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Well known in the urban scene for their talent in professional breakdancing, these B-boys, Weiming Yuan, Wei Dong Yuan, and Patrick Lum are the creative minds behind the newly yet rapidly growing fashion label, AEON Attire. Making waves on the global fashion map, AEON Attire is already located in 30 boutiques across Canada and the USA. We had the pleasure of sitting down with Wei Dong Yuan to talk about their story and journey in fashion.

How did your interest in fashion and design come about? 
From the beginning, I was always interested in fashion. I was interested in the aspect of how you can change a person’s perspective and how they express themselves in a unique way. As professional break-dancers, I think there are a lot of overlap between dancing and fashion, which are both self-expressive.

How did AEON Attire form? 
My brother and I met Patrick in the breakdancing scene, and we were in a crew for a couple of years. After doing professional performances, we wanted to take it to the next level, which was creating a company for fashion accessories and products. Through street performances and private events we used our dancing to make money and put our dream into reality. For our first street performance, we took out a boom box, rolled out linoleum flooring and put out a bucket that read “free smiles”. Not having an educational background in fashion we purchased sewing machines and taught ourselves everything we needed to know by watching YouTube videos and asking our friends.

AEON Attire dancing

In a few words how would you define the AEON brand? 
Fashion, function and timeless. Not only do we want our accessories to be fashionable, but we also want them to be functional to serve a purpose that will make them valuable. Our accessories also have a timeless aspect; the word AEON is a Latin term that actually refers to a lifespan and eternity, which essentially refers to timeless.

Do you have a specific lifestyle and consumer in mind when you design? 
In the beginning, the AEON Taper was an inspiration that came out of the dance community. We saw that dancers were aiming for a more slimming fit on their pants when they danced; it wasn’t an in- style to dance with baggy pants. We wanted to solve this problem and we knew that dancers are always looking to express themselves in new and unique ways. In both ways we wanted our product to function, like taper the pant leg to be slimmer, but also to function as a form of expression.

AEON Tapper AEON Tapper

In terms of our others accessories – Beanies, 5-Panel Hats, Circle Scarves, Sunnies, gloves, belts – we do have a clear target market. Our target consumer we envision exists as a hybrid a hybrid between a styling of Club Monaco and Urban Outfitters. Something that isn’t too outrageous and something not pretentious, we design for a fashion that can be relatable to someone. We want our consumers to stand out yet also fit in.

AEON lifestyle

Why does AEON focus on accessories? Will you expand? 
Beginning as a small company, we wanted to create items that could be worn by anybody and transcend the boundaries of sizing for the most part. We felt that accessories were something that we could really make an impact in, and eventually dominate that market. While, we do have tank tops, currently we are looking to expand in the accessories market. Accessories are a great way to accessorize, and we feel the details are what make life worth living.

What is next for AEON Attire?
Currently, we have been focusing on our Touchpoint Glove campaign, and we are lucky to have such support. While, we are going to be expanding our Beanies, Circle Scarves and 5-Panel Hats, our main focus after the glove campaign will be watches.

AEON glove and watch

What do you recommend for emerging aspiring designers? 
When we started we didn’t know anything, not even the fundamentals of how to turn an idea into reality. We were just brave enough to go out and do it. Rather then waiting, just go out and do it but of course have a team that you can rely on, as Drake says, “it’s hard to do these things alone”.

Check out AEON Attire and follow this creative talent at @AEONAttire

 

Article written by Raylin Grace aka the Red Curl Owl with Luevo. You can follow Raylin at@raylingm

Sitting Down with Lois Laine – Part2

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This is part 2 of a two part interview with Toronto based independent fashion designer Lois Laine. Lois designs eco-friendly clothing with fabrics and labour sourced in Canada. If you haven’t already, check out part one of this interview here.

What do you hope your consumers see when they are attracted to your brand?
I want them to see that it’s unique, but not showy. It’s unique and subtle, just something that they want to grab on to every day.

Lois Laine Fashion Designer

What are some of your fashion goals?
You know I really know that I should have it more defined, but my main goal is to be able to keep doing what I do. I have envisioned a couple of different scenarios: I think generally people have to get bigger to sustain their job in this industry, for me that’s not the most important thing; if I need to get bigger I’m happy to do that. But if I can keep going like this where I have been up till now designing for the upcoming season, and I really enjoy doing that and I can take advantage of doing those limited yardages and I can be more on the season because its coming right up. But if I go into the wholesome market, which is generally how you get bigger then I need to be able to order a 100 meters of something and so I won’t be able to do some of these other nice little treaty things. So my plan is to do two fall/winters this year, so that I can get into the wholesome market and see how that goes. I’ve been in contact with Ana Caracaleanu from Luevo and I am very excited about their idea, the platform would allow me to keep going with the fabrics that I can just grab onto and do small scale or big. That is just very exciting to me. I’m still doing some artisan sales like: the Wearable Arts Show in October from the 24th-26th at 918 Bathurst St. Also, I’ve been invited into the Fresh Collective in the fall (August/September).

 

For more information on Lois Laine collections please go to the designer’s website: loislaine.com
Guest Blogger: Tiffany D’Souza, tiffanydsouza.com

Sitting Down with Lois Laine – Part 1

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When it comes to local talent, Toronto does not fall shy of exciting and diverse artists, and Lois Laine, independent fashion designer is no exception. Possessing a precision for architectural elements coupled with feminine subtlety, she began her self-titled eco-friendly line in 2011. Her journey began after having earned a degree in interior designing and spending years studying pattern drafting. Thereafter, she concluded her education in Costume Studies and worked as a freelance designer. With a brief and inspirational trip to India in 2010, Lois’ calling was finally put to rest when she decided to set up shop. Today she is working passionately within her studio walls listening to spiritual music and drinking tea.

[two_third]Where do you draw your inspiration?

Nature and life for sure. You know there is that architectural element and there’s the subtlety. I really love the subtlety of nature and I aim to try to put the scale, like there’s the bigger scale of the sculpture and then there’s the small detail within it. I just love that and the hard with the soft and the shiny with the matte. The first collection is really very light and airy, that was like my first one, so it was like an upward spiral and it was spring and everything had to have this feeling of exalted. That’s how I wanted to feel when I finished it, that there was this sort of delicacy and wonder. There was a woman who had a drawing and I had remembered her stuff, and she did these whimsical drawings and I was like yeah, yeah this is it, this is the whimsy and the lightness and so I actually had her painting up on the wall for most of the collection. With other fashion, I love Annie Thompson, but I also really love minimalist designers as well. I guess I am in between. [/two_third]
[one_third_last]Lois Laine Independent Fashion designer Toronto[/one_third_last]

[two_third]What does fashion mean to you?

Fashion for me is being aligned with the energy of the time, it’s not my strongest strength. My strength is more in the abstract part of design. I try to blend the two; I research the trends, go to trend forecasting and be watchful. Then I’ll marry them with the more timeless sense of proportion and sculptural shapes. My collections are outside of the trends but they have current elements, which makes them wearable for longer. [/two_third]

[one_third_last]Lois laine Independent Fashion Designer[/one_third_last]

For more information on Lois Laine collections please go to the designer’s website: loislaine.com

Guest Blogger: Tiffany D’Souza, tiffanydsouza.com