Young ,.Black and Gifted!
In the summer of my senior year, I knew I wanted to be fashion designer.
I even had made plans to study abroad in Italy so that I could learn more about fashion from a global perspective. Luckily for me my host family was friends with a fashion designer and every so often I would go over to her house where she would teach me how to draw designs.
Unfortunately, once I returned back to the states I got sidetracked. Instead of pursing a career as fashion designer, I decided to pursue other ventures that I thought would be more meaningful and more impactful.
But I was making a big mistake; I was placing impact over passion. And I soon realized that if I wasn’t passionate about what I was doing that I’d just be pursing this venture half-heartedly.
Thus, I put an end to it.
In August of the next summer I finally convinced my mom to teach me how to sew.
We bought some denim fabric an in about 2 months I had my first garment made. It was a denim shirt jacket with patch pockets
. It took forever to make but it was worth it because I was finally pursing a venture that I was passionate about.
But I didn’t just want to sew, I wanted to build a brand.
I’ve just always had an affinity for the past. So when it came to gathering inspiration for my designs I took things from back in the day whether it be cars, time periods, or even historical movements.
With my clothes I want to transport people back the earlier days but in a way that would still translate to the times of today. With my brand I am fusing the past and the present.
A number of my designs are reminiscent of things that would be familiar to something you may see in the 60s, 50s or the 80s but with more interesting silhouettes and patterns.
I try to find a balance between tailored and streetwear. I try to find that point where a suit meets jogger, shorts meet and button down shirts, and hype beast tees meet trousers.
So what you’ll see a lot of will be relaxed cut clothing that's tailored
just enough to bring out the shape of a person.
However, I don’t believe that shape is everything.
Sometimes it’s the materials that really make the garment. Sometimes its the pattern, prints or even the subtle yet sophisticated texture that make the clothes so extraordinary.
I like to challenge myself and pick out materials that people would normally shy away from or that wouldn’t be expected to work.
When I am designing something I don’t want people to have seen it before. I don’t want them to say "this looks like such and such’s clothing" or “this reminds me of what’s his face’s stuff".
I want them to say "this looks like something they would wear in the 50’s" or “I’ve never seen this before". I want to taking people to a place in time that they either remember or that they always wanted to be.
