<\/p>\n
Fashion designer Daniel Mozzes displays some of his creations on July 22 at his State Street studio in Albany. Mozzes hopes to see a stronger fashion community develop in Albany.<\/p>\n
Will Waldron\/Times Union<\/p>\n
A pocketbook made by Karen Maxwell, the proprietor of Kema\u2019s Kreations, at the shop on July 17 in Albany.<\/p>\n
Jim Franco\/Times Union<\/p>\n
A boot made by Karen Maxwell, the proprietor of Kema\u2019s Kreations, at the shop on Friday, July 17, 2026, in Albany, NY. (Jim Franco\/Times Union)<\/p>\n
Jim Franco\/Times Union<\/p>\n
Karen Maxwell, the proprietor of Kema\u2019s Kreations, in her shop on July 17 in Albany. Maxwell teaches at BOCES and teaches her students the sewing expertise and industry knowledge necessary to pursue a career in fashion.<\/p>\n
Jim Franco\/Times Union<\/p>\n
Two models pose in So’Radical clothing.<\/p>\n
Rakiya Hernandez\/Courtesy of Mo Rabiu<\/p>\n
A man models a piece from the Seychelles collection from Va’Ceia Designs<\/p>\n
K. Carter Studio\/Courtesy of Va’Ceia Taylor<\/p>\n
A woman models So’Radical clothing.<\/p>\n
Courtesy of Mo Rabiu<\/p>\n
ALBANY\u00a0\u2014 When you think of the fashion capital of the world, you think of Paris. Given a second option, New York City comes to mind. A third choice takes you to London or Milan. Yet in the capital of New York, 150 miles away from that city that never sleeps, a global fashion scene awaits.\u00a0<\/p>\n
There is a small but mighty fashion community in the Capital Region, united by the diversity of their styles. Each of these designers has found global success in the fashion industry and has appeared in at least one of famed fashion weeks in New York, London or Paris.\u00a0While in Albany, the designers said they can help cultivate the scene, offering mentorship to the next generation to give aspiring artists advantages they never had.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Va’Ceia Taylor in a wedding dress she designed herself. \u201cMy goal is to eventually have my own school to teach art and design to the young people,\u201d Taylor said.<\/p>\n
Emmanuel Falaise\/Courtesy of Va’Ceia Taylor<\/p>\n
Va\u2019Ceia Taylor | Va\u2019Ceia Designs<\/p>\n
Va\u2019Ceia Taylor\u2019s style has always been a conversation starter. When she got her start transforming thrifted clothes in high school, strangers often approached her, asking where they could find her clothes. After falling in love with making and wearing her own designs, she pursued fashion as a career.<\/p>\n
Inspired by Black and African culture, Taylor makes an effort \u201cto have a story behind what it is that I create.\u201d She has a series of collections, each based on a different African country. Her Congo collection, for instance, features \u201cpieces of mustard yellows, golds, reds and greens\u201d and takes inspiration from late Congolese painter Marcel Gautine. It was her first to go to New York Fashion Week in 2020, but not her last.<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A woman models a piece from the Seychelles Collection of Va’Ceia Designs.<\/p>\n
K. Carter Studio\/Courtesy of Va’Ceia Taylor<\/p>\n
One of her favorite showcases was at Washington Park. In 2022, she presented a Black Lives Matter collection with only two pieces: an orange dress with beans, representing every Black and brown person killed by a police officer, strung to the dress and a long orange duster that had the names of these murdered people of color written in its seams. The rest of her models dressed in all black and chanted about these hate crimes before Taylor walked onstage.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI came in, straight in between everybody, and shouted what I needed to shout about the injustices,\u201d she remembered. \u201cI was happy that I was able to shine light on what\u2019s going on in this world and hopefully be a part of the solution.\u201d<\/p>\n
Making a change in the world after facing adversity is a common theme with Taylor. When she was first getting started as a designer, it was difficult for her to find mentorship. \u201cThere needs to be more people in the community that can teach young people how to sew,\u201d she said. She has taken mentees under her wing, but she does not plan on stopping there.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
\u201cMy goal is to eventually have my own school to teach art and design to the young people,\u201d Taylor said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Fashion designer Daniel Mozzes displays some of his creations on July 22 at his State Street studio in Albany.<\/p>\n
Will Waldron\/Times Union<\/p>\n
Daniel Mozzes | Daniel Mozzes Design<\/p>\n
Daniel\u00a0Mozzes has seen fashion all over the world: he has lived in London and Amsterdam and has traveled extensively across Europe, South America and North America. But his love for style is home-grown. \u201cI lived with my grandmother and my mother and my mother\u2019s aunt. I grew up surrounded by women,\u201d he said. Mozzes vividly remembers watching them glam up in the morning in awe, and when he was about 6 or 7, he would try on their high heels.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
He got his start as a designer at an early age when friends asked him to make dresses for their dolls. To his friends\u2019 confusion,\u00a0Mozzes would ask them for materials, as he understood even then how important fabric was to the design of any outfit. His dresses are known for their audacious concepts, and he finds much of his inspiration in the fabrics he sees. \u201cThe materials tell you what is going to happen,\u201d Mozzes explained.\u00a0<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Fashion designer Daniel Mozzes shows one of his hand-stitched creations on July 22 at his State Street studio in Albany.<\/p>\n
Will Waldron\/Times Union<\/p>\n
Mozzes has shown designs at London Fashion Week and New York Fashion Week, but he does not concern himself with the latest trends. \u201cI like to push the boundary. I think being too serious, it\u2019s kind of boring,\u201d he said. He would much rather make trends than follow them.<\/p>\n
But while he prides himself on being in his own lane, he hopes to see a stronger fashion community develop in Albany. Mozzes has put on a number of fashion shows in Albany, and he maintains that \u201cwe need more sponsors to do events so we can help all the small designers grow.\u201d<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Mo Rabiu sews her next garment. Rabiu is co-producing \u201cMUSE: Women Who Move Culture Forward,\u201d a fashion show in the Empire State Plaza as part of the Black Arts & Cultural Festival.<\/p>\n
Courtesy of Mo Rabiu<\/p>\n
Mo Rabiu |\u00a0So\u2019Radical<\/p>\n
Before running her own fashion company, Mo Rabiu was first a stylist in Albany. Her mother was a textile designer, so from a young age, Rabiu loved texture and fabric. Her parents would always comment on how well she styled herself, and she started offering her services on Craigslist. Most of her clients were service members who were now entering the workforce.<\/p>\n
Despite this passion for fashion, Rabiu pursued a career in finance for a decade of her life. \u201cBut even as I was in finance\u2026 I had clients within my own work,\u201d she said. She would style the people she met at her job, and fashion remained a consistent presence in her life.<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
Then the pandemic hit, which put things into perspective for Rabiu. \u201cI was ready to do something that I really enjoy,\u201d she remembered. So at a time when no one was thinking about working, she rented out a studio and started European Tailoring. Her business expertise came in handy, as she was able to apply her education and work experience to her own company. Rabiu was a \u201cone-woman soldier,\u201d running her own company, doing her own publicity and making all of her own sales.\u00a0<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Three models flaunt So’Radical clothing.<\/p>\n
Courtesy of Mo Rabiu<\/p>\n
After the success of European Tailoring, she founded her designer brand, So\u2019Radical Clothing, which has taken her to London, Paris and New York fashion weeks and elevated her profile significantly. Rabiu has created garments for a number of celebrities, including Albany\u2019s first Black mayor. But no matter where her brand takes her, she keeps coming back to Albany.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlbany is home for me when I moved to America\u2026. I feel like Albany needs me,\u201d she admitted. She first came to Albany from Nigeria, and after a brief stint in New York City, she moved back.\u00a0The fashion scene in Albany may not be as robust as that of New York City, but Rabiu loves that she can help develop it into something greater. She sees the potential for the many up-and-coming designers in the area and dreams of one day producing a fashion week in Albany to celebrate the talent in the Capital Region.<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
While that day is still to come, she has made a significant amount of progress towards it. Rabiu is co-producing \u201cMUSE: Women Who Move Culture Forward,\u201d a fashion show in the Empire State Plaza set for Aug. 1 as part of the Black Arts & Cultural Festival.<\/p>\n
\u201cCome out and see how we really do fashion on the international level that we bring to Albany, New York,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Dicey Lewis listens to her teacher, Karen Maxwell, the proprietor of Kema\u2019s Kreations, in her shop on Friday, July 17, 2026, in Albany, NY. (Jim Franco\/Times Union)<\/p>\n
Jim Franco\/Times Union<\/p>\n
Karen \u201cKema\u201d Maxwell | Kema\u2019s Kreations<\/p>\n
Kema\u2019s Kreations is known for one-of-a-kind accessories combining wood and leather. \u201cFashion is in my DNA,\u201d says Kema Maxwell, the brand\u2019s founder. From a young age, she was constantly exposed to fashion: a benefit of growing up in Brooklyn and having a seamstress mother.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
When she got her start in fashion, the industry was quite different from what it is today. \u201cBack then, you created what you wore or what other people wore,\u201d Maxwell said. \u201cYou got to learn to sew. You have to sit behind a machine. You got to put this together.\u201d Even now, she sews all of her accessories by hand.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A pocketbook made by Karen Maxwell, the proprietor of Kema\u2019s Kreations, at the shop on July 17 in Albany.<\/p>\n
Jim Franco\/Times Union<\/p>\n
Bags in particular stuck out to her because of how important they are to women and how damaging they can be for one\u2019s posture. And as for the unique incorporation of wood, Maxwell said, \u201cI have to figure out a different way to do the same thing but still love it.\u201d Adding wood to her leather creations allowed her to break up the monotony of stitching with woodworking.<\/p>\n
This unique approach to artistry has paid off: Maxwell\u2019s bags have been featured on the daytime drama \u201cGeneral Hospital\u201d and multiple iterations of New York Fashion Week. Her future appears even brighter, as Kema\u2019s Kreations was recently nominated for Best Accessories Collection at the Runway 7 Fashion Awards and will present at Los Angeles Fashion Week.<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
Amidst her success, she makes an effort to guide aspiring designers in Albany. She currently teaches at BOCES and ensures that her students obtain the sewing expertise and the industry knowledge necessary to pursue a career in fashion.<\/p>\n
Her mentee, Dicey Lewis, is effusive in her gratitude for Maxwell\u2019s instruction. \u201cGetting actual experience in the industry, I think it did help a lot of us understand it better and figure out what we want to do,\u201d she said. Lewis has just graduated from BOCES and will attend iAcademy in the Philippines this fall to obtain a Bachelor\u2019s in Fashion Design and Technology. Maxwell included one of her anime-inspired drawstring bags as part of a New York Fashion Week presentation.<\/p>\n
Maxwell uses her own upward trajectory to encourage Albany\u2019s next generation of fashion designers. \u201cPeople like (Dicey) need to see that common people like me can achieve these things so that they can believe, and not think that this role is outside of our reach,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Karen Maxwell, the proprietor of Kema\u2019s Kreations, in her shop on Friday, July 17, 2026, in Albany, NY. (Jim Franco\/Times Union)<\/p>\n
Jim Franco\/Times Union<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fashion designer Daniel Mozzes displays some of his creations on July 22 at his State Street studio in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":59194,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[12580,92,12581,157,30],"class_list":["post-59193","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-paris","tag-alco","tag-entertainment","tag-latestnews","tag-local","tag-paris"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59193","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59193"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59193\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59194"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59193"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59193"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59193"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}