You might as well say, “Thou shall not wear the same thing twice and thou shall not been seen in the same outfit as another sister.”
Women hardly ever wear the same thing twice – pocketbook permitting of course – and wearing something that another sister is wearing is like the 11th commandment.
Even brothers loathe appearing at a mutual spot in the same gear as another brother. Wearing the same thing twice? Hey, we got our favorites, and it has nothing to do with our wallets.
“It’s personal,” and it should be – no matter your style, says Yani Co. co-founder and designer J. W. Moore.
Like people who find wearing the same thing (twice or same as someone else) a cardinal sin, J.W. Moore refuses to have models flaunt one of her design twice.
That means that her designs that hit the catwalk last year at her highly acclaimed inaugural St. Louis Runway fashion show won’t get a strut this year.
“I can’t show them again,” says J.W. Moore, whose aspirations in the fashion industry forsake mass production.
“I’m a personal person, I can’t make clothes for everyone – I want you to be able to feel me,” J.W. Moore says, asserting, “I want their jeans to fit like they were made for them.”
J.W. Moore’s fashion religion will be on display when she and her husband, Jarred Moore, sets off St. Louis Runway II.
The show gets stepping at 7 p.m., Sunday, Nov. 11 at Bevo Mill, 4749 Gravois at Morganford.
It starts with a pre-show at 5:30 p.m. with the sounds of local singer Seviin, a silent art, product and service auction (part of the proceeds go to the AIDS Foundation of St. Louis. A gift bag reception immediately follows the show.
Last year, some proceeds went to victims of power outages from a storm that devastated thousands of local residents.
J.W. Moore has also summoned retailer consultants, modeling agencies and the like to give a helping hand to others in the fashion industry.
“I want to give as much as I can,” said J.W. Moore who has already handpicked a charity for next year’s fashion show.
While the impassioned fashion designer loves giving, she’s not taking advantage of the fact that she’s the sister of famed St. Lunatics rappers Kyjuan and Murphy Lee.
“That’s not a route I want to take – I feel like I can be successful on my own,” J.W. Moore said. She acknowledges respect and support from her brothers, who have sported her outfits at red carpet appearances.
“If it’s meant, it will happen,” she said.
Success for J.W. Moore isn’t measured by money or fame.
In fact, her husband and brothers have told her to get out more, but she’d rather be home – or anywhere (she has done it on a bus to Chi-town, on a curb in New York waiting to be seen) – designing.
And not sewing. She’s trying to get away from that part.
“I’m sick,” says J.W. Moore, “if I ain’t creating.”
So her hubby hits the streets promoting. He also does graphics for the couple’s graphic T-shirt line, which is for everybody, which is cool with J.W. Moore as long as her personal designs remain personal.
J.W. Moore’s pieces have won contests and awards, including a first place prize on Rip The Runway.
Aside from her own designs, J.W. Moore has done work for Yomi when he first got Vokal off the ground. She designs outfits for a lot of models often looking for creative and individual looks.
“She looks at a person’s individual style and matches it,” said her husband, who has learned to keep quiet until she completes her work because in the end it all makes sense.
He describes her as personable, down-to-earth.
“She embraces and respects people for who they are, and she has given me the opportunity to know her and work with her,” her husband said.
The self-taught J.W. Moore has been designing and sewing since high school. She recalls failing a home economics class because she wanted to make clothes instead of teddy bears.
One year she made her own homecoming dress out of a tablecloth.
After high school, she braided hair, but after clients kept complaining about inexact fits in their clothing, she was bitten severely by the fashion bug and soon started Yani Co. in 2001.
“I love her clothes and she knows how to make them fit,” said Cerise Cohee, whom J.W. Moore designed a theatre costume for.
“The only thing far-fetched is what you won’t go and fetch,” says J.W. Moore.
For tickets to St. Louis Runway II, call 743-4268.
