LADYBRILLEmag.com: You have mentioned Sophie Okonedo as one of the personalities whose style sense you enjoy, especially in “Hotel Rwanda.” With your globally informed fashion sense, what is your take on African fashions?
B.Michael: I think it epitomizes the richness of what fashion can be and by rich I mean in terms of color and textiles. I think it is the epitome of it, actually. If it did not exist in the world, then what has inspired many of us would not exist.
B. Michael needs no introduction. One of two African-American designers (Tracy Reese being the other) who shows at New York Fashion Week, the designer who has displayed his collections for the past five years during Fashion Week at venues outside of the infamous Bryant Park Tents surprised many when he returned to the tents this past February for Fall 2009.
The designer prepares for yet another showing at the tents this September/Spring 2010 but just before New York Fashion Week’s glitz and glamour, he makes a stop to the City by the Bay, San Francisco, for the 6th Annual Fashion on the Square (F.O.T.S) which takes place at the Intercontinental Hotel on July 25th, 2009 at 6:00pm. The designer took a break from his hectic schedule today to discuss his upcoming shows, Michelle Obama and the business of fashion with Ladybrille Magazine’s Uduak Oduok.
LADYBRILLEmag.com: Why did you decide to be involved in F.O.T.S this year?
B.MICHAEL: Well the fact that they decided this year to bring it indoors and the fact that it is at the Intercontinental Hotel and Y’nad (Burrell) who is the organizer really dotted her “I’s” and crossed her ‘T’s” in terms of her presentation to us, so we felt it was a good decision.
LADYBRILLEmag.com: That’s great that you are doing the event and really exciting for many here in the Bay.
B.MICHAEL: It is for us as well thank you.
LADYBRILLEmag.com: You got a degree in business, correct?
B.MICHAEL: Yes, accounting.
LADYBRILLEmag.com: What were you thinking because you ended up leaving Wall Street and going somewhere else!
B.MICHAEL: [Laughs] Yeah. You know it is sort of like the plan but not the passion. The plan is not the plan. It is all about passion.
LADYBRILLEmag.com: That is true and really the direction life leads you, you just never know.
B.MICHAEL: Right. I can’t imagine not being this.
LADYBRILLEmag.com: I can’t imagine it either. Very often I complain that there are a lot of men designing clothes for women but they don’t get a woman’s body and it is very frustrating. To see a male designer who really gets a woman’s body, that is really cool because it really shows in your designs.
B.MICHAEL: Thank you very much. I love hearing that. It is something I hear often and I am very happy (when) I hear that because that is really the whole point of it.
LADYBRILLEmag.com: You designed for Oscar De La Renta. What was that experience like?
B.MICHAEL: I designed specifically millinery, ladies hats, for Oscar. It was a wonderful experience for me. I respect Oscar very much and I loved every moment of the opportunity I got to work with him.
LADYBRILLEmag.com: In preparing for our interview, what was very interesting to me about you, among many things, is your global perspective on fashion. For example, your showings at Asia’s fashion weeks. Many designers do not necessarily think to expand beyond the shores of Europe and America. How did that come about for you?
B.MICHAEL: I have to say it is that global perspective. When I was invited originally by the organizers of Bejing Fashion Week to participate, I saw it as a window to a global (view) and that is really how that evolved.
LADYBRILLEmag.com: You have overtime done Bejing, Shanghai, Korea. How does that translate into your designs?
B.MICHAEL: Asia is interesting. (To Asians), I am not a Black designer in Asia. I am an American designer and so the experience is different. What I also found is that in Asia just by law of numbers, everything is on such a grander scale. So, the first time I showed there, I actually found the scale of it overwhelming. It was completely bigger than what we do in New York.
LADYBRILLEmag.com: Really, how is it different? Help us visualize it because for many, it doesn’t get any bigger than New York or Milan.
B.MICHAEL: But it is. For example, we had a press conference and I was thinking okay it will be several selected members from the press who will show up. But, when we opened the door, it was two hundred people from the press.
LADYBRILLEmag.com: How many?
B.MICHAEL: 200
LADYBRILLEmag.com: (laughs) Oh Whoa!
B.MICHAEL: Yeah so because of numbers, everything is grander.
LADYBRILLEmag.com (teasing): Did you have to answer questions from all 200?
B.MICHAEL: (laughs) No! (laughs)
LADYBRILLEmag.com: (laughing)
B.MICHAEL: That is just an example. The other point I enjoyed about Asia was the opportunity to work with their models. It was absolutely fabulous. I envision doing a show in New York using all Asian models.
LADYBRILLEmag.com: Really? You don’t see Asian models on European or American catwalks so to do like a Sean Combs aka Diddy parallel where he used all black models and instead have all Asian line up would be mind blowing!
B.MICHAEL: Absolutely. The guys are 6ft tall, the girls are all 5’ft 11.
LADYBRILLEmag.com: (interrupting) Get out of town!
B.MICHAEL: Yeah. You would be blown away.
LADYBRILLEmag.com: That is gorgeous. That would be gorgeous to watch, sensational . . . you should definitely do that!
B.MICHAEL: (laughs)
LADYBRILLEmag.com: [Y]ou are a guest lecturer at New York’s Fashion Institute of Technology. What do you predict and tell students is the direction of fashion when compared to ten years ago?
B.MICHAEL: I think fashion will always live and although we have the economy crisis alerts (and so forth) fashion will always live. It has survived the great depression, the wars. As a designer, you have to be true to yourself in terms of what it is that you are creating because that is gonna be what makes you unique. I think you have to be surrounded by people with good business savvy.
LADYBRILLEmag.com: Hmmm . . . .Very important.
B.MICHAEL: Yes very important. . . and also understand the politics of it all: when to give, when not to give, your flexibility (and so forth). I think those are the variables that would work for you.
LADYBRILLEmag.com: Will you be showing a Spring 2010 Collection this September?
B.MICHAEL: I am, I am.
LADYBRILLEmag.com: Yay!
B.MICHAEL: (laughs) Truth is I haven’t focused on it because we had this commitment but once we get back we will focus on what we will do for Spring 2010 in New York in September. But, there is already going to be a show lined up for that same collection in the Bahamas which is in November and one in Palm Beach also in November.
LADYBRILLEmag.com: For F.O.T.S what are you showing?
B.MICHAEL: For F.O.T.S, I am showing the Fall 2009 collection.
LADYBRILLEmag.com: That’s great because people get to actually touch and feel the clothes (up close and personal).
B.MICHAEL: Exactly.
LADYBRILLEmag.com: You are usually defined along the lines of the only black male designer to show at the tents. For Spring 2010, in light of an Obama era, how much of your cultural heritage will influence your designs.
B.MICHAEL: As a man of color it helps to know you will rise to the top in your industry. As an American designer, I think that in part what inspires me at this stage in my life is to make sure that that happens. . . that I leave a legacy and that legacy being that it was done and that it can be done . . that we offer a lifestyle that has nothing to do with everybody else’s perspective.
LADYBRILLEmag.com: For Spring what should we expect?
B.MICHAEL: (laughs) For Spring, you will definitely be on the list of one of those who will be told once I am ready to tell the story.
LADYBRILLEmag.com: (Great!) Your use of color is fabulous, I can’t wait and you are doing a fabulous job.
B.MICHAEL: Thank you. Thank you very much.
LADYBRILLEmag.com: One last question. When Michelle Obama received heat for not wearing a black designer for President Obama’s inauguration, you came to her defense and was all over the news. Can you expand on what that was all about?
B.MICHAEL: I think it is more an issue for me that the industry and the media are inclusive. I don’t the burden should be on any one person and particularly the First Lady to change what has been a practice in America. I did not receive a call from the press when Mrs. Bush was in the White House. So was I not expected as an American designer to dress Mrs. Bush?
LADYBRILLEmag.com: Well you could argue that you should have been called in the first place. It does not matter whether it is Michelle Obama or whomever. You have a proven track record and categorically are known as one of the best in the field so you should be on the list of designers to be called, regardless.
B.MICHAEL: That is my position. Exactly. That is my position. . . and so it is in and of itself telling when it is you are (Black)and she is (Black), (so) you should dress her.
LADYBRILLEmag.com: Yeah, yeah. It is sort of a catch 22. Yes people see color and approach you to offer you a great opportunity even though you’d prefer to be approached on the merits, but you take advantage of it to get your foot in the door and then hope they can see you are truly talented and go beyond skin color.
B.MICHAEL: Yeah, exactly. But, I am excited. I think the First Lady is a wonderful fashion ambassador for the First Lady and for the American fashion industry and I am excited and I think it is great.
LADYBRILLEmag.com: You have mentioned Sophie Okonedo as one of the personalities whose style sense you enjoy, especially in “Hotel Rwanda.” With your globally informed fashion sense, what is your take on African fashions?
B.Michael: I think it epitomizes the richness of what fashion can be and by rich I mean in terms of color and textiles. I think it is the epitome of it, actually. If it did not exist in the world, then what has inspired many of us would not exist.
~Article by Uduak Oduok
Founded in 2007, Ladybrille® Magazine is a California based pioneer digital publication demystifying the image of Africans in the west through contemporary African fashion and celebrating the brilliant woman in business and leadership, with an emphasis on the African woman in the diaspora. Our coverage includes stories on capital, access to markets, expertise, hiring and retention, sales, marketing, and promotions.
