Avec les Filles fashion line from Joyce Azria
NEW YORK (FOX 5 NEWS) - Avec les Filles means "with the girls." Joyce Azria says she chose the name for her first solo fashion venture as a tribute to her French roots and a promise to her consumer that she would be in line with her and in touch with her always.
Joyce, the daughter of BCBG's Max Azria, says she is breaking all the rules with this line to design clothing and shoes for the millennial woman, who also breaks the traditional rules of fashion.
Joyce describes the millennial girl as someone who wears real leather and saves up to buy nice shoes. This young shopper often has more than $100 in her pocket to spend but is still very value-driven. So Joyce wanted to make a beautiful product for that young woman that brings enormous value, something that might only cost $68 or $38 but totally fits into a millennial lifestyle.
Joyce launched her new line this March in 155 Macy's across the country. She describes the store concept as a little piece of pink paradise. She wanted it to feel like Paris in a box, as if you're living in a macaroon.
This store in a store is just another way Joyce is breaking the mold: bringing a modern shopping concept to a traditional retailer, especially when department stores like Macy's have been struggling. Joyce says she has operated in every department store and online as creative director of BCBGeneration.
She calls Macy's an iconic American brand and says she wants nothing more than to reach the American consumer, whether that consumer is in Oregon, Tennessee or Texas.
Avec Les Filles will drop new product every two weeks at Macy's and on its own website. Most of the styles are under $100. Joyce had a hand in every one, whether it's their $98 olive dress with a bow, their French stripe romper, their bodysuits at $38 and $48, or their ruffled blouses for $58.
So what's her favorite piece? Joyce says she is extremely proud of all of them. A lesson her dad taught her a long time ago: at the end of the day, you're selling clothes and every piece has to stand for who you are. If you don't like something, it shouldn't be on the line.
One of the big differences you'll see with Joyce's line is the quality. Her blazers were made in the same factory that Chanel uses. While her prices are in line with fast fashion, she says she wanted designer quality. Joyce thinks that quality will appeal to the younger shopper looking for real value, especially that young woman in middle America who has Instagram and an iPhone, but doesn't have the same access to great fashion as women in New York.