Kamaria Ellis
Fashion Designer
about me.
Kamaria Ellis is attending Columbus College of Art and Design studying fashion Design and minoring in Business Management. Currently, she's building her portfolio in hopes of attending schools abroad to better understand the industry and travel the world. She is a confident and motivated designer that is constantly making a statement. Kamaria has a driven attitude toward her career and a creative flair that makes her work stand out from others. She is currently co-writing with a blog called EastXMidwest with three of her closest friends. The blog is about four different views of the world of fashion, inspiration, and style. Each girl is responsible for their own post and creative direction.
Portfolio.
Artist Statement
I believe that every design should make a statement but the customer should still shine through. My designs are based on women wanting fashionable clothing that will help improve their confidence in a society that constantly destroys it every day. Through the heartache of most women in today's world, I design to improve that hurt of the self-doubt of women and that push to feel confident is where my creative takes form. So, my designs express a women's desire to be beautiful, confident, courageous and comfortable. My work also brings a New York feel that translates to a woman who is powerful and wants to be. I work with icon silhouettes and a few modern silhouettes that shape my designs every day.
Moodboard based on museum inspiration.
Illustration for a window display that I had to create.
Using Paper to understand different structures.
Oscar Themed moodboard to for Julianne Moore.
Illustrations for my moodboard for Dark Romance.
Lingerie Illustrations inspired be a song by Big Sean.
Based on bright colors and experimenting with digital painting.
Construction project for learning.
Gender neutral clothing inspired by Venice.
Taking old materials and making them into a wearable garment.
Floral corset that is based on the Elizabethan Period.
Manifesto.
The Battle for The Industry
Men VS. Women
By Kamaria Ellis
“Men must be incapable of understanding the female figure.” This is what I thought as a child growing up with no real understanding of the fashion industry. NOW, I'm more aware of the struggle that women go through to make their mark in the industry. Even with the possibility of the United States having a Female president in 2016, Should there be a reason that women are still fighting for their place in the industry?
Karl Lagerfeld, Christopher Bailey, Olivier Rousteing, Riccardo Tisci, and Alexander Wang are men that are creative directors of some of the most influential brands in the world. They’re creating top of the line designer clothing that every woman wants today and there lies the problem that our industry is having. MEN design for WOMEN but there are few WOMEN insight leading the industry like men.
Look at Karl Lagerfeld for an example. He’s the creative director for Chanel, a COMPANY that originally started with a female designer. Coco Chanel changed the world for women in her time. By freeing women from corsets and creating new silhouettes that are still used today.
Another example is Jenna Lyons is a Great designer that has turned the J. Crew brand from boring to high fashion and is credited with bringing the brand back from the brink. But, she is not the head the company. Millard Drexler serves as CEO and chairman of the board.
We should empower WOMEN in the fashion industry to take back an industry that is already geared towards women. There should be no reason MEN make decisions or control the world we live in. There are already amazing strides in empowering women in London. In London fashion week there will be 77 FEMALE DESIGNERS. There are supporting business women, partners in brands, AND creative directors working behind brand names. So, if London can do it, why not The United States?
I believe that a solution is to create a brand that will ONLY cater to WOMEN designers and help them grow into. The same brand will HELP other women who are trying to create and jump start their own brands and give them a PLATFORM to build off of.