ROXS

ROXS — pronounced "rocks" — was a luxury street clothing brand launched in 2006, transforming the signature style of model and actress Shakara Ledard into a line for young adult women. With its rock, punk, funk and urban influences, ROXS sought the attention of women aged 22 to 32 who wanted designer knitwear, loungewear and apparel distinguished by luxurious fabrics, unique treatments and form-fitting cuts. The label was represented for product placement by B|W|R PPI.

No current source confirms the label's present-day activity, so the record below is given in the past tense.

Illustrative image created for this guide — an artistic impression, not this brand’s own products.

Company Profile

The genesis of ROXS lay in Ledard's own background. She grew up in the Bahamas, where her French father owned several upscale clothing boutiques; after success as an international model and actress, she harnessed her innate sense of style designing her own outfits for red carpet events. The attention she earned from media, fans and other celebrities sparked the desire to take her presence in fashion further, and she approached veteran apparel entrepreneur Carl Bethencourt with sketches embodying her outside-the-box approach. Together they launched ROXS: a luxury apparel brand for women unafraid to express themselves and radiate their own individuality and confidence. Ledard tells her own story at her website, linked in the references below.

The premiere collection for Spring 2006 offered tops in 100% silk and high-end cotton, with details from grinding, stone and enzyme washing to hand-embroidery. At Coterie's February 2006 show, ROXS unveiled its Fall collection — in stores July and August 2006 — featuring the exclusive skin jean, the jaxx short, the wolf gang vest, the bullet dart skirt, the punky Bermuda short, the cross bones skirt, the bullet proof shirt, the batwing crop and the rainbow jacket, with satin, premium denim and leather embellishments and an even stronger emphasis on intricate cuts and unique fits. The Holiday 2006 collection was to premiere cashmere, including upscale cashmere printing, a rarity in the fashion world.

ROXS focused on the design, manufacture and distribution of women's apparel in the $75 to $295 retail range, with ambitions to extend into men's and children's apparel and licensed accessories, and was initially available in upscale specialty stores including Fred Segal, Lounge, Jasmine Sola, LuLu's, Aura, Love Shack and H. Lorenzo Sport, in cities including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami and San Francisco.

ROXS also shows how a personal style becomes a brand system: Ledard's red-carpet dressing generated the press photographs, the photographs defined the look, and the collection then sold that look — silk tops, treated denim, hand-finished details — back to women who had seen it on her. The named pieces, from the skin jean to the rainbow jacket, gave buyers and editors a vocabulary for the line, the hallmark of a collection designed to be talked about as much as worn.