“font-family: Verdana;”>“I’m so overwhelmed I really haven’t been to sleep since Thursday,” said LaHa clothing creator and designer Lillian Jones. “I have so many thoughts in my head. We are from
have to put my best foot forward because I’m representing my city
as well.”
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Jones found out on Thursday that she and her line would be representing St. Louis style at LA Fashion Week in March, and she is lining up designs and rehearsals to leave a lasting impression on the industry.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>And she will be doing so in a special way by sticking to her trademark of designing for children.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”> “It’s going to be glamour from all aspects – the furs, the leather, the sequence,” Jones said when describing her designs. “It just has to be formed in a childlike manner so that the child doesn’t look grown – and in a way that’s something they have never seen before.”
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>She applied for the show last year and was looking forward to the opportunity, but it wasn’t meant to be.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>“It wasn’t my time then,” Jones said.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>In her opinion, the idea of a children’s line out of St. Louis with young inexperienced models was an instant turnoff – but this year, she sent a tape. And LA Fashion Week organizers saw what the St. Louis fashion scene has known for several years now – that LaHa’s pint-sized models can strut with a fierceness of a seasoned supermodel.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>“For me, it’s a big stepping stone because I’m going from here to there and it’s unheard of,” Jones said.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Jones is relatively new to the fashion industry as a designer, but she had been modeling since adolescence.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>She created her first garment for Nelly’s inaugural Black and White Ball in 2005 and did designs for her daughter. Then a request by the popular Face Off fashion show co-presented by Sherrell Hall and the late Shawn Williams (of Eyekon Clothing) in 2007 changed the course of her passion.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Hall and Williams decided to incorporate children into the show, and Jones was asked to teach them how to walk a runway. She trained six girls for weeks, but when it came time for them to get the clothes that they were going to model, the boutiques that had promised to provide the clothes did not come through.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Instead of breaking the hearts of the young people, Hall and Williams suggested that Jones design the clothes – something she had never done on that level.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>“They were like, ‘You can do it,’ and they walked away,” Jones said. “Sometimes it takes someone else to show you what you are capable of and what your strengths are.”
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>It was all she could do to keep from breaking down when she reflected on their confidence in her ability to design her first collection. “I thank them for doing that,” Jones said. “They said, ‘Unless you are going to tell the kids they are not going to be in the show, then do it.’ And I am so grateful to them for that.”
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>She teamed up with seamstress Lydia Merritt and made it happen. Then her participation in local shows continued and culminated with her own “Winter Wonderland” show in 2010.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>After the success of her first full show, she decided it was time to go national by submitting to BET for Rip the Runway and to LA Fashion Week. She continued to train young people in runway walking in the meantime.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Her skills led LA Fashion Week to request that she bring her girls with her to wear her designs, so eight girls ages 7-13 from St. Louis will be along for the ride.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>“They will walk alongside those adult models and carry themselves just as businesslike and professional as the rest of them,” Jones said.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Just the idea of going from gluing rhinestones on Chuck Taylors for her daughter to her designs being center stage in L.A. inspired her to thank God for the unlikely ascent.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>“I feel like I’m a walking testimony,” Jones said.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>“I’m 41 years old and I’ve never been to design school. My two grandmothers and my mother all instilled in me that anything you want in life you have to try. If the door is shut, knock at it again … and again … and again.”
