Designing my dreams

I think I got my love of sewing and design from my grandmother, Wanda. I remember

when I was a little boy I used to love to watch her sew. She had a wooden sewing table that swung open so you could hide away your machine when you weren't working. Her desk was like a Mary Poppins handbag and held everything a sewer could need. She had buttons, scissors, threads of every color, trims, everything. Usually someone in the family would ask my grandmother to hem a pair of pants for them but I especially enjoyed watching her hem or alter dresses for my sisters. I was fascinated by how she could look at a dilemma in the dress and without hesitation, pull out her measuring tape or sewing gage and get right to work fixing whatever problem the dress had. I didn't start sewing early like my grandmother. I started sewing after college when my aunt gave me her old sewing machine after she noticed I had really sparked an interest. I was not as talented as my grandmother when it came to alterations but I found I really enjoyed making something from scratch, so I grabbed some basic sewing patterns and began making. My early pieces were not the prettiest but I kept at it and a few years later I began making pieces for my first fashion show. It wasn't easy but I managed to do a full collection of gowns made all by myself in only a few short weeks. I decided to keep the color scheme black, white, & red and I was inspired by old Hollywood glamour and female stars of the silver screen. Black velvet, long white gloves, red satins and fitted silhouettes. Before the show I invited my aunt who had given me my first sewing machine and my grandmother who sparked my interest in sewing so many years before. The show was a hit and even won me Columbus fashion designer of the year. Shortly after, I was invited to present another collection and I only had a few months to create all the looks. This time I was inspired by color, athletic wear and florals. Bomber jackets with bright colors and florals, a tennis skirt with bright floral patterns and a show stopping floor length neon green vinyl skirt.

As the praise for my work began to grow, so too did my confidence and I decided it was time to move to the fashion capital of the country, New York City, to grow even more. New York changed my life and discovering the garment district opened the floodgates of my creativity. The garment district is like a candy store for sewers and creatives. Feather trims, beautiful hand-beaded tulle, fabric dyes, any length or color zipper, you name it, you can find it.

Not long after I moved to New York I also landed an amazing internship with a famous fashion designer thanks to the power of social media. I started interning with Christian Cowan in the summer and my first task was to ship a package to the UK for beyonce! My time interning was amazing, not only because I was getting to do what I love and many of the pieces were for celebrities like Ashley Graham, Cardi B, and Nicki Minaj but I also learned a lot that would prepare me before continuing to design on my own.

When Covid-19 hit, the designer I was interning for sadly had to move his studio but that didn't stop me from creating. I will admit, it was hard to get my hands on material during the pandemic because all of the shops in the garment district had temporarily closed but I knew I still had to create and express myself. Luckily, I had some left over fabric from old projects and a few times I even bought curtains out of desperation to continue creating.

Once the garment district began to open back up things really changed for me and I began receiving gown commissions from pageant and prom clients. Just in the last few months I have made a few pageant gowns and 3 prom gowns. In addition, I started posting my creative process on social media and gained over 26,000 followers on TikTok. I'm grateful for my followers but it's really a dream to be able to use my talent and creativity to design (and bring to life) beautiful gowns for women.

These days I am inspired by classic silhouettes, color and bling. Designing gowns for clients is a combination of my creativity but also meeting the needs of my clients. When I design a gown for a client it must compliment her skin tone and the cut must flatter her body shape. From there, I can play with the shape I think will be best for her body and then I go fabric shopping to find the material I need, whether it be satin or hand beaded and rhinestone tulle. Once I have the idea in my head and have purchased the fabric, it's time to drape and cut the material in the shape that I want. Lastly, I take all the pieces and sew them meticulously together before adding a zipper and a finishing hem.

Once the gown is complete it's time to give my client her dream gown and in the process I have fulfilled my own dream of using my creativity and passion to bring my ideas to life one dress at a time.