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Urban clothing keeps consistent design

Last October, top R&B artist Beyonce co-founded House of Dereon, a high-end designer label, which also manufactures urban styles.

More recently hip-hop mogul LL Cool J is launching Todd Smith, which will also aim at the higher end of the market, but will include the secondary label, T.S., which will be at a less expensive range, according to recent reports.

While more new labels continue to fill racks at Macy's, Dillard's and Burlington Coat Factory, retailers and urban clothing fans said quality has generally been consistent.

Jessica Scott, a sophomore education major, said there has been an increase in "extra tight jeans" and spaghetti straps and preferred already established labels to new ones. She admires Beyonce's recent clothing line, but described it as "ridiculous in price."

Scott said mainstream designers, such as Torrid, have mainly improved in variety by opening up to more body types and also have had an upper hand against newer ones.

Vonesha Mitchell, a senior organizational leadership major, agreed with a recent trend in variety, especially to "heavier set" women.

"They're accentuating the not so skinny lady and more voluptuous women," she said.

While mainstream designers are seemingly opening to a wider range in size, their official Web sites have also shown a variety of cuffed pants, large writing covered baby T's, tank tops and pants, as well as much slimmer denim pants and above the waist jean jackets.

Mitchell said she has also seen less skin exposure in recent women trends.

"People are not as scantily clad and cover themselves more," she said.

Mitchell also noticed a retroactive pattern in urban labels, such as Beyonce's designs, and described some as "real old-school."

"A lot of skirts are below the knee," she said. "It's like a flashback to the 1930s and 1940s."

Although brightly colored shirts, mainly in green and blue patterns, have been the latest trends, consistency has probably been higher in men's wear, according to retailers and consumers.

Melvin Brown, a junior finance major and urban wear fan since his high school years, said he has generally kept the same pattern ever since and has seen almost the same over the years. He also said Jordans, which he has a collection of, white T-shirts and denims have been routine in his wardrobe and seems to be the same in retailers and designer labels.

"A lot of people wear the polo style shirts and jeans with the faded stripes," Brown said.

He also said different brands have had stints of popularity and if people "think it's fresh, they'll wear it."

"It's like when FUBU came out, everybody was wearing it," he said.

Brands such as Enyce and Marithe Francois Girbaud have stormed the urban design sections at the major Memphis urban clothing retailers, but managers and sales associates pointed to traditional brands' popularity as a key factor in deciding what is successful.

"What continues to be popular sells and Enyce is very hot right now," said Karl Nolan, a manager at Macy's.

As with many other designers, track jackets and jogging suits have garnered the most attention and have made the most recent trends in addition to the usually popular denim jackets and jeans, according to Nolan and Steven Douglas, a sales associate at Burlington Coat Factory.

"It's more of the same," Nolan said. "Oversize T-shirts are always very popular too."

Douglas said large polo shirts and dark denims continue to be in demand, but people have also looked for more jogging suits due to the changing weather.

Although popular brands have kept demands high, Douglas said Burlington has also seen more people interested in Lot 29 Luxe, a two year-old, but more recent mainstream designer.

"The demand has been real high for Lot 29," he said.


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