EXTRA! EXTRA!

Knowledge is power, and power is everything. It’s the upper hand Ariana Grande held when she crooned: “You like my hair? Gee, thanks, just bought it.” It’s the smug feeling that comes with any and every secret. But with our new brands bringing the most, sharing is caring. Here are just a few tidbits we want to tell the world.

The sexiest of shoes — your stilettos, your thigh-high boots — are made from buttery leather. There’s just something about a subtle grain. But despite all the red herrings that point to it being ‘natural’ and ‘biodegradable’, leather is anything but. The same goes for vegan leather, most of which packs a serious punch of plastic. Cue PĪFERI. Helmed by Alfredo Piferi, who holds head-designer credentials from Jimmy Choo, the eponymous brand fills an untenanted position in the world of sustainability. It’s not just parts; it’s the whole darn thing. From corn oil-based shoe linings and recycled synthetic socquettes to plastic bottles reincarnated in faux suede, PĪFERI’s modus operandi is simple: make excellent shoes that are nice to wear and nice to the environment. Sexy and sustainable.

There is jewellery you pick up in packs of six without a second thought. Then there’s jewellery that is bought for occasions, the kind that is designed to be passed down and treasured with generations of meaning. Missoma’s stance is closer to the latter, but with the insouciance of the former. As one of the brands leading the way in demi-fine jewellery — that is, jewellery that straddles ‘fashion’ and ‘fine’ — Missoma delves into both timely and timeless aesthetics. It’s jewellery for now and for forever.

We’ve long looked to Copenhagen Fashion Week for inspiration. There’s a very specific Scandi style that speaks to a swathe of aesthetics in fashion, beauty and home design. Those wide, white-washed floorboards; the coffee-shop lifestyles. The darling of the fashion set, Totême, has a vision. It’s one of a wardrobe considered and refined; a collection of wares that weather well beyond ready-to-wear, because the ‘look’ needs accessorising, too. From shoes fashioned in black, white and beige to fine Italian handbags, Totême does it all — and does it all very well.

TSATSAS has two key design pillars from which it takes its name: clarity and quality. Clarity of vision, rid of the superfluous and the froufrou; and quality of the very highest standard. For husband-and-wife duo Dimitrios Tsatsas and Esther Schulze-Tsatsas who have backgrounds in industrial design and architecture, TSATSAS is beyond fashion. In fact, they consider bags to be “a stand-alone product.” When Dimitrios could not find a bag the couple would consider to be “contemporary puristic,” they decided to create one themselves. What came out of the experiment turned into a capsule collection launched in 2012 comprising the brand’s first five bags. Today, TSATSAS designs continue to totally eschew trends.