Telfar

Beyoncé looked to another famed designer for her ongoing “Renaissance World Tour” on Thursday in Vancouver, wearing a red custom ensemble by Telfar. The outfit, which marked the first time the songstress had worn the Black designer brand while on tour, consisted of a shimmering oxblood bodysuit. The look also included sharp lapels, white bordering and the brand’s signature “TC” logo, which stands for the brand’s founder, Telfar Clemens.

Beyoncé’s Telfar outfit, which included matching arm slings, connected chaps and a red baseball cap, was mirrored after Telfar’s Tracksuit line. In a mother-daughter moment, Blue Ivy also hit the stage wearing a custom look by the designer: a glittery jersey with shoulder cutouts and coordinating track pants.

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Beyoncé and her 11-year-old daughter have matched throughout the tour on many occasions. In July, the duo wore custom-shining Louis Vuitton looks by the brand’s newly appointed creative director Pharrell Williams.

Beyoncé’s Telfar outfit, by Shiona Turini, is not a surprise given the songstress has expressed her support for the brand on her “Renaissance” album. The lyrics in “Summer Renaissance” state, “So elegant and raunchy/ this haute couture I’m flaunting/ This Telfar bag imported.”

Her lyrics drove a real change in the fashion industry as well, according to The RealReal, which reported that search interest for Telfar on its platform rose 85 percent on the day Beyoncé dropped the “Renaissance” album.

Throughout the tour, Beyoncé has worked with a variety of high-fashion designers, including Balmain, Brandon Blackwood, Valdrin Sahiti, Jacquemus, David Koma and LaQuan Smith. “Renaissance World Tour” secured the 2023 Grammy Award for Best Dance/Electronic album. Beyoncé’s tour has less than five shows left, with the last date in Kansas City, Mo., on Oct. 1.

Telfar and Brazilian footwear brand Melissa have teamed up for the first time with Telly Jelly, a summer offering of transparent shoppers and sandals.
The shoppers, which are totally concert and festival compliant, are fully transparent and come in small, medium and large, with unisex slides to match.

Featuring fluid lines and tubular construction and molded using Melissa’s exclusive and sustainable Melflex materials (its own form of 100 percent recyclable PVC), the crystal-clear shopper collection ranges in price from $150 to $250. (The small is $150, the medium is $200 and the large is $250). The slides are $100.

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Telfar and Melissa have partnered for clear shoppers and slides.

Courtesy of Telfar

The collection will be released exclusively on Friday on telfar.net and on July 17 on shopmellissa.com and Galeria Melissa New York.

Telfar and Melissa have teamed up for clear shoppers and slides.

Courtesy of Telfar

As reported last month, Melissa partnered with Marc Jacobs on a special collection of lightweight sustainable footwear. The collection, which consists of The Clog, “Becky” platform sandal and The Slide, featured the signature Marc Jacobs monogram throughout and was inspired by the color palette of Jacobs’ ready-to-wear collection.

Melissa Shoes, which launched in 1979, is part of the Brazilian footwear group Grendene and is sold in more than 70 countries. Over the years the brand has worked with such designers as Jean-Paul Gaultier, Karl Lagerfeld, Vivienne Westwood, and Jeremy Scott.

Telfar, a Black-owned genderless fashion project, was established in 2005 by Telfar Clemens in New York City. Its highly sought-after bags have been worn by Dua Lipa, Selena Gomez, Bella Hadid and Beyoncé. The brand has had collaborations with Ugg, Converse, Eastpak, Moose Knuckles and the Liberian Olympics team.

Telfar is going into retail with a pop-up shopping event.

The fashion brand helmed by designer Telfar Clemens is hosting a one-day shopping event during New York Fashion Week, taking over a Rainbow Shop store in downtown Brooklyn to sell the Telfar best-selling shopping bag. 

“This Sunday we taking over the Rainbow Shop in downtown Brooklyn and filling it with thousands and thousands of bags: every size, every color — one day only, first come first serve!” read an announcement on the brand’s Instagram page. 

The pop-up will be open on Sunday, with the line beginning at 3 p.m. The store will only be open from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. It will be held at the Rainbow Shop located at 493 Fulton Street. 

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The Telfar Rainbow Shop pop-up will offer the Telfar shopping bag in an array of colors and sizes. Customers will be able to purchase bags while they wait in line and are limited to purchasing five bags. The shopping bags come in small, medium and large sizes and range in price from $150 to $257. The event will also be filmed by Telfar TV. 

The pop-up shop comes after Clemens announced that he will be opening a Telfar New York City flagship store this year. A location and opening date have not yet been revealed. 

Telfar’s bags have become coveted accessories since the designer founded his namesake label in 2005. The brand’s shopping bag is arguably its most popular, with the accessory being labeled the “Bushwick Birkin.”

Twitter users are guessing that Telfar’s secret collaboration is with Eastpak, the lifestyle brand that specializes in bags, backpacks, travel gear and accessories.A spokeswoman for Telfar said speculation began to bubble up Wednesday,  but the official reveal won’t take place until March 30, ahead of the Medium and Large bag drop date on March 31. A spokesperson for Eastpak, a division of VF Corp., couldn’t be reached.
As reported in WWD Wednesday, three sizes of square shopper bags (small, medium and large) are being offered, as well as a Circle bag. They are designed in tactical nylon with woven hand straps and adjustable padded shoulder straps, according to their description on Telfar’s website. 

As part of the mysterious nature of the release, Telfar’s site shows blurry images of the bag in photographs, and a video teaser that contains blurry images and hints at a red logo.
Following the medium and large sizes drop on March 31 (with the collaborator’s reveal on March 30), the small bags will drop on April 4 and the Circle Bag will drop on April 8. The small and Circle bags will be revealed a few days before the drop. Prices range from $110 for the Circle bag to $198 for the large shopper.
Customers are being offered the opportunity to blindly pre-order these bags this Friday at 12 p.m. EST , without knowing the collaborator.
Telfar’s Instagram so far has received 1,722 comments about the secret drop, ranging from “I can’t wait for the blurry pixel bag to drop,” to “great promotional teaser.” The video has 293,707 views.
Eastpak has collaborated with Neil Barrett, Liberty London, Havaianas and Eternals. Telfar has done collaborations with Ugg, Moose Knuckles, Converse and White Castle.

FOR MORE STORIES: 
Neil Barrett Unveils Eastpak Capsule
Telfar Unveils Secret Bag Collaboration
Moose Knuckles Collaborates With Telfar for Outerwear Capsule

Telfar Clemens let the fashion crowd into his world, closing out New York Fashion Week with a stunning multidisciplinary event.
It was more than just a fashion show — yes, there was the debut of a full clothing range and updates to his bags, but that was anchored in activism, political commentary and a critique on the industry told through sound and video. Clemens’ show was performance art remixed through the lens of a Black-owned business, with a focus on his own community.
As guests weaved their way into Pier 17, the showmanship had already begun with strategically placed digital ads playing snippets of what was to come from Clemens, his collection and his visual collaborators. The night kicked off with an episode of Telfar.TV, a 24-hour reality TV experience, retail channel and alternative channel for Black creativity that Clemens introduced in September. It runs on its own platform and via app on Apple TV and Roku. The story was told through booming audio and impactful images led by his crew — musician Ian Isiah, artists Aya Brown and Kandis Williams, poet Fred Moten, model Trap Selyna and Clemens — chronicling the sale of bags to TV viewers while teasing what was to come throughout the night: Telfar fashion.

Telfar RTW Fall 2022
Dan Lecca

Isiah and Brown played host, inviting guests into the Telfar world, highlighting the brand’s unabashedly Black and queer ownership. His bags, the ubiquitous ones seen all over New York and beyond, were a focus, even spinning a game show-style wheel to help determine what color bag to give away to their TV viewers.
Once the episode ended, the curtain was pulled back to reveal a stark white landscape with hills, valleys and a live jazz band as the first fashion show began. The show notes explained the collection was the culmination of two years of work, and it came with a massive amount of looks. The deconstructed sportswear — maybe a nod to what he learned outfitting the Liberian Olympic team for the Tokyo Summer Games — included a mix of loose shapes and interesting takes on tank tops as both a top and a dress, sports jerseys with cutouts and long-flowing skirts, all bearing his logo. Shown on a mix of gender expressions, it felt like the next phase for the community Clemens has built — those who feverishly anticipate his next bag can now can partake in a whole Telfar lifestyle.

Telfar RTW Fall 2022
Courtesy of Telfar

Not done yet: The video returned, with Isiah’s voice cooing, “Cool denim.” It was manipulated, stretched out in a dreamy and prophetic tone, a symbol of what was to come from fashion show number two. Once again, the curtain was pulled back and a robust assortment of denim pieces walked the runway and into the crowd. He focused on a supersized distressed wide-leg raver-style pant, pairing it with his new round T logo bag shape. Clemens was once attached to design for the Gap, and looking at these fresh new denim designs, they may be kicking themselves now for having let him go.

Telfar RTW Fall 2022
Dan Lecca

Rounding out the event, Clemens did what he is known to do — he sold bags. Done by using a massive QR code that was paraded around the room and on large television screens, the hosts told the crowd it sold out in moments.

Think puff.Moose Knuckles, the Canadian outerwear brand, has partnered with Telfar Clemens and his label Telfar on an outerwear capsule.
The 17-piece collection, which marks Telfar’s entry into outerwear, features a classic bomber set with a matching pair of fox-trimmed boot-cut ski pants. Additional pieces include a double-breasted hybrid-wool and nylon puff peacoat and puff hoodie hybrid with a classic Telfar monogram engineered into bands of nylon puff.
The puff hoodie, offered in waist-length or a unisex maxi, is offered with matching puff sweatpants, spliced at the knees with rings of boot-cut nylon puff. The collection comes in leather, nylon, fleece and fox. Moose Knuckles said this past summer it plans to stop using fur by the end of 2022 and has committed to a global sustainability strategy.

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A look from Moose Knuckles x Telfar capsule.
Jason Nocito

The outerwear and pants are available in three sizes: XS/S, M/L and XL/2XL.
Bags are also featured in the offerings. There’s a Moose Knuckles x Telfar limited-edition puff Telfar shopper. The classic medium shopper has an original embossed “TC” logo in puff down nylon. For the first time, Moose Knuckes x Telfar will introduce the large shopper, featuring the allover puzzle-piece monogram in trapunto nylon puff.

A look from the Moose Knuckles x Telfar capsule.
Jason Nocito

Retail prices range from $195 to $4,300. The collection will launch on Nov. 1 on Mooseknucklescanada.com and telfar.net and at Moose Knuckles stores in SoHo; Roosevelt Field Mall in Garden City, N.Y.; Boston, and Westchester Mall in White Plains. Beginning Nov. 8, exclusive collection pieces will be available at Saks Fifth Avenue, Holt Renfrew, Ssense, Notre and Galeries Lafayette. Clemens will make an appearance at the Moose Knuckles SoHo store on 57 Greene Street on Nov. 1 at 11:30 a.m.
The launch will be accompanied by an ad and video campaign.
Separately, Moose Knuckles will engineer and manufacture the debut of Telfar’s inline outerwear collection of classic pieces set to release this fall through the designer’s distribution channels.
“Working with one of the most forward-thinking designers in the industry today has been a dream come true,” said Dominique Lagleva, vice president, global marketing at Moose Knuckles. “Our mutual vision to create something off-duty, effortless and responsible in its construction allowed for incredible synergy between our brands. By infusing Moose Knuckles’ signature shapes with Telfar’s iconic designs we developed something completely new and timeless that we feel both our communities will appreciate.”
Asked why he wanted to partner with Moose Knuckles, Clemens said: “We’ve been wanting to do outerwear — real outerwear — for a long time. Moose Knuckles reached out to us. The collection includes a limited collaboration and a collection of Telfar evergreens we will be selling forever.”
As for what he brings to collaboration that’s never been done before, he said: “Two words: Bomber pants.”
Clemens described the process of designing the capsule together. “They are based in Winnipeg and are three generations deep in being too cold. They did an amazing job making these real coats — not just fashion coats.”
He said he’s always tried to do outerwear and the pieces he is releasing under his own name “are an encapsulation of over a decade of design.”

Asked what makes this collaboration special, Clemens said: “When it’s winter in NYC, your coat in basically your car. If you can hit that nail on the head you become part of how the city looks forever.”
Clemens has been designing nongendered clothes since 2005. The Liberian-American designer has shown collections that embody inclusivity, accessibility, equity, diversity and fluidity. Telfar’s tag line is “Not for You, but for Everyone.” In November 2017, Telfar was the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund recipient.

The large quilted shopper from Moose Knuckles x Telfar.
Jason Nocito

As reported last month, Telfar launched Telfar TV, a public access channel that serves as a springboard for art, storytelling and commerce. Clemens is using the channel to showcase many of his talents from within his creative sphere. “I wanted to show you 17 years of my work, not necessarily in a square box,” the designer said.
Clemens is no stranger to collaborations. His lineup includes Ugg x Telfar, Converse x Telfar and White Castle.
As reported, Moose Knuckles has made known its plans to expand into accessories and leather goods and seek collaboration partners in categories such as sneakers. Expanding Moose Knuckles’ reach globally is also on the agenda. The brand is carried in more than 30 countries.

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