Influential stylists and sneaker collaborators, like Aleali May have charted new paths for womxn, but many times the brands apply a “pink it and shrink it” mentality. Mens toolings made pink instead of creating a profile that accommodates the unique needs of womxn in fit and style.

Lilith NYC intends to pick-up the torch of females in footwear by creating classic styles, in fashion forward palettes that would upend the existing dynamic of womxn trying to fit into the mens sneaker world — what if men were waiting in line for womxn’s shoes?

Sukumaran’s upbringing in Elmhurst, Queens is the foundation of the brand. The grit of the city and the people that give it soul are at the core of storytelling. Ephemera of delis, pizzerias, subways and streets are incorporated in our work. Her early love of sneakers is evident in her style choices!

The grit of the city set against the lush of the jungle brought us to explore the Tropical Modernism movement in architecture that is often solely credited to Geoffrey Bawa. In the spirit of Lilith’s history, Minnette de Silva was a Sri Lankan architect who pioneered Tropical Modernism by fusing European technologies and trends with regional landscapes and traditional craftsmanship and her contribution has often been overlooked. Sukumaran is the daughter of Tamil refugees and is inspired by the lushness of island life, and the way de Silva designed and constructed remarkable spaces in a male-dominated industry. The theme of the misrepresentation of womxn is threaded through the Lilith brand DNA.

Kali, the Hindu Goddess, is the embodiment of Shakti, divine feminine energy. Her femininity isn’t performative and her appearance rejects the constraints of culture. She is wilderness itself, representing nature at its rawest and most untamed. She is the source of life and death. Beauty and terror. Nurture and destruction.

Saint Sarah is the patron saint of the Romani people. Each year, they would take her on their shoulders as part of the pilgrimage to Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer. In India, she is known as Sara La Kali, connecting her with the Hindu Goddess. Her likeness shows up in many cultures and was an inspiration for Lilith NYC.

Lilith is a misunderstood character in mythology and folklore, consistently labeled a temptress or evil spirit. By some accounts, she was actually the first wife of Adam (before Eve), created equally, then written out of history by male scholars because she chose not to be submissive to man. She is often represented as a snake in the Garden of Eden.

There is a very one-dimensional view of womxn in sneaker culture. The industry continues to overlook womxn through campaign ads, high heat sneaker drops, and size runs. Men have always been able to flex in the sneaker space, why can’t womxn too?

The low-rise housing that occupies much of Queens exhibits themes of identity, adaptation and differentiation through their assemblage-like way of developing over time. The structures reflect the incredible diversity of the borough’s population, often regarded as the most ethnically and linguistically diverse place in the world. Architect Rafael Herrin-Ferri documents the buildings in his photography series called All the Queens Houses.

Place, as a story, is a very important aspect of Lilith NYC. The tension of Queens and Sri Lanka balances forces of city and nature. We were interested in merging streetwear of the concrete jungle with a tropical, global perspective. Lush + grit.

As part of our contextual research to thread the universal narrative of the female spirit, we explored how serpent serpent symbolism shows up in ancient cultures and traditions all over the world, representing a variety of concepts, ranging from good to evil, death to rebirth.

Additionally, the symmetry and proportionality of Naga iconography, exhibited in sculptures, reliefs, and architectural ornamentation, was also a reference point in the embracing of the totality of self, the merging of the male and female counterparts and the powers associated with that integration.

The idea of embracing totality is something we explored conceptually, but it also shows up in aesthetics and gender representation. Lilith NYC’s footwear and fashion are designed for womxn, desired by everyone. The brand promotes womxn to explore and express style, gender, and sexuality across a spectrum.

This is a trend we see becoming a key conversation in fashion brands, especially those who are communicating with GenZ. A 2020 Gallup poll shows that 1 in 6 Gen Zer’s identify as LGBTQ and this number continues to climb.

We researched fashion and streetwear brands dedicated to both feminine and masculine outlooks, as well as brands that advance gender neutrality.

PHASE 03 : EXECUTE

EMERGENT EXECUTIONS → Having a strong creative process brings structure and results. This discipline allows for us to know when to break and explore directions that emerge from the process. Being open to finding and discovering new things allows us to have a process that builds on itself to make something distinctive that clearly communicates your values, story and service.

FOR LILITH NYC THIS CAME TO LIFE IN THESE WAYS →

Each element of the Lilith NYC brand holds up as an isolated detail, and as a piece of a larger, holistic ecosystem. Our research into religion, mythology, cultural context, streetwear, and fashion laid the groundwork for messaging, branding, collateral, packaging and website design.

The wordmark uses timeless letter forms and circular geometry as a nod to the brand’s feminine roots. The curvature speaks to a full moon, a female form, and traditional Tamil letter geometry. A geographical identifier nesting under the wordmark can change to activate different markets, planning for the brand’s global executions.