Months had passed since the Detroit Fashion Choice Awards in February at the Garden Theater, and Kierra K. Wilson, who won Fashion Forecaster of the Year, still could not watch her acceptance speech video. “I’ve been trying,” says Wilson, a fashion designer and founder of OMG Key Da Brand. “Periodically, I’ll go back and say, ‘I’m gonna go and listen,’ and I can’t get past the first part yet.”
At the award show, Wilson, who wore a stunning orange gown designed with her signature crocodile print, gave an inspiring and emotional speech as the crowd cheered her on. In the speech, she said she could feel the presence of members of her family who are no longer with her, including an older brother whom she lost to domestic violence and a younger brother whom she lost to suicide.
In her acceptance speech, she said, “My parents aren’t here, I have siblings who aren’t here, and all these people nominated me. They didn’t have to; there’s no family obligation. … You guys were there for me, and I really appreciate that.” Audience members proceeded to cut her off and yell, “We’re your family,” bringing a huge smile to Wilson’s face.
Fashion is one of the most competitive, exclusive, cutthroat industries in the world, with reports indicating that those who participate in the industry are 25% more likely to experience mental illness. However, in that room, full of hard-working designers hoping to win an award, the feelings of respect and happiness for one another were overwhelming, revealing a nurturing fashion community in Detroit that leaves no one behind.
In 2017, after losing several family members, Wilson craved a creative outlet and entered the fashion world as a makeup artist and model, soon meeting Tamika Walker, founder of Stan’d Funk’y Boutique, who hired her to work at her fashion shows. Once Wilson shared her story, Walker took on a protective, big sister/mentor role. “I was with her for years,” Wilson says. “I was doing the makeup for her models, being a model, and she wouldn’t let me out of her sight. … She’s very pivotal in where I am … because I could’ve gone down another path.”
In 2022, Wilson obtained her Master of Business Administration degree from Siena Heights University and took sewing classes at Sew Modest in Dearborn in January, and five months later, she debuted as a designer and owner of OMG Key Da Brand at Michigan Fashion Week in June with 23 garments. This year, Wilson missed the MFW application deadline in February due to caring for a family member. However, a few weeks prior to the event in June, MFW founder Loren Hicks reached out and said if Wilson believed her family situation was stable, she could present her collection. “They were very generous and very accommodating to me,” Wilson says. “I was very thankful to be there.”
For Hicks, her display of kindness and understanding stems from her belief that “we’re all human” and her drive to highlight local designers through MFW, which she founded in 2012. “I saw her [Wilson] as a very talented designer, and she briefly told me some things about her family, and I was like, ‘Don’t let that stop you,’” Hicks says. “My passion is to really make sure that these designers are not just doing fashion design as a hobby but really making a trajectory in their business.”
And although Detroiters have been known for their unique style for years, Hicks believes local designers are now creating a new foundation for fashion in the city that can compete against the likes of New York City and Los Angeles.
“We have the landscape for it,” Hicks says. “We don’t have too many fashion companies in Detroit, so I think this is a great time to build from the ground up.”
One of the many people helping to do so is Gretchen R. Valade, the great-great-granddaughter of Carhartt’s founder, Hamilton Carhartt, who established the Detroit-based clothing company in 1889. She remains in the family business as the director of sustainability but also has her own boutique, Eugenie, located in Detroit’s West Village. There, not only do locals have an opportunity to shop through a sustainability-focused boutique, similar to what you may find in a larger city like Chicago, but free pop-up space is also available for local and out-of-state designers to sell their products.
“Although Detroit and the fashion designers living and from here may not have all of the support from the city, state, or ‘big brands’ that other cities may have, the Detroit community has style and a unique perspective on design and what is possible,” Valade says.
Last year, the boutique held its first annual Eugenie Designer Grant competition, which will launch again this month. It awarded a designer living in Detroit $10,000 to be used toward their business. After the winner was announced, all applicants met together to celebrate.
“That evening, I noticed how supportive of each other this group was,” Valade says. “Everyone was happy to be together and to meet new people and hear about what others were doing in this space.
“There are many grassroots things happening in the city to support fashion designers, including multiple groups/brands/designers coming together to form markets or larger pop-ups.”
One of the few entities available to help locals start their fashion journey and thrive is the Detroit Fashion Community nonprofit organization. Founded in 2019 by Latrice Delgado-Macon, who has been a wardrobe stylist for Eminem and has worked in cities like Paris, DFC provides resources to individuals including scholarships and networking opportunities through its monthly event called DFC Connects.
“They can share stories and provide wisdom of how to get in the door,” DFC co-Director Evan Hazlett says, adding that designers have been able to find photographers at these events to hire for fashion shows. “We provide opportunities and a platform for folks to kind of work hand in hand in the fashion industry.”
Through DFC, designer Kara Chaney of Lavish the Lifestyle was connected to Fox 2 Detroit, where she was able to share her designs. “It was just extraordinary to see the excitement for her to be able to be on the news, share some of her creations. It was absolutely wonderful,” Hazlett says.
“I love the fact that people come utilize us and make those connections and make their careers more than what it is and just branch off,” Delgado-Macon says.
And branch off they have. When Shawna McGee, 63, was growing up on Detroit’s northwest side, she experienced a form of mentorship that led to her attending Parsons School of Design in New York City — ranked No. 1 among design schools in the country by QS World University Rankings — and working as a designer with influential companies like Anne Klein and Ralph Lauren.
When McGee was a student at Cass Technical High School, she took a class with Cledie Taylor, who ran the fashion design department. “She introduced us to the world of Europe,” McGee says. “We basically learned this from Vogue magazine, Bizarre magazine, W magazine. I learned it from that room and that class with her.”
McGee says that thanks to Taylor, her 1978 graduating class had the largest number of students to receive full-ride scholarships to Parsons. “We went to New York as a group,” McGee says. “Some of us went into fashion design, and some of us went into the commercial art department. But I had a little family from Detroit.”
McGee returned to Detroit in 2021, and in 2024, she began working on her clothing line called the S. McGee Collection again after taking a break during the pandemic. She uses her original paintings to create luxurious kimonos, scarves, and more. She also teaches fashion illustration classes at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Southeastern Michigan and at the Birmingham Bloomfield Art Center, shaping the next generation of aspiring fashionistas.
“New York is the capital of fashion; Detroit — there’s always been talent here,” McGee says. “But now, I think there’s more and more community that is coming together to really make a statement about what Detroit fashion is and what it stands for.”
This story originally appeared in the September 2024 issue of Hour Detroit magazine. To read more, pick up a copy of Hour Detroit at a local retail outlet. Our digital edition will be available on Sept. 6.
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