Founded in 2018 by the eponymous designer, the Los Angeles-based brand sells swimwear for the likes of Bella Hadid and Kylie Jenner.
Have you ever recognized a product before you knew – or even named – the brand that made it? In This Thing Everywhere, we take a deep dive into these ubiquitous works and their impact on the creative business.
Escapism has been a big part of 2022′s biggest fashion trends, often in pieces designed to take you somewhere far away on a paid vacation. (See: Vacationcore.) What better picture of you than on a boat, on the beach, or in a sun lounger by the pool?
It’s pretty much Melissa Simon’s bread and butter. Founded in 2018 by the eponymous designer, the Los Angeles-based brand sells bikinis and rompers for the main characters in bold prints, bold cutouts and ’90s-inspired silhouettes. It really exploded at the end of 2019, and within weeks Kylie Jenner and Bella Hadid were wearing his costumes (in the case of the latter, three different styles in a few days).
“I think a lot of people recognize our swims before they even know who we are,” Simone said. “Many times people see us swimming over and over again; a lot of people start acting like a DM: “Is that you? Swimming explodes before the brand itself.”
The launch of the Elysian collection in October 2019 changed the course of the brand. Not only did he get his first big celebrity spot, but he also introduced some of Melissa Simone’s most recognizable styles, namely the Elle Cut-Out One-Piece Swimsuit, Christine Ruched Bikini and Linda String Bikini. She was just a female performer at the time, quit her PR career and moved to Los Angeles to start a six-number business. In May 2019, the success of her first collaboration allowed her to fund Elysian.
“I was obsessed with Depop and Poshmark — and still am,” Simone said. “I don’t care about size. If I enjoy sewing or anything like that, I’ll really buy anything that says “90s swimsuit”. We have trash cans on trash cans in our office. I buy them and look at them, love them for a day; when I design, I draw all my inspiration. They are like my children.”
This passionate market research has resulted in the key details that differentiate the Melissa Simone swimsuit from other swimwear of its kind to seem repetitive. “There are a few minor issues with a twine bikini — like the thickness of the rope you choose to use, the type of stitching you use,” Simone said, noting that her designs have the zigzag stitching and lining that was in the 90s. . but it’s even rarer now. “It’s the details, and because I love ordering these ’90s swimsuits, I notice and help distinguish them.”
The ’90s influence extends beyond high cut swimsuits, bold floral prints, and even product design itself: the About Us section of the brand’s website describes Melissa Simone as a “1990s-inspired swimwear collection” dedicated to today. women”, citing Christie Brinkley, Tyra Banks and Elle MacPherson as muses.
“What made me start [designing] swimming is that I’m going to see these supermodel swimsuits from the ’90s — not even supermodels, just timeless looks,” Simone said. “Whenever I want to go somewhere or even just go to the pool, I can’t find them.”
Each collection starts with one and Simone builds all the other costumes around it. “It became a family,” she said. She will start by simplifying the silhouette and then adding the print.
Simone recalls the Elle cutout jumpsuit: “[It took] a long time, our model makers tried to perfect the fit, it was in contact with the body in every way, how much of the bust was visible, how much was Make sure it still provides the right coverage Very important for me. Once that was done, she looked for a print that would reflect all the elements of the brand – colorful, bold, unique.
“Everyone loves a statement piece that can be worn all the time,” she says. “I really wanted something that would make people feel good and float on the beach. I thought, “What’s going crazy on the beach?” I remember seeing articles where people thought it was fire. But it’s not like that – these are flowers. … It combines so many different colors. It could be called orange, but it has purple, dark, yellow, red… Then we added cheetah-colored threads, and people liked it.”
Melissa Simone creates her own prints in her latest collection: “Now that we’ve grown up, we need to make sure you won’t find them anywhere else.”
Melissa Simone has landed magazine and influencer spots, but none of that compares to Jenner’s November 2019 Elle Cut-Out-Piece post on Instagram with a series of photos of herself.
“At the time, no one really knew what she was wearing,” Simone said. “Knowing some of the PR stuff, when I saw a few articles, I started going to people like, ‘Hey, this is Melissa Simone, x, y and z. I went to all of Kelly’s pages and said, “She’s in Melissa.” Simon swims.
A few weeks later, when Hadid wore three Elysian suits on vacation, the brand’s sales skyrocketed. “Kylie put us on the map and Bella changed everything because [people] knew that at that moment it could be found,” Simone said. “We must have made five figures in the days following Bella. It was absolutely insane.”
Before being released, Simone learned from rumors that Hadid had a suit from this brand, and she liked it. “I said, ‘You know what? I’m going to buy this,” I packed the collection and sent it to her, not knowing if she would wear [it],” she said. “Then Kylie’s stylist reached out and asked for all the costumes except for the jumpsuit. I knew in my head that she was going to kill the dress, so I threw it in there. She ended up wearing it. and fired. I didn’t know these people…then Bella wore everything and Kylie wore one. From that moment on, sales went like crazy and they continued [to] .
Cindy Bruna, Imaan Hammam, Winnie Harlow and Karruche Tran wore Melissa Simone. “These are dreams, right? Because when I design, I say: “I design for you,” says Simone Model.
“During the quarantine, our sales were crazy,” Simone said. “The pictures they label really look like they are spending the time of their lives in their home. People do it. Melissa Simon does it – it makes you feel that way.”
In addition to its own e-commerce, the brand is sold at Revolve, Fwrd and Kith, the latter selling it in stores in Los Angeles, New York and Miami.
“I’m from Toronto. As a buyer, there are things for which you have to pay tax, and such things are difficult to buy from a company in another country. It’s very helpful to stock up at Revolve and Fwrd because they cover it,” Simone said. “It’s a very, very special place for us at Kith because it’s the only place where people can try on swimwear in person; we always have good sales there.” (Melissa Simone originally wanted to open her showroom in Los Angeles so customers could try the product, but the Covid-19 pandemic disrupted those plans.)
Retailers like Revolve and Fwrd (owned by the same Revolve Group, Inc.) also help the small team with things like influencer marketing and branding.
“Revolve is another alliance,” Simone said. “We are strengthening the influence of certain authorities that really help us expand in this world that we don’t even know about.” As for Fwrd, “it’s just a luxury that helps bring our brand to life. like on their website, they presented us with a Bottega bag. It helped lift the brand.”
Swimwear is one of the fastest growing categories of Fwrd and Melissa Simone, the brand was launched last year and is well received by customers. “[They] have always gravitated toward sexier, more body-focused styles, so we knew they would love this collection,” April Koza, Fwrd vice president, wrote in an email.
“Because the pieces are so visually impactful, they really stand out,” she continued, noting that on Fwrd, the most popular items were those that “can be worn in so many different ways,” like mesh jumpsuits and bikinis. “Melissa Simone is very responsive to her client’s needs and she’s capitalizing on the ’90s swimwear trend that’s all the rage right now.”
Simone says she “doesn’t really feel like we’re a swimwear brand,” explaining, “We use the same fashion calendar [for our] release. Put on your bathing suit and say, “Oh, change it to a different color.” .
“I would rather slow down, give people what they love and grow up to that, rather than just force myself [to expand]. Even something as simple as a towel: we added a towel to our site and it worked great, but I wanted to create a more customer experience.” The brand’s spring 2022 collection showed a step in this direction, featuring dresses, shorts, aprons and swim trunks with seasonal key prints.
“We’re really in no hurry. In a market that seems to me to be oversaturated, it is difficult to make something unique. But we just don’t pay attention,” she said. “I don’t follow any other swimwear brand. I wear Melissa Simone so I don’t get stuck re-doing the same thing. If I make a bikini top with suspenders, I make it from scratch. differently. It will be completely different.”
Melissa Simone’s Spring 2022 collection features dresses, shorts, aprons and swimwear.
Simona designs longevity. She dreams that, decades later, people will find Melissa Simone’s work, as she did with 90s swimwear, on a resale app.
“[Growing up] I used to ask my mom for old pictures, I used to like her hair and what she was wearing and I wanted her to keep it for me. My goal with Melissa Simone was to get little girls involved in their mom’s old stuff. , and that’s a good enough quality that she can keep it [for her children],” she said. “Even something as simple as Melissa Simone’s label – I always think: “What if her daughter finds it in 10, 20, 30 years?” I want this label to be retro like Melissa Simone.”
Simone hopes the brand’s exposure will also help it stand the test of time: “Bella Hadid in this Miami Beach denim suit. see it, love it and say, “Damn, I wish I had that swimsuit.”
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Selena Gomez, Kylie Jenner, Casey Musgraves and more have been spotted wearing the up-and-coming brand.
Post time: Aug-22-2022