Today we’d like to introduce you to Alisha Needham.
Alisha, please kick things off for us by telling us about yourself and your journey so far.
Growing up I wanted to be many things, some include a marine biologist, a veterinarian, a model and of course a fashion designer.
Throughout the years my career ambitions shifted frequently but I kept returning to fashion design and in high school I joined the fashion club/class. I enjoyed designing and seeing my designs on the runway in our school’s auditorium. However, after graduating from high school I wasn’t entirely sure that a career in the fashion industry is what I wanted, I found that my design style would not fit into the industry and I would have to creatively restrain myself if I wanted to work for another designer or brand.
Shortly after graduating I received an invite to assist a costume designer named Nikki Pelly on a film, the invite came from a purely by luck circumstance. Walking onto the movie set I knew this is what I wanted to do with my life, I decided then and there that my career would be a costumer in the film industry. This was the perfect career because my designs and style choices will help tell a story rather than just be an article of clothing on a rack in some store.
The following years I continued to periodically work on films, but as everyone knows the film industry is inconsistent with work so I also worked with a cleaning company that cleaned houses, and worked at a mall selling cell phone cases at a kiosk. Other than the occasional movie job, my life at this time was pretty dark, I slipped into a pain killer drug addiction, and had very little going for me. One night in March 2012 I had a weird epiphany about my life and destroyed my remaining pill supply and haven’t looked back, I quit my dead-end jobs and spent the next year reevaluating my life. I eventually decided that I needed to go to school and get a degree in fashion design because I felt it would help me get more movie jobs in the future, so I enrolled at the Art Institute in Orange County California.
While enrolled the fashion students were presented with the opportunity to show 3-4 designs in orange county fashion week as a part of their emerging designer showcase, and the top 5 designers would be invited to show a full line in the next fashion week. My collection for the emerging designer show was Avant Garde Couture, with models that were styled with antlers and a crown made of twigs.
I thought that my design style would not be well received since all other designer submissions were ready to wear, but I was one of five designers awarded with the chance to do another OC fashion week. Through OC fashion week an artist showcase called RAW, found me, and contacted me to do a fashion line for the fashion portion of the show, and again I decided to do an Avant Garde Couture collection with the help of two other designers Ashlee Vasquez and Cindy Khongle.
The collection was inspired by the 7 deadly sins and was the fashion stand out of the night (or so we were told by the show director). Through the next year I participated in 2 more Orange County fashion weeks, another RAW show, and started doing more wardrobe jobs in the film industry both as an assistant and the lead wardrobe. Six months before graduating from The Art Institute I received an invite to show a collection in London fashion week, which will be released on a London runway this year in September.
While studying at the art institute I found that I have a habit of designing for fictional characters that I make up in my mind, I envision a person and imagine what kind of life they have, and design based on this fictional individual, where as other designers tend to focus on target markets or future trends. In truth I hate the fashion industry… Kind of… I prefer fashion that is more personal and every design I create should help the wearer tell the world who they are or who they want to be. I view fashion as a costume, it helps the wearer outsmart the human eye and can transform the wearer into anyone they wish to be, or it can help a person tell the story of who they are.
Can you give our readers some background on your art?
I’m a costumer masquerading as a fashion designer or I might be a fashion designer moon lighting as a costumer. I don’t know which statement is true, but what I can tell you is one will always feed into the other. I use my costuming background to craft one of a kind fashion pieces for the characters I create in my mind, and I use my fashion design knowledge to bring modern or personalized style to my costume designs. I loathe designing for the masses as I find it takes the personalization out of fashion, true fashion caters to the individual and only then can a garment be truly unique.
Most of my designs are created with Avant Garde or Couture sewing techniques that involve a lot of hand stitching and embellishments and my biggest source of inspiration comes from the Victorian, Baroque, or Elizabethan eras.
How do you think about success, as an artist, and what do quality do you feel is most helpful?
I define success based on whether or not you achieve your personal goals, I will consider myself successful when I win a Oscar for Costume Design, which I believe will happen in the year 2034 or 2035 (I don’t know why those years I just have a sense that one of these years will be my Oscar winning year) I will also need to see my designs on red carpets and prestigious parties to be successful in my mind.
I find that when you continually mentally visualize yourself achieving a goal you subconsciously make decisions that will help you succeed or at the very least point you in the right direction. For me, I often find myself practicing my Oscar winning acceptance speech, and yes I sometimes “yell” at the orchestra for trying to cut me off with music.
What’s the best way for someone to check out your work and provide support?
I can be found on Facebook, Instagram or my website. Support is always welcome, and more info on how you can support my fashion endeavors is on my website.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://alishaneedham.wixsite.com/alisha
- Phone: 9515338793
- Email: Alishashere2@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/silk.and.leather/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Chiffon.and.Spikes/
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Image Credit:
Horse photos- Rubie Lafountaine, Carla Nicholson
Girl with long-ish pink dress- Carissa Satchell
long greyish blue dress- Kat Sheridan
group photo- (left to right) Carla Nicholson, Kat Sheridan, Kathy Marino (OC fashion Week Producer), Lachelle, Samantha Heart, Juliana Giles, Tiffany Brevard.
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