One of the most logical - and lucrative - side ventures for a celebrity is to launch a fashion line. The glamour and star power of a best-selling artiste or top actress can easily garner publicity and sales from fans.
Indeed, reality star Kim Kardashian's Skims shapewear line has propelled her into the realm of billionaires, while pop star Rihanna's lingerie label Savage X Fenty was named one of the most influential companies of the year by Time magazine this year.
The latest celebrity to turn designer is actress Lena Dunham, who came up with a plus-size collaboration last month, but many other stars have translated their personal styles into successful fashion ventures.
Rihanna
Pop superstar Rihanna's lingerie line, Savage X Fenty, has a tagline of promoting "fearlessness, confidence and inclusivity".
The online brand's website boasts models of all sizes, shapes and skin colour, and sizes go from XS to 3X.
Founded in 2018, it is now worth US$1 billion (S$1.3 billion), according to Time magazine, which named it one of the most influential companies of this year, alongside titans from various fields such as Apple, Nike, Moderna and Zoom.
A partnership between luxury giant LVMH and the 33-year-old chart-topping singer, Savage X Fenty saw impressive year-on-year growth in sales last year of more than 200 per cent, despite the Covid-19 pandemic.
Even though LVMH put Rihanna's ready-to-wear luxury fashion line, Fenty, on hold earlier this year, they are still working together on her lingerie brand, as well as her wildly popular Fenty Beauty and Fenty Skin lines.
Lena Dunham
Actress Lena Dunham has never been shy about her struggles with her body image over the years and has now fully embraced it with her capsule collection with 11 Honore, a plus-size online retailer.
Best known for her breakout television series Girls, which she created, wrote and starred in from 2012 to 2017, Dunham designed five pieces for the collection, which launched last month.
11 Honore X Lena Dunham includes a blazer and a skirt with scalloped edges, a butter-yellow menswear-inspired shirt with pearlescent buttons and a dress with a print designed by her father, artist Carroll Dunham.
Sizes of the clothes go from 12 to 26 and they reflect her love of vintage, bright colours and bold patterns.
In an interview last month with fashion magazine Vogue, the 34-year-old said: "Sometimes, it seems that the people who make plus-size clothing think that women want to disappear. That because our bodies are curvy, we don't want to be seen any longer, and that's just not true."
Kim Kardashian
Bootylicious reality TV star Kim Kardashian became a billionaire last month, according to Forbes magazine. Her net worth went from US$780 million (S$1.04 billion) in October last year to US$1 billion in April, with the bulk of her fortune coming from her cosmetics company KKW Beauty and shapewear line Skims, as well as reality show Keeping Up With The Kardashians (2007 to present).
Capitalising on her massive social media following - she has 220 million followers on Instagram and 70 million on Twitter - both sidelines have become highly lucrative.
However, Kardashian has also demonstrated great business savvy, especially with two-year-old Skims, which has a hugely popular Fits Everybody inclusive range.
When the pandemic struck last year, it swiftly pivoted from stretchy stomach-smoothing shapewear to comfy clothes for lounging on the couch.
In an interview with The New York Times last month, Kardashian revealed that Skims had reported US$145 million in sales last year, which it expected to double this year.
As Kardashian herself has said many times before: "Not bad for a girl with no talent."
JJ Lin
Singaporean singer JJ Lin's streetwear line Smudge, short for "still moving under gunfire", is a clear reflection of his personal style and love of pop art and street fashion. The fashion line, which started in 2009, features accessible urban wear such as baggy hoodies, sweat pants, bucket hats and denim jackets, which are items Lin, 40, is regularly seen in. There is also a line for women.
Most recently, it collaborated in March with sports brand Reebok to give its own spin on the distinctive Reebok Instapump sneakers.
A savvy entrepreneur who has his hand in many pies, Lin opened a flagship concept store in Taipei last year and there is another one in Shanghai.
Instead of just retailing clothes, these lifestyle stores combine fashion, food and coffee under one roof. You can get food such as kaya toast as well as freshly brewed coffee, which is another passion of Lin's.
Victoria Beckham
Victoria Beckham has been a fashion designer longer than she was in the chart-topping girl group Spice Girls, but she still retains the Posh Spice image.
Her eponymous fashion line, which launched in 2008, seven years after the Spice Girls split up, has proven to be more than just a vanity project. In 2011, the label was named Designer Brand of the Year at the British Fashion Awards.
Over the years, it has won over initially doubtful fashion critics with its elegant designs which channel the designer's personal style, and has spawned a cheaper diffusion label, as well as lines for denim, sunglasses and fragrances.
However, despite its critical success and rising sales, the business faces an uncertain future, as it has racked up more than £46 million (S$87 million) in losses since its launch, according to its auditors in February.
The pandemic has further threatened its survival, as it was forced to close its flagship store in London during the lockdown last year and retrench about one-fifth of its staff.
However, Beckham, 47, and her husband, former footballer David Beckham, 46, have other profitable ventures which can continue to keep the fashion business afloat.
Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen
Actresses Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen are known for their distinctive high-end homeless look. Usually seen in slouchy black outfits, long flowing locks and heavily kohled eyes, the 34-year-old twins, who started out as cherubic child stars, have translated their grown-up personal style into two fashion lines.
Couture brand The Row, which started in 2006, boasts US$1,990 (S$2,660) wool skirts and US$1,090 cotton shirts with their signature oversized fit and dark palette.
A more wallet-friendly line, Elizabeth And James, was started a year later and has a more relaxed vibe and a lot more colour.
Successful fashion designers in their own right, the Olsens were named Womenswear Designer of the Year by the Council of Fashion Designers of America for The Row in 2012 and 2015.
Sarah Jessica Parker
Much like Carrie Bradshaw, the character Sarah Jessica Parker plays in Sex And The City (1998 to 2004), the actress is a true shoe aficionado.
Parker set up footwear brand SJP By Sarah Jessica Parker in 2014, 10 years after the ground-breaking HBO series ended its six-season run. The hit show also spawned two movies in 2008 and 2010.
Known for her love of sky-high stiletto heels, Parker's line includes footwear as high as 10cm. But it does not neglect those who would rather not break their ankles, by also offering sandals and sensible pumps.
On its website, it also lists one item of clothing - the SJP LBD. The tiered tulle little black dress, similar to the short pink one worn by Parker in the show's opening credits, is very much in the spirit of the series, which will be rebooted soon.
And the 56-year-old actress, who will reprise her role as Bradshaw in And Just Like That..., will likely see her footwear brand soar to stiletto heights.
Kanye West
A rare pair of rapper Kanye West's sneakers broke a world record for footwear at a Sotheby's auction last month by going under the hammer for US$1.8 million (S$2.4 million).
The Nike Air Yeezy 1 prototypes, which were worn just once by West, 43, at the Grammy Awards in 2008, were developed with the sportswear giant and released the following year.
Four years later, he shifted his Yeezy sneaker line to Adidas, where it is estimated to have brought in about US$1.7 billion in sales last year, according to Forbes magazine.
Coveted by sneakerheads and often resold at vastly inflated prices, the Yeezy sneakers are not the only fashion items West has a hand in.
His designs for men, women and children for American retailer Gap, under the Yeezy Gap label, are expected to hit shelves in summer.
