“Curated” by Neco Studio was a project devised and executed during the summer of 2021 in reaction to the rising trends of social media and thrifting culture at the time. Due to the extended shut down, the Studio had multiple recently created one-of-one pieces in stock and were looking to find buyers thats resonated with these pieces. The idea was to allow fashion patrons to bid on these one of a kind studio made pieces at accessible price points and have the opportunity to own a Neco Studio original of their own.

 

Our deep dive into the concepts of thrifted and vintage clothing revealed a story of the mid 10’s that saw a rise in fast fashion and large expansion of merchandise lines amongst the luxury sector, driven primarily by a cycle of fads on social media due to the introduction of short format video sharing’s rise in popularity. Hype items were at their peak with a new generation of buyers wanting to seen as part of a social group, these items (loud luxury) often being appraised at resale adding to their allure. A decade designed by logo mania and excessive consumption lead to a counterculture that revolved around conscious consumption and adoption of pre-used luxury items. There was a sharp rise in online businesses that catered to the resale market birthed by an excess availability of such goods with large success as well as rent a wardrobe concepts with lesser acceptance yet a significantly visible presence. While these goods were at a considerable markdown, a large part of these per-used ‘ per-loved luxury goods would still command a high price for the average buyer. As for vintage and thrifted items, there always existed a niche market that often worked on the principle of ‘if you know, you know’. We wanted our approach to this space to be unique and disruptive by providing luxury items with full technicals information by the studio to a larger audience that would typically be inclined towards fast fashion and shift them away by giving them the option to participate in this culture for the very first time. As such we saw much interest amongst first time buyers, young and LGBTQ people who found unique pieces worth investing in. While the price points set by us for “Curated” items was higher than most fast fashion companies, they were at a place where one could choose to sacrifice a binge on shien of H&M and opt for significantly higher quality piece with us.

 

All items were complete pieces made by the studio or clothing that was upgraded to create a unique new piece. All shoots and styling was done in-house by permission of local authorities.