Michael Kors. Carolina Herrera. Tracy Reese. Tommy Hilfiger. Vera Wang. Shonda Ali-Shamaa.
That last name may not carry the weight of the first five ... yet.
But Ali-Shamaa is among the handful of Arkansas designers whose creations have been seen on the catwalks at New York Fashion Week.
Ali-Shamaa is now gearing up for her second trip to the event, which will feature designers' fall 2016 fashions from Wednesday through Feb. 18. Her clothing will be part of Saturday's Designers Collective show.
"New York [was] always a dream," the Arkansas School of Fashion graduate said at her Conway home.
The living area/kitchen of the house is dominated by her work table and clothing rack. A headless, armless mannequin sports what will soon be a jaw-droppingly fabulous champagne gown with a sweep train and appliqued bodice. In another room, Ali-Shamaa's sketches adorn a billboard. Bolts of fabric share space with another mannequin -- this one wearing a burgundy dress with short full skirt and applique bodice.
Ali-Shamaa said she loves fall, so she did earth tones and jewel tones: burgundy, turquoise, ivory. "I'll be using leather this year. I love leather."
Ali-Shamaa, whose Love R.O.C.S. collections have graced the runways of Little Rock's Designers Choice Fashion Preview as well as Little Rock Fashion Week, always wanted to show in New York. Her time came in September, at the New York Fashion Week fall show, thanks to fellow Arkansas designer and Project Runway reality-show star Korto Momolu.
"Korto actually messaged me one day, and she said, 'Hi, you want to go to New York? What do you think?' And I was like, 'Seriously? Why not?' We kind of went back and forth and she sent me the details."
This week, she's showing eight looks like
she did in September. She is leaving on Wednesday and returning Monday.
I'LL TAKE MANHATTAN
It doesn't take having a big name to show one's wares at New York Fashion Week. Designers from around the country, known perhaps only in their states or communities, have a chance to show their creative talent on the catwalks of the fashion capital with the potential of earning name recognition as well as celebrity clientele.
It helps to have a friend like Momolu, who also opened the door for Little Rock designer Linda Rowe Thomas, creator of the Romas collections.
Thomas has been to five New York Fashion Weeks so far. Her sixth trip to the Big Apple will be for the spring 2017 shows in September. Momolu introduced Thomas to a show producer; Thomas was subsequently invited to premiere her first solo collection during the spring 2010 fashion week.
Thomas remembers the show as an "incredible" experience. "I was more excited than nervous. I had my entire family there supporting me and even helping me backstage."
She had cause to be excited: several celebrity attendees, positive press and the title of "one to watch," given by the New York Examiner.
SOLO, GROUP EFFORTS
Whereas Thomas has had her own shows at various venues, Ali-Shamaa showed with Designers Collective, a vehicle by which up-and-comers can enter Fashion Week at a lower price point. The group, she says, is set up in a way similar to the format of Designers Choice, a Little Rock showcase of the wares of designers throughout the state and beyond. The one difference is that the designers' names are not announced at Designers Collective.
"There were a lot of us in that group," Ali-Shamaa says. "It was pretty cool to see some of the stuff that people would come up with."
Ali-Shamaa showed on a Saturday in September at the Affinia Hotel in Manhattan, the same place she stayed. That made things a lot easier on her logistically.
"It was fun. I actually ended up taking my sewing machine in my little bag just in case. It was exciting because it's so much happening." Like Designers Choice, there was a host of backstage assistants there for the designers.
Momolu, who's also heading to New York for her Friday show at the Affinia, describes her first Fashion Week as "amazing."
That particular experience was the Project Runway Season 5 finale show in 2008. Momolu was first runner-up and fan favorite that season and later captured two additional first-runner-up positions during Project Runway: All Stars appearances.
After that first show, Momolu knew she wanted to do it again, but she didn't know how or even what it involved. Luckily, Leanne Marshall, who won Season 5, "had a way in. And she kind of gave me that hand up to come in. I just kind of went from there." Momolu has repeatedly returned to Fashion Week, showing for each spring/summer season and all but two fall/winter seasons.
"I've done some really interesting shows over the years. They've been different, but they've all been memorable to a certain degree," she says.
A designer heading from here to New York Fashion Week doesn't have to take a big entourage of people ... just, perhaps, an assistant or two or a favorite model, makeup person or hairdresser. Generally, show models, makeup artists and hairdressers are cast in New York.
Momolu will be traveling with her "muse" -- local model Treloni Flournoy, who has done every show with her. Designers Choice creator Theresa Timmons-Shamberger comes and lends moral support. And Momolu has interns who work with her throughout the year; in return she pays their way to New York.
Thomas, too, usually takes with her a model from Little Rock; her last show also featured a local makeup artist. Ali-Shamaa enjoyed the companionship of fellow designer Sheila Scott, who assisted her during her September show, which most of her family attended. So did Jamileh Kamran, her Arkansas Fashion School instructor, and some of her students.
SHOW ME THE MONEY
Showing in New York can be expensive, however, as can airfare and lodging, depending on the time of year and the events going on in the city, Thomas points out.
Ali-Shamaa figures she was out $8,000 for her first New York show -- considering such costs as fabric, hotel, show, airfare, overhead. She will do some fundraising this year to offset costs for future ones. "You've got $8,000 [in] September; you've got $8,000 [in] February and ... it's unrealistic to continue doing that, digging that hole."
Sponsorships can help ease the financial pain, says Thomas, whose collection costs range from the low thousands on up. "I have done fundraising in the past, but I have found it more ideal to have sponsors."
Sponsorships have certainly come in handy for Momolu, whose New York Fashion Week show expenses run anywhere from "$2,500 to $25,000 on the low end." The high end? Between $25,000 to $100,000, depending on the venue. She has been able to get free rooms via arrangements where she promotes the hotels. She has also gotten sponsors to help pay for her shows -- "hair, makeup, nails, or you use their logo and push their event."
The downside of sponsorships is that they can be difficult for newcomers to obtain. Sponsors want someone with name recognition. So, Momolu says, "you have to get in there and kind of pay your dues a little bit to be able to get sponsorships." She often advises new designers to seek out sponsorships from startup companies. "If you're starting, [and] they're starting, you kind of build that brand partnership together. I wish somebody had told me that, because the first few years, I paid it out of my pocket -- and it was not cheap."
That's only one of the challenges of showing in the big city, the women say. There are the lessons newbies learn. Ali-Shamaa hired a New York photographer to capture her fashions, expecting to have a generous selection of the models backstage. "I had, like, two pictures from backstage. The rest of them were from the house [the show]. I can Google or Instagram and get pictures [of] what the front of the house looked like."
She also notes the challenge of getting anyone to go with her for the fall/winter fashion shows. "One of the bad things about February is it's cold, so nobody wants to come," she says. Although her husband will be with her, "my assistants are not coming."
And there are the logistics.
"Taking a collection up there is just ... nerve-wracking because anything can happen," says Momolu, who in the past showed jewelry and bags, too. "It's heavy. It's a lot. And you want to make sure everything stays the way it's supposed to, because when I go up there I don't take sewing machines .... So if anything happens it's just going to become a nightmare.
"It's a lot of work. And I think a lot of people don't understand how much work it is. They think it's just so fun and glamorous."
REWARDING EXPERIENCE
But the payoffs have been nice. Thomas has seen her attire worn on the red carpet at the Golden Globes, Espy and BET awards shows. Her celebrity clients include actress Erica Ash (MadTV; Survivor's Remorse), American Idol Season 10 alumna Ashthon Jones, fitness expert Donna Richardson Joyner, WNBA star Candice Wiggins, Olympic sprinter Carol Rodriguez and gospel recording artist Bri Babineaux.
The payoffs for Ali-Shamaa's first visit? "I went to New York," she replies with a laugh before continuing. "The exposure and the experience .... This is a marathon, it's not a sprint. So it's about consistency. It's about repetitive appearances ... for you to build that expectation to go somewhere.
"I got some good exposure, made some really good contacts."
Style on 02/09/2016