WATCH: How to build a sustainable, versatile fashion collection

It’s not a Instagram throwaway fashion collection. Instead, Litchi fashion store owner Lucinda Campbell’s mission is to share seasonal trends that can last, with a soupcon of accessory pairing, for several seasons.

Versatility and longevity of wardrobe is her grand plan, where dressing up and down the same outfit over more seasons can be easier on her customer’s wallets.

She said: “After all, fashion is an investment into looking and feeling good, not just a temporary fix”.

Campbell takes her philosophy to several markets, every week in Gauteng, and has a rail presence in several Urban Markets and other collective retail stores in the country.

She has had a love affair with fashion most of her life. As a young girl her passion for fashion blossomed, but it was only later on that she realised, from her own encounters with trends, that there is a lot of pressure on women to look good, every day. Big budget or not. This was the idea of Litchi’s genesis, and her success is testament to her ambition.

Watch: Litchi Fashion owner Lucinda Campbell talks classic fashion

As winter hopefully shakes off its icicles during the shoulder season to spring, Campbell said that the ramp up to warmer months moves to lighter wear.

She said: “We are heading to light wear, long sleeve knitwear, some blazers, easy wear jackets, and scarves. And then as we transition, we look at dresses with long sleeves, things that you can also don for any occasion, dressed up or down.”

“And then it’s summer. It is our favourite season as South Africans. The colours of the rainbow come out in different styles and it’s just a beautiful time to shop and find things that you can have in your wardrobe for many seasons to come,” she said.

Litchi’s fashion is not targeted at teeny-boppers but rather focuses on more mature women who have a solid sense of self-identity and know exactly what they want.

And understanding what you want, said Campbell, is directly tied to your lifestyle. She said that almost any garment can be shape-shifted into formal or casualwear, too.

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She said: “It is important to touch and connect with our lifestyles. So maybe a suit or a tailored jacket is not something that you would not necessarily wear, but there are ways to wear it down or dress it up for certain occasions. And then also listening to your inner voice and understanding where you are as a woman, going down the path of life.”

She added: “Things also change for all of us, from time to time. And sometimes we reflect this in the brands and style we choose. It is also important for me to have clothes that have a nice tactile element to it, the touch and feel. I often get compliments with ladies saying that they really like the fact that I do not make use of hard fabrics, but rather softer textures.”

In today’s economy, planning and managing a wardrobe while maintaining a fresh, on-trend look can be challenging.

Campbell shared: ”It is important to work around your wardrobe and build a sustainable, versatile collection. It is always a fact of looking into what you as a person, your personality leans towards”.

Price is always a consideration, and matching cheaper and premium price points, a must more than ever.

She noted: “I am always an advocate to say pull items together from different price points. So, something like a classic boot for winter is something that you will invest in, a good leather classic style, and then you can always team it up with affordable knitwear the colours of a season that you really feel strongly about and drawn to”. And that way you get a nice selection.

Campbell said that it is not only a building block of personal style but, she added: “Shopping for high end trends makes no sense when there is a cheaper range available out there. So, it is always finding a middle way and it is not always about the price point, but there are key things that one can invest in to build a foundation of a wardrobe and then add the fun and the excitement with colourful, vibrant things.”

And, colour that pops is important to Campbell. She said especially in light of the ongoing assault on our mental wellbeing. The state of South Africa, the pandemic and the hardships it brought, Ukraine’s war. It all adds up.

She said: “I want every woman to just tap into their inner joy and dress up. Even if you have to go to the grocery store and pick up a few things, why not? We are getting to go out a bit more. So even if it is a lunch with a friend, just make the effort. It will inspire you. It will lift you up emotionally, and it will just help with all the challenges that are around us”.