The singer-songwriter will make an appearance Thursday at Caruso’s Americana at Brand shopping center to kick off the line.

Marketers are playing up the next big selling season and Forever 21 has hopped on board with a new festival collection campaign that music artist Justine Skye is set to front.

The retailer is enlisting Skye to appear in a campaign around its offering for the upcoming music season.

“Fashion and music are intrinsically linked, and Justine Skye embodies the parallel between the two,” said Forever 21 vice president of merchandising Linda Chang.

The sporty, street-inspired collection retails from $1.90 to $39.90 and totals hundreds of stockkeeping units across apparel and other categories.

The push by Forever 21 and other retailers with Millennial and Generation Z customers is a nod to a type of dressing that has become a season in and of itself with the prominence of events such as the recently ended South by Southwest festival and conference in Austin and next month’s Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio, Calif.

“Since the launch of our first festival collection, we have witnessed its growth in popularity throughout the years with festival style becoming a mainstay on shelves throughout much of early spring and summer,” Chang said. “We saw this trend stretch all over the globe as festivals started taking place in Europe, U.K. [and] Asia and continue to expand with new festivals joining the lineup every year.”

Chang added the rise of social media has certainly helped the growth in popularity of festivals that have become more than just about seeing bands play.

“With the growth of social media, festivalgoers are documenting their entire experience and carefully crafting their looks as a result of this,” she said.

That’s given the retailer the confidence to not only produce apparel looks for festivalgoers but branch out to merchandise jewelry, accessories, shoes and beauty specifically for the season.

Skye is expected to perform a new song, called “Flames” and premiere its music video at an in-store event at The Americana at Brand Thursday to celebrate the festival collection, which goes on sale across Forever 21 stores and online Friday.

 

By Kari Hamanaka