Celebrating Women's History Month with Diandra of Shades Custom

To celebrate Women's History Month, we are featuring some of our favorite Versatile IT Girls, across all categories of work, starting off with Diandra Howell the Founder, creator, and force behind Shades Custom, a NYC Fashion power house. From every design to every stitch and every beading, Diandra uses her own expertise and creativity in collaboration with her clients imagery to create beautiful personalized pieces, to perfectly fit her clients.

Although her pieces are beautiful, her journey to get here is what caught our eye, here is our interview with Diandra, the pioneer of Shades Custom: 

1. What inspired you to start designing clothes and become a fashion designer ?

Attending the Kiddie Carnival as a young child and being around several family members that would sew at home, inspired me to gain more knowledge on this beautiful craft. Every end of the summer my parents would take me to the Kiddie Carnival in Brooklyn behind the Brooklyn Museum. I would anticipate to see variant colors mixed together in cretivate combinations with Bold Trims, Luscious Feathers and unique finishing accents. My paternal grandmother sewed a lot in Guyana along with her sister. My father gained some knowledge of the craft and that was later passed down to me and I've been sewing ever since.

2. What did your journey to begin look like?  

My first private sewing journey began as I would sew random pieces for family members around the house. One year later I attended Gramercy Arts High School majoring in Fashion Design. While I learned more advanced techniques such as draping, reading patterns and using industrial machines. Each year I would create pieces for the School's Annual Fashion Show. During my Junior Summer year, I put together a 10 piece fashion collection independently under my Fashion Brand SHADES. To follow, I completed about 4 fashion shows afterwards. During my senior year of Highschool I got accepted to SUNY Fashion Institute of Technology, where I majored in Fashion Design with a concentration in Intimate Apparel and a minor in Art History. I also studied Textile and Intimate Apparel at the Polytechnic School of Hong Kong as an exchange student. Throughout my journey in college I interned at a few textile companies where I got to explore different fabrications and uses for them. Having various techniques of designing under my belt I began sewing Swimwear under my Brand Shades Swim founded in 2016; the brand incorporated fun prints made by myself and techniques from my Intimate Apparel Degree. Also I designed Luxury Special Occasion Wear under my sub Brand Shades Custom. Shades Custom is a mix of foundation techniques from my Intimate Apparel Degree and knowledge of using different Textiles Fabrics to allow each silhouette to stand out.

3. How do you stay motivated and creative to continue to put out amazing dresses and clothes?. 

When I'm looking for inspiration I make time to visit the museum and just stare at different artwork. Also, I'll walk around the fabric stores and view some storefronts. I think to myself "What can I do with that fabric?", "That's a cool display". Then When I see a color story that catches my attention I build from there. 

4. If anyone is interested in becoming a fashion designer what are some tips that you would give them?

Always start off thinking about who you will design for? Where will they wear this look ?  How can my designs stand out from what's already on the market? I say those are three important questions because you always want to design with a purpose and to make a difference. Secondly, get out there and network, put yourself out there on Social Media as often as often as you can.

Looking on their Instagram page @shades.custom, you will see that every gown is made to perfection with beautiful fabrics, but behind every fabric, there is a story. This Women's History Month we celebrate Diandra and Shades Custom for being a creative and pioneering fashion designer and woman, who makes it all happen, while lifting up other women in the process with her designs and her story.