Wearable Art: Accessories Brand Nicoli Is Adding Some Sparkle To Hollywood Red Carpets
Recently, a publicist at CLD PR in Los Angeles sent me information about Nicoli, an upmarket accessories label based in United Arab Emirates that is expanding their international reach from Singapore to Hollywood red carpets. I liked the beautiful, intricate designs and wanted to introduce you, dear reader, to one of their creations, The Snake Clutch.
As the company describes: The world of Nicoli is not just exclusive, it is elegant, unique with a touch whimsical. Created as the perfect accessory to life’s most beautiful, luxurious and memorable moments, Hollywood glamour and Italian styling is behind, and can be seen in everything we do; from our exquisite handcrafted evening handbags, purses and clutches to our glamorous diamanté embellished shoes.
The Nicoli brand was founded in 2004 by Khurram Rafique and is proud to be an integral part of His Highness Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashid Al Maktoum’s vision for the U.A.E. to lead the world in the global luxury goods market.
Discover more about Nicoli Shoes and find out more about the creation of The Snake Clutch after the jump.
Jacqueline Colette Prosper, @yummicoco
Inspiration:
As you may know, new and refreshing takes on animal prints have been spotted all over the Fall catwalks and you could say that it is a go-to style that can forever live in a woman’s wardrobe.
Our team always endeavors to keep up with and stay ahead of the latest trends, colours and styles while staying true to our brand values and making sure that whatever we design and create is not just a trend, but has the charm of timeless elegance.
The Snake Clutch was actually based on one of our popular “classic clutch shapes” so we weren’t reinventing the entire wheel here unlike some of our more innovative designs.
Challenge:
While we do experiment and develop collections in all sorts of colors, our must popular and classic colors are Gold, Silver, Black and Peach. Therefore, every time we design and create a new line or style we always have these colours in the back of our minds and use them as a starting base.
The key here was to stay on trend, while still staying true to our brand values and developing a piece that has longevity and won’t go in and out of trend like so many fashion pieces do.
Because many of our collections are fully covered with crystals (and this is not to everyones taste) we wanted to design a style that stayed true to our brand essence, that was a little more toned down, while still having something eye catching about it.
Process:
The Snake Clutch followed exactly the same process as above, however the shape of the clutch was chosen from one of our most popular clutch molds. As every woman used to dressing for formal events is aware, a stunning evening purse is the finishing touch –– the accessory that can pull her look together without detracting from a show-stopping gown or outfit, and this “Mini Clutch” mold seems to tick all the right boxes by neither being too big nor too small, yet it fits all of your essentials in it perfectly. There were two designers working on developing this particular design. They work as part of our design and research team of six who design both our shoe and clutch collections.
New clutches are designed and created on a monthly basis with some adaptions of popular styles, all limited edition pieces.
Here’s how our “design to development” process breaks down:
1. Research
The process begins with the constant study or current and up and coming color, patterns and material trends. However, while this does play a key roll in the inspiration of some of our shapes and designs we are always careful to find the balance between the latest trends and our core brand values so we don’t stray too far away from what we are known for, which is luxury crystal-embellished shoes and bags.
2. Concept
From research, inspiration and trends, sketches are formed on a monthly basis which then get ‘Nicolised,’ meaning gorgeous sparkles are added. Full disclosure: Strangely enough, we get sparkle requests! But because our collections are quite diverse in the amount of “Sparkle” added to them, customers are often able to select an item that is similar but has more “Sparkle,” if required.
3. Development
Designs are then selected and the finest materials are sourced to create a sample. Often there will be a few design and material modifications during this stage and the sample is remade until everyone is 100% satisfied with the result.
4. Production
All of our pieces are limited edition which allows us to maintain high-quality manufacturing and craftsmanship. Depending on the quantity and how intricate the hand craftsmanship required, production and creation can take anywhere from two – eight weeks.
Results and Goals:
We’re very excited that people love The Snake Clutch! It gives us great confidence and satisfaction when you get such amazing feedback for a relatively new brand. It definitely helps pave the way for future designs and adaptions when you know you have a best seller on your hands!
We are constantly looking to enhance, update and reinvent our most popular pieces while staying true to keeping them limited edition and exclusive. Sometimes, it might be a simple color transition to stay on trend, or it might be the enhancement of the embellishments/materials used.
The future for Nicoli is a very exciting one! Every year, we are going from strength to strength not only in our expansion into overseas markets like Singapore, United Kingdom and America but our collections are also constantly evolving and are starting to be seen on red carpets throughout Hollywood thanks to the wonderful help from CLD PR in Los Angeles.
Jacqueline Colette Prosper, @yummicoco
