At a fitting for the fall showcase of DC Fashion week, I met Angel DuBose for the first time. She was working with a smile on her face after selecting her models to walk in the September show. Beside her was her daughter Jamorra Monae DuBose Morris, the namesake for her brand and her unwavering aide in the hectic pinning, fitting and marking of fabrics.
After the casting walk, the room burst into chaos. Designers were wielding clothing racks, suitcases, hat boxes and accessories flailing around trying to find their designated spots to attend to their models. Interns, myself included were frantic! For many of us this was our first exposure to life behind the scenes of the runway.
The turnaround was quick. One minute, models were practicing their walks; the next, they were giving out measurements and squeezing into dresses. A calmness came over DuBose as she meticulously organized Ziploc gallon bags for the looks in her collection. A little less chaotic than the rest, DuBose happily fit her models and placed their stat sheets with their looks for the September show.
Down to the second-hand shoes that made the “looks” feel like something out of a 2000s chick flick, DuBose was meticulous about every model’s potential to rock the runway in her collection.
Her collection focused on accessorizing her models with micro skirts worn as belts in funky patterns. Vibrant colors would become a crowd favorite at this opportunity for her work to be displayed at a local fashion show of this scale.
Growing up in Queens, New York, DuBose has always had a love for fashion. It’s a generational tradition hailing from her grandmother and mother, “My mother was a fashion designer…she taught me at age five how to sew.” From a very early age DuBose was constantly creating, drawing on the legacy of the women in her family that came before her, “she would make my clothing,” DuBose reminisced on her mother’s impact on her upbringing. “That is what first drew me to fashion.”
Today, everything DuBose does in her brand is reflective of that family tradition, “It’s about the daughter coming into herself, a woman coming into herself, believing that any room she walks in, she will be welcomed.” Including DuBose’s daughters in her brand mirrors her own upbringing, and her dedication to female lineage is seen even through her stylistic choices.
DuBose sat down with me on a Friday afternoon in Gaithersburg Maryland, where she recently moved – a big adjustment from the hustle and bustle of New York City. DuBose shuffled through her large leather shoulder bag, retrieving a framed photograph, her laptop and a page of notes.
The photo, from a 1995 pool party, sat on the table in front of us, an impromptu summer fashion show that looked like it was straight out of Sports Illustrated in its golden era. Tall models were dressed in bikinis that resembled the decade. The photo, taken on what appeared to be a film camera served as a visual archive for DuBose’s love of fashion and design.
Although her life had been defined by creating from such an early age, DuBose became more serious about her designs in high school when her girlfriends – impressed by her work – said they would pay her to do their hair and create pieces for them. DuBose’s talent would lead to her creation of Monae Amour. “You would pay me?” That realization hit after her friends’ compliments. “And that’s how I began to know the difference of having a talent that people would pay for.”
Over the years Monae Amour has taken on many forms. As Angel’s personal style reinvents itself and trends come and go, the work of DuBose’s’ lifetime kept her afloat. “I never thought about giving up, there were definitely moments of stop and go,” she said about her journey creating her label.
“When you take a step back and come back, it’s like reuniting with what happened.” Fashion, like any other art form, is not linear. It is constantly evolving, and in an area like the DMV that is not as fashion forward as other places in the country, the need for someone to set the precedent is always there, especially for DuBose. “New York is fashion…DC is not, you don’t see anyone with big rim hats on…now everything can stand out,” she said.
What sets DuBose apart from other designers is her careful attention to the dichotomy between the trend reliant fashion industry and individuality. “Fashion is about trend; it doesn’t really promote individuality,” she said.
Monae Amour is all about individuality while keeping up with current trends. As someone who loves accessories, DuBose homed in on the way accessorizing can reimagine an outfit. “You can wear anything, but when you have something that makes the outfit pop, that makes the difference.”
Her design process comes naturally to her; starting from a piece of fabric, DuBose can imagine its potential. “I would look at a piece of fabric, and I would see what it’s going to be.” And from idea to finished product, DuBose is constantly tweaking her work to ensure it is perfect.
Although her vision is clear for her brand, navigating the fashion industry is difficult to break into without connections or capital. Starting small isn’t a bad thing, it makes the tiny victories that much bigger. “As a small designer, trying to get your name out there, that made it even more challenging.”
As an independent designer she is taking on many roles within her brand. “It’s the marketing, the branding, the PR, the designing…and the building,” she said. “If you have one person trying to do all these things, it’s very challenging.”
That’s where DuBose leans on the help of her daughters. They are not only the namesake of Monae Amour, but they are active participants behind the scenes that are helping to build her brand.
The journey has come full circle, from learning to sew at her mother’s side to now creating alongside her daughters. A foundation that shaped her early love for fashion continues to guide her work today. Reflecting on the whirlwind of a career it has been so far, DuBose described it simply: “And the best is yet to come.”
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Featured images/photos courtesy of Angel DuBose and monaeamour.com.