Brand Focus: Halpern

Halpern was created by Michael Halpern in 2017. The brand is stunning - if I had to sum it up in a few words I'd have to choose: glamorous, show-stopping, serious party wear.

I first discovered Halpern via Pinterest back in 2017. It was just after the first collection went BIG! This brand is actually the soul purpose as to why I made my first 'inspiration' style board on Pinterest - it's named 'Pretty' and as I write this, it currently has 2,334 pins (and counting). It consists of outfits, scenery, interior, aesthetic collages... and anything I find 'pretty' I guess. You can check it out here if you wish: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/miadavies8/pretty/.

So, Michael's first major show was at London Fashion Week (a pretty big deal) in 2017. The collection was a dazzling array of sequinned garments, and it instantly caught both the attention and admiration of high-profile fans such as Beyoncé and Amal Clooney. It was was a huge success, discussed within the New York Times, WWD, Business of Fashion, Vogue Runway, i-D and multiple other top media outlets.

In December that year, he went on to win the British Emerging Talent prize for womenswear at the Fashion Awards, meanwhile Adwoa Aboah collected Model of the Year wearing one of his creations! This was when I first discovered the brand.

Halpern is 31 and is originally from New York. He graduated from Parsons School of Design in 2010. Following this, he began 'finding his feet' at fashion houses J. Mendel and Oscar de la Renta, but then decided to complete a masters degree at London’s Central Saint Martins in 2015. Soon after graduating from here, the one and only Donatella Versace snapped him up to work for Atelier Versace - not too bad at all 😳😳.

Spring 2018 Ready-To-Wear (The first collection) :

"The Halpern brand is about unabashed glamour, reimagined embellishment and a sense of hyper femininity with a nod to classical couture"

TOPSHOP x HALPERN Collaboration

Launched on the 7th November 2018, I vividly remember how random I thought this collaboration was, and how it definitely would flop... which I'm pretty sure it did if I'm remembering correctly. I just think the target audience was way off, and it was as if Topshop were just trying a new 'quirky' and expensive approach? Random, but a way for Michael to bring attention to his brand.

In an interview with Topshop, when asked why he wanted to collab he said, "as a designer it’s amazing to collaborate with Topshop and have a one-off, accessibly-priced line produced on a mass scale. It means the glamour spreads as the pieces are made readily available to people that wouldn’t necessarily shop the main Halpern collection". Hmmm...

Here is the ad campaign which was live (and still accessible) on the website:

You can find some of the items included within the collection on my creative Instagram account here: https://www.instagram.com/p/Bp3T_cVBwpNleZWqZglQ4WSjaDGs_3iaxTHUm00/

Spring 2020 Ready-To-Wear:

In the space of only 3 years, Halpern has made his business a reality that sells across America and the Middle East. The A / W 2020 collection circled back to include more iterations of the super-flares and all-sequin multicoloured jumpsuits that made his name. You could also suggest this is pretty timely, just as the 70's are hitting a trend spike again.

He has also applied for residency in Britain, and so he wanted his latest collection to pay homage to British society women, and to designers like Ossie Clark, Bill Gibb, and Zandra Rhodes, "to celebrate the bourgeoisie and the rebel,” said Halpern.

A / W 2020 Ready-To-Wear:

"I'VE been called tacky quite a lot!”

Mia

xo