Local Fashion Designer Alishia Lee Shares Her Passion for Style

OCCUPATION: “By day, I am a senior recruiter for a freight brokerage company, and by night, I do all things fashion.”

STYLE: “I like to go for the ‘OK!’ Even if it’s in a hoodie and some distressed jeans—this is a lowercase ‘ok.’ We’re casual today.”

“All things fashion.” What does that entail?

I am the vice chair of the Black Design Collective’s Midwest Chapter. Me By Lee is my boutique brand and my custom brand, and recently, I launched Luxe and Long, a full-figured brand. I do fashion shows and fashion presentations, wardrobe, costuming. Anything that has to do with making people feel awesome and telling their story through fashion.

How did you get into costume designing?

Spoken word and acting was something I did in high school and college. I joined the Black Cinema Collective, and I would get chosen to write or be a part of these independent short films, and they’d tell me, “Your character’s gonna wear XYZ.” And I was like, “OK, cool. I can thrift it. I can make it.” Making clothes for other people became part of my identity.

You also mentioned Luxe and Long clothing line.

I make sure my runway is diverse—I want full-figured models, I want petite models. When I would dress a full-figured woman, I kept seeing the elation they would feel. They haven’t been dressed in this pattern, or this color hasn’t fit that way before. I started to research how clothes are made. A lot of fast fashion brands that are supposed to be size-inclusive will take the pattern from their sample size and scale it up. But that doesn’t take [proportion] into account. I’m a busty woman, so a cup that’s [small], you can blow it up, and it’s still not gonna fit my boob. Thin spaghetti straps might be great for a size 6 model, but for a size 20, I need something thicker.

What’s your favorite thing in your closet?

It’s a long, pink, Ankara duster. Ankara is African-print fabric. When I got started, I used a lot of African print.