By Arianna Johnson
Every month the Panther highlights students who do not come to play in the fashion department. CAU is known for being one of the most stylish campuses in the HBCU world. In honor of homecoming coming to a close, Panther staff wanted to showcase two stylish students. The first being Dacia Redmond, a graduating senior Fashion Merchandising major.
Redmond is always booked and busy, but manages to look good doing it. Her accolades are vast, including being a 2021 Fashion Scholarship Fund Virgil Abloh “Post-Modern” Scholar award recipient, as well as being among the second generation of the Black Talent in Fashion and Design fund award recipients. Her involvement on campus includes serving as the Social Action/Political Awareness & Involvement co-chair and the Technology co-chair for the PearlBearing Sigma Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.
Q: When did you realize you had an eye for fashion?
A: Since I was a child. I actually have always believed I would be in the
fashion industry in some shape or form. I started out with dreams of being the
Black woman version of Christian Louboutin, and then started playing sports
more heavily and had less time to sit and sew. So, my mom introduced me to
the merchandising side of the fashion industry, and I haven’t looked back
since.
Q: You’ve had the opportunity to work with Urban Outfitters. Can you describe that experience and if it helped elevate your style?
A: My double internship with Urban Outfitters this summer was everything and more! I had the opportunity to be completely immersed in the culture of what it’s like to work in the fashion industry. Everything from daily meetings, velocity reports, vendor relationships and more made me love going to work every day. I learned so much at Urban and they placed me at tables I didn’t even think I belonged at. This is true so much to the point that I left my internship this summer with two exclusive collaborations dropping at the end of this year. As far as my style, Urban allowed me to flourish and come into my own being more. The work environment was very “come as you are” and everyone was so different. I worked in the men’s department, which is really where the majority of my style derives from. So, being able to pull inspiration from the place I work every day definitely helped me expand my style.
Q: You also won a scholarship for your case study on plus size fashion. How are plus size people treated differently in the fashion industry?
A: My biggest goal in life is to ensure I use my platform in the industry to
further inclusion and representation of all areas into the fashion industry.
Growing up, representation was important for me. Little things like the skin
color of the dolls my mom bought me to play with made a difference in how I
saw myself every day. For plus size men and women, representation in the
industry in everything from marketing to models makes a major difference in
how beautiful they feel. The fashion industry serves as an outlet to make its
consumers feel and look their best. If the quality of the garments is less than
that of straight sizes, the industry fails a portion of its consumers. Beyond the
money, plus size consumers are shown little to no love in the majority of the
larger name stores we think about today. Everything down to the small things
like verbiage plays a part in the poor treatment of plus size men and women.
The fashion industry has allowed societal stigmas against plus size men and
women to leak into the business causing the lack of attention and dedication
to ensuring the plus size department is equal to that of the straight size
departments.
Q: How would you describe your style to someone in three words? How has it developed over the years?
A: This is a hard one. Nonconformist, Authentic, Polished. My style has
always been very specific to me. As I got older, I started pulling more
inspiration from people like Teyana Taylor, Dwayne Bacon, Russell
Westbrook, TheNotoriousKia and some of the drippiest brothers and sisters
in the AUC. The evolution has really allowed me to become more comfortable
in my edgy, sporty, semi cross-dressing style. I was always the girl into
sneakers, hats, outerwear, jerseys, etc. With trial and error, I’ve learned how to
dress the outfit up or down: sneakers or heels, and oftentimes adding a blazer
as the finishing touch (it seems to be my signature piece).
Q: What does style vs fashion mean to you?
A: As a fashion major, I actually get this question a lot. Fashion is what’s
trendy, new and hot in the world. Style is taking what’s new at the time, but
still incorporating old trends. For a person to have style, they are expressing
their individual personality through their clothes. Style should be unique to
each person. You can teach fashion, but you cannot teach style (you can only
inspire style).
Q: Do you have any future plans/endeavors that you’d like to share?
A: As mentioned earlier, stay tuned for the UO Summer Class of ’21
collaboration with Urban Outfitters x 3 HBCUs. The release is coming soon!
As far as me, just keep watching! There’s so much more in store!
Don't forget to follow Redmond on all her socials: Twitter @RedmondDacia and Instagram @theleoraisedme.