Kimora Lee Simmons.Photo:Stefanie Keenan/Getty
Stefanie Keenan/Getty
Kimora Lee Simmonsis bringing us back to the noughties.
“My five pocket jean [is back]. I mean, we were the originator of that, with the kind of stretch that’s just very different,” she says. “These days there are a couple of [brands] that have that … but that’s our classic fit, that’s my classic five-pocket jean and we have it in quite a few different washes and different styles.”
In some ways, the new collection is a love letter to fans of the brand, who have been diehards for decades and aren’t afraid to frequently give Simmons feedback, knowing she listens. All pieces in the collection, for example, are priced between $50 to $100, a request she took to heart after fans voiced that some of her previous collections were a bit pricier.
She continues, “I think that most of the girls, the family and the friends, they appreciate that because again, it’s like post-pandemic prices. It’s a little bit of a tough time for everybody, and people want to shop, and people want to spend and they want to buy things, they want to look nice.”
And while the feedback from fans played a role in how she price-marked the new collection, she also has in-house experts in daughtersMing Lee, 23, andAoki Lee Simmons— as well as her late best friend, Kim Porter’s twin daughtersJessie and D’Lila Combs, 16 — who keep the brand fresh and accessible, as they are part of the target demographic.
“I even ask my kids about pricing and things like that because these kids, down to the twins for example, are shopping,” she admitted. “They are spending money, they are consumers. And so I actually want the input of the young people around me. I very much have that and I think that helps a lot to keep it a good balance.”
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“This is definitely our own offering, my own offering,” she tells PEOPLE. “Even though I was very happy to do those [collabs] and I have actually a couple of exciting ones coming down the pipeline in the not-so-distant future, this is definitely my go at it myself.”
Emphasizing the point, she says, “This is a direct-to-consumer [play]. I want to reachdirectlyto my girl. I tried on every piece myself, I know the feeling, the hand of it. It’s kind of like building a platform, like lifestyle bits and incorporating all things Kimora, Ming and Aoki, if you will.”
source: people.com
