At the age of 14, I started my own fashion brand: Daej. When I was in the eighth grade, my mom bought me my very own sewing machine for Christmas; I used my gift to teach myself how to sew. My first fashion show was held at Nola Spaces in New Orleans during the summer of my freshman school year at Isidore Newman School. My next showcase was Fashion Week New Orleans—early summer of 2016--where I was the youngest person to participate in the Battle of the Decades fashion show. I remember watching television when I was eight years old, staring intently at the designer labels and products representing the fashion houses of Paris. However, I hadn’t imagined that by the late summer of 2016, I would have won the opportunity to travel to Paris, let alone to study fashion with local Parisian designer, Pierre Antoine. I entered and won a spot in the Oxbridge Summer Program, and was off to Paris alone!

Through the fashion class, I met former Christian Dior senior designer, Emily, and fashion designer, Romain Brau. As a fashion class, we took a trip to a fabric and thrift store, and were given an assignment to upcycle a piece of clothing and add to it with newly found fabric.  Instead of creating one piece, I hand sewed a bathing suit and added patches to an old thrift store jacket. Then, as a class, we organized a fashion show. Before I left New Orleans, I had packed a two-piece cover-up set that I created from upcycling an old nightgown from the 80s. I was not even sure why I had packed it. During some free time in Paris, I remembered this garment and used it as a wardrobe to create my very first photoshoot in Luxembourg Gardens.

After leaving Paris, I was inspired to create my third swimwear collection, which will debut at my third fashion show this summer. I have had many photoshoots with local models here in the city of New Orleans and have hosted multiple casting calls to meet new models. Last year, I launched an extensive website featuring my sunglasses and swimwear collection where customers are able to purchase their own Daej, an events page to update my followers, and my lifestyle fashion blog. I started blogging for the school newspaper at Newman last year, which led me to want to further my blogging skills for my very own website.

Though still a junior in high school, it was beginning to dawn on me that my stubbornness about the perils of combing art and commerce might be a detriment. I loved the haute couture of Paris and felt connected to the spirit of design, but I also wanted to learn what people wanted to wear. I began to feel more like an entrepreneur. I reached out to local businesses like Glitter Box Nola in the French Quarter, to see about selling my Zodiac Lip Gloss Collection. I’m humbled to see that my lip gloss inventory is now almost sold out at Glitter Box.

SOCIAL MEDIA:

Twitter: @daaeej  (Owner) & @daejlifestyle (Business)

Instagram: _daaeej (Owner) & @thedaejlifestyle (Business)