Welcome to the Edwing D'Angelo Foundation
Why Me
Why Me?
My Origins
From rags to better rags…
As a child back in my native Buenaventura, Colombia. I best replica watches site dreamed of being in New York City and working in the fashion industry. Note: at that time, there was never an idea that my family, one day, was going to move to New York City. I literally daydreamed about the things that I was doing today when I was a child, particularly the fashion shows. Some of my collection concepts are the realization of my childhood imagination. replica uhren kaufen My humble beginnings started in the neighborhood of Independencia, at the time, I didn’t realize how poor we were. All I knew was that my maternal home, was a safe place, with its rudimentary concrete built in a small farm-size lot which provided us some great trees planted by my grandmother, a brook La Chamba that was turned into a dumping site due to lack of garbage collection and a brilliant open grass meadow carefully watches replica maintained by my grandfather. My grandmother was an amazing cook of everything AfroColombian cuisine, out of nothing, she would make the most amazing dishes.
My mother was a single mother of three with no education but a beautiful figure and stunning face, she realized at a young age, that she was not going to be able to provide for us, would she had stayed with us. She made the painful decision to leave me and my 2 siblings under the care of my reluctant grandmother, quiet grandfather, and 3 young uncles. As I remember now it was probably the most painful thing that I have felt in my life, being separated from my mother.
Things turned sour really quick after her departure, my siblings and I sustained, what I now know was physical and emotional child abuse, under the auspice of our 3 uncles, we were beaten by pretty much anything. Looking in retrospect, it was basically children raising children. My beloved grandparents were pretty much absent for the most part of our days.
On a more positive note, my mother’s support from abroad started changing our financial outlook. We were lifted out of extreme poverty, and things could have worked out better but her money transfers were mismanaged as a result of, what I now understand, was financial illiteracy. My grandma was terrible at managing finances toppled by a big gambling addiction. Which caused terrible confrontations between my mother and her every time accounting was conducted. My mom was exhausted of this endless cycle and she ended up building her home. A fabulous home by Buenaventura standards then. Eventually, everyone moved there, same problems continued but at least we had a better home.
My education also improved by being able to attend one of the best schools in town, El Seminario San Buenaventura, which I believe to this day was the best thing that could have happened to me. The academic formation by those priests was the foundation for what I strongly believe built my character, my love for learning and provided me with a solid understanding of the world around me. Yet, it was my first lesson on racism, colorism, and class differences. A seminary that was founded with the vision to form local priests, turned out to be the preferential school for the well-to-do kids in town. Again, the only reason I was there was for the mighty dollar my mom was able to send for my education. Yet, I didn’t disappoint her, I turned out to be one of the best students in my class, every semester being the Valedictorian and Salutatorian. My mom’s biggest pride. Eventually, mom decided to bring the whole family to USA, cutting short my desire to graduate from high school in Buenaventura, but what I learned there would serve well for the rest of my life.
The American Dream
A Cultural Shock
The skyscrapers, the ostensibly well-dressed people in glossy magazines, everything being perfect were few of my expectations on my way to the States. I had high hopes for everything American – I was ready to meet the golden city at the mountaintop. On Thanksgiving day of 1988, I arrived at this metropolis called New York City. My mom and my step-father had settled in one one-bedroom apartment in Elmhurst, Queens. My youngest sister, whom I met for the first time, was a toddler. It was 7 of us living in a cramped apartment. There was no longer the luxury of my own bedroom in a spacious home and being placed in a public school called Newtown High School – there was no longer the polished uniform, the serenity of the seminary, its elitist costums, ecclesiastical aesthetics, and its rigorous school curriculum to an all war at this new reality of education. The school was violent, it was rude, substandard education and every man for himself. On the first few months of my arrival there, this kid didn’t like where I was sitting at the cafeteria during lunch period and he broke my nose with a unexpected punch to my face – I didn’t see it coming. I was disappointed with what I saw and experienced.
This situation caused me to withdraw and become rebellious at home. I was unhappy and all I could think had to get out of this unwanted situation. I was quickly promoted through high school getting an early diploma. Upon my graduation from college, I was at a crossroads between my parents’ wishes for me to go to law school and my overwhelming desire to become a fashion designer. I worked full-time as a paralegal while in college, however, I moonlighted in the outskirts of fashion. All my friends were somehow in fashion, photographers, makeup artists, hairstylists, etc. I didn’t miss any opportunity to be around their work and I used to make pieces of garments and bring them to their photoshoots, they were always selected and shot, it started to build my confidence, My sister’s prom came about, she had always seen me designing and making garments, she asked me to do her prom dress. I was so excited that I made it months in advance and her friends saw it and I ended up making 32 gowns. They all loved them and that’s when I finally knew that it was my calling to make fashion my career. To this day, prom is my largest and most profitable annual season. I make anywhere from 150 to 250 custom-made gowns and suits. I look forward to increasing those numbers by 35% in the next three seasons.
I started looking for jobs in the fashion industry, but due to a lack of experience in the industry, they only offered me entry-level positions. I was already making good money as a paralegal and I had financial obligations that an entry-level position would not cover. I decided to do it on my own. I worked for 2 more years in 2 different jobs as a paralegal and saved $150,000. With my financial goal achieved, I opened a shop on 125th Street and Broadway in Harlem. I moved to an apartment above the shop and turned the living quarters into my sampleroom. I did well there for 2 years, but the location was not ideal. I wanted more. I moved to 125th Street and 5th Avenue. It is important to note that during my tenure in Harlem, I was invited to participate in Harlem Fashion Week. It was my presentation at this event that marked the beginning of my press kit, I was mentioned on WWD, NY Post, and local TV networks, Despite the collections being well received and developing a strong following in Harlem and meeting some influencers and fashion mavericks, I was not satisfied, I wanted more. I ended up opening my first showroom on 588 Broadway in SoHo a few years later. I met an upcoming violinist artist named Meri Ben-Ari, she loved my collection and she asked me to dress her for some of her events. I was happy to do that. An opportunity came up for her to star in the Pepsi commercial for the Superbowl, she asked me to design her garments and to go with her to LA to shoot the commercial. I took the opportunity and left with her to LA. One night after a long day of shooting, I took the elevator at the Four Seasons Hotel LA with Miss Patti Labelle and her makeup artist, she was kind and we spoke briefly, she asked me what I did and I told her, she said she would love to see my work and I exchanged information with her makeup artist to follow up. That following season FW08, after making some garments for her, Miss Patti agreed to attend my first formal fashion show as my attendee of honor at the National Arts Club in Gramercy Park. Because of her attendance and the venue, I secured my first sponsorship with Ahneuser-Busch. The event was a success and a media frenzy. I marked this event as my second media break. At this point, I started selling wholesale to small boutiques around the country and Mexico. I had 90 doors at one point.
In 2008, things were great and I opened my ground-level boutique at 65 Bleecker Street. I was selling to socialites, and fashionistas and dressing some of the hottest celebrities at the time. Suddenly, the great recession occurred. While I was able to maintain, there was a seismic change in the industry, and the sales dried up. I fought through it but the collective space at 65 Bleecker Street eventually shut down. In 2011, I opened a new space at Limelight Shops. It was an amazing space and the talk of town. I did very well there amid the economic crisis. Tyra Banks came to the shop, loved it and commissioned me to design her wardrobe for ANTM All-Stars season 12, the shop was featured on the high rating reality TV shows, and other celebrities followed Nick Cannon, Angela Simmons, NFL/NBA athletes, Melba Moore, among others. However, some of the other shops did not fare well and there needed to be better management in the overall direction of the mall. Limelight Shops was sold and the shops were closed. The boutiques that I was selling to started closing as well due to the recession, the beginning of online sales was taking hold of the market.
The Rebound
In 2015, I decided to scale back and regroup, while maintaining an active presence during NYFW seasonal presentations, social media, celebrity product placement, and a more gentile private custom-made only Atelier. An interview happened with a Colombian reporter, Divalizette Torres, who formally introduced me to the Colombian audience as a Colombian-born NYC-based fashion designer, it was an epiphany. In 2016, I was invited to Colombia into a media frenzy, by journalist and philanthropist Daniel Mera, my story struck a chord with how an AfroColombian could have achieved what I have in New York CIty. For context, the fifteen million AfroColombians in Colombia are for the most part excluded and marginalized from upper mobility in Colombian society, so my story in Colombia would have been near impossible. That resonated with a new initiative in the South American nation called SOMOS COLOR, which I am now an ambassador, for the Uplifting, Empowerment, Inclusion and Social Mobility of the Afro-Colombian community (This national initiative is supported by USAID, Colombian government and Colombia’s Fortune 500).
I have since been invited to open their fashion week – Colombiamoda (which is the largest tradeshow in Latin America) in Medellin, Colombia and to partake into the developing nation’s rapid fashion manufacturing hub. I have since then, presented four times in different cities throughout the country.
That exposure in Latin America has led to my runway shows and collections reachingto reach an international level including shows, from 2017 throughthru 2019, in Egypt, Mexico, Bolivia, Panama, Jamaica, St. Lucia, the British Virgin Islands, the Dominican Republic and Spain. In turn, I have developed an extraordinary network and access to manufacturers, raw material providers, international media and clientele. I am now a NYC must-stop for Latin ambassadors’ wives, dignitaries and Latin big wigs and celebrities when they are visiting the city.
But most importantly, I have found a new purpose in my fashion career since then, while I thought that I was living my dream here in NYC, with all its successes, trial and tribulations, there were/are millions throughout the world in the African Diaspora, particularly AfroColombians, rooting for me to make it, sort of my success is their success. I have accepted that responsibility and that new sense of purpose has allowed me to calibrate a new path forward. I am working with Colombia’s Ministry of Culture, to create a school of fine arts in my hometown of Buenaventura (which is 80% black). Every step that I take has to be with the reminder that I am trailblazing the path for others to follow directly or indirectly.
I have currently outgrown my set up of separate showroom and sampleroom spaces. I am in the process of reopening and consolidating a new luxurious ground-level Atelier/sampleroom/boutique here in my neighborhood of Harlem by September 2020. I am calling it a community space. I will utilize the space to give opportunities, free of charge, to two up and coming designers of color by giving a rack to each to sell their collections. Guest designers will rotate every two months, the guest designers will be able to utilize the space to meet their clients, use my sampleroom and mentor them as well. One of the windows’ displays will be exclusively dedicated to them with their names on it. As far as my own business is concerned, I will be launching my own men’s underwear line which was scheduled to launch this spring 2020, but the pandemic has delayed that. The manufacturer in Colombia had to stop production. The underwear will be sold via e-commerce through our website (which is being revamped), Atelier/boutique and some men’s boutiques around the city and other cities who may carter to our same market. There are other staples of the collections which will also be sold via e-commerce. As I increase my wholesale manufacturing capabilities in Medellin, Colombia, more items will be added to my e-commerce including accessories and shoes. I will continue to make my high-end custom-made orders in my sampleroom as I expect that category to grow post COVID19 pandemic; with retailers not being allowing their clients to browse. More people will opt for a more exclusive option to get their better/occasion wearables to be made. Furthermore, for Prom2021, I will offer some gowns and outfits online for those students who may not be geographically able to come to the Atelier to place a custom-made order. I have negotiated a deal with a sampleroom in Medellin, Colombia who specializes in bridals for made-to-measure orders so that we can give the clients the option of color/sizes and light alterations on the design. Taking advantage of the Free Trade Agreement between the United States and Colombia.
I have learned throughout the years that the key to my success in fashion is to carve me out a loyal niche of the market, low overhead (low rent and a lot of beautiful space in Harlem), staying true to my creative DNA, unique point-of-view and experiences. I truly believe that with the closing of Barney’s NYC, Jeffrey’s and Henri Bendel there is an opportunity within the custom-made / one-of-a-kind market looking for talents to fill that void. I am partnering with some of the most brilliant minds to create a marketing tool with our 10 corner wall-size windows an acclaimed tradition of high fantasy, dramatic surprises, extraordinary fashion and compelling storytelling. The promptly opening of my luxurious ground-level atelier/boutique, I am positioning myself to fill that void post COVID-19 pandemic.