Revolve has named Marianna Hewitt creative director of L’Academie, the in-house brand added to its portfolio when the e-tailer acquired Alliance Apparel Group in March 2015.
That was the year Hewitt began wearing the label.
“I was looking back actually and when L’Academie, the brand, launched a long time ago, I was wearing it in Paris,” she said. “I’ve been wearing this brand for nine years.”
Hewitt was a leading content creator at the time and frequent collaborator with Revolve, an early adapter of influencer marketing (founded by Michael Mente and Mike Karanikolas in 2003). She’s grown to be a founder herself, launching beauty brand Summer Fridays with Lauren Ireland in 2018. It’s a top seller at Revolve, according to the company.
“Now, as I’ve evolved and am in my late 30s — I’m 37 now — my day looks a little different,” she went on. “I wake up, I’m usually at meetings. I’m, you know, in so many different scenarios, but then I’m still going to events and lunches and dinners and stuff like that. And I really found I needed pieces in my wardrobe that took me to all those places in my day. And I think that was something that was missing from Revolve’s own brand.”
This marks her first time codesigning with Revolve. She previously curated beauty boxes and fashion collections (picking her favorite pieces) in their past partnerships.
“I went through the whole process, from working with the design team, having the fabric meetings, having the fit meetings with the models, going into production and seeing the prototypes, and then it actually coming to life,” she explained.
The inspiration was her own personal style, she added, a blend of “California” meets “Paris,” while considering her followers’ needs (she has 1.1 million on Instagram alone) and diving into Revolve’s internal data insights. She learned what pieces did best and have been most searched at the e-tailer each season through the years.
“I always think about my community first and what they like,” Hewitt said. “Just from being a creator for so many years, I have a sense of what they click on the most.…So many girls are working jobs. They are working at places where they do need pieces to wear in these different scenarios and not just addressed for a vacation or a night out.”
The result are pieces that can be mixed and matched, with some sets and lots of knits (which have the added benefit of not having to be ironed when on the go or traveling, she emphasized). Comfort and practicality were key, with skorts included. There are still evening dress options but also day-to-night trousers, shorts and outerwear — a trench, her go-to for Los Angeles weather.
“It’s simple, chic, effortless pieces that are easy to wear, that never feel stuffy or uncomfortable or too tight,” she said. “I really want to create these staple pieces in my wardrobe that feel like a capsule collection.”
