In the smack middle of the Pool trade show floor last fall was a group of young women working an 8 by 10-foot booth wearing a new-school combination of punk rock apparel representative of their brand, Lipstick Prophets and their edgy sense of punk-inspired style (not your teenage Emily Strange version) with ripped tights, off-the-should slim hoodies, brown tutus, plaid halter-top dresses, and sporting a variety of tatts, multi-colored hair, and very cool Plexiglas jewelry. While many brands at trade shows try and stake their turf on their own, Michelle Ponce, creator of Pretti Vacant jewelry, and Ali Barone from Lipstick Prophets apparel, realized that by combining their wares, they could attract more attention. In many ways, the two brands are so complimentary, they equal more than the sum of their parts.
Lipstick Prophets apparel is designed by Ali Barone from Los Angeles, starting out first with what she calls “loungewear burnout T’s.” In long and short sleeves, the fabrics are incredibly soft with different teddy bear characters on each. In addition, this winter’s collection features an update look on the hoodie. “It’s a newer body, slim fit with a scoop neck so that we don’t always look like a boy wearing a hoodie,” states Ali. “Our dead teddy collection also always has 4 different themes—this one is a head blown off teddy, this teddy had too much to drink teddy…teddy gets into serious trouble, but he’s just an actor and nobody gets hurt.”
