Talk show cohost of The Real, Loni Love and the lifestyle brand Ashley Stewart are back this season with a spring collection. This is following a successful holiday release in which Love and Ashley Stewart collaborated for the first time to curate ten styles. “I feel this sense of community from the brand and that was more important to me than anything,” says Love.
As a style authority and advocate for the Ashley Stewart brand, Loni Love’s SS20 collection delivers chic pieces for a woman who’s searching for just the right looks for spring. Priced between 39.50 – $59.50 with sizes ranging from 10 to 3XL, the collection includes tops, bottoms, dresses, skirts and sweaters. These styles are available today online exclusively at ashleystewart.com. Due to the current COVID-19 crisis, Ashley Stewart has closed its stores and plans to reopen March 29 in which its spring collection with Loni Love will also be available to shop at select locations.
ESSENCE got to chat with Love exclusively about her new partnership with Ashley Stewart and what this means to her to provide a size-inclusive collection.
ESSENCE: This is your second collection with Ashley Stewart. How was the process this time around?
Loni Love: It was a good process overall. As far as the actual collection, it’s fun and it’s colorful. Hopefully, we can brighten peoples’ perspective with everything that’s going on. So we’re excited about that.
What can we expect from the spring 2020 collection?
Ashley Stewart has always done good pieces for plus sized women. What I was looking for was a variety, and that’s what I was allowed to actually partner with them and pick. So you have dresses that you can take and go out, say, to church or to brunches for the spring. There’s something for everybody. So that’s what I really like about things this time around. And that’s what makes it different from the holiday collection. The holiday collection was more winter colors, which are red or blue. This one is more pinks and beige, also with the floral accents.
How important is it to you to provide size inclusive clothing?
Being a plus size woman, I’ve been able to actually understand what I like in fashion. That has caused a lot of my fans to want to ask, “What do you wear?” I’m just fortunate that I was able to work with Ashley Stewart, because they understand the fabrics and the colors. And because of that, you can see that we try to develop clothing that looks good at any size.
What is the feeling that you want buyers to have when purchasing your pieces?
Well, for this collection I wanted women to feel pretty. I wanted them to feel feminine. And I wanted them to know that no matter what size they are, they are beautiful. And I believe this represents it. So that’s the reason why it was also important for me, as well as other plus size women, to be included in the campaign. Just to show the difference in the body types and the beauty of it.
