It’s no secret that the fashion industry is difficult to break into (for non-nepo babies, at least), and Ngozi Okaro recognized that its built-in barriers to entry are even higher for low-income and immigrant women. With the core goal of getting “earned income into women’s pockets,” Okaro founded Custom Collaborative in 2016 to help aspiring female designers develop the necessary skills for long-term economic success through specialized training programs. Sixteen cohorts later, Custom Collaborative is just getting started.

“All of the things that you can think of that we would do to support women in business and women in fashion businesses, that’s what we’re doing,” Okaro tells Fashionista. “And we intend to stay here and do it for quite some time.”

Okaro, an economic and social justice activist with a background in law, got the idea for Custom Collaborative while working with a woman named Mariama to alter her off-the-rack clothing. Okaro began brainstorming about how Mariama could “make more money and reach more markets,” and soon envisioned a way to bridge the gap between underprivileged women and the wider fashion industry.

The nonprofit organization offers three skill-building programs — Training Institute, Business Incubator and Cooperative Development — that provide participants with design and entrepreneurship workshops, in addition to mentorship. Its Business Incubator program supports graduates (and other emerging designers) with career and financial guidance, while the Cooperative Development program helps develop worker-owned businesses by advancing fair wages, equitable working conditions and ownership opportunities.

After completing an interview (as well as math and English language assessments), applicants are selected to enter the 15-week Training Institute program, where they have access to courses on pattern-making, garment construction, business plans and leadership development at Custom Collaborative’s Midtown studio. In keeping with its commitment to expand women’s economic success, participants are given weekly $200 stipends to attend, in addition to metro fare assistance.

On Tuesday evening, Custom Collaborative celebrated Cohort 16’s graduation with a runway show titled “Written in the Stars.” The cohort’s six members — Angela Altagracia Baez, Emmeline L. Celestine Dorelus, Malika Randall, Viviana Collazo Richardson, Jazmine Saint-Victor and Natalia Semenuk — unveiled their final handcrafted designs, spanning cultural homages and upcycled creations.

Baez, a Dominican designer from the Bronx, says her love of fashion stems from the “beautiful dresses” her grandmother, a lifelong seamstress, created for Baez and her cousins. “I still remember those designs that she made for us growing up,” she says. Although Baez began the program with no formal sewing experience, she discovered her love of upcycling denim and transforming excess fabric into patchwork outerwear. Her final garments included a black-and-gold gown resembling an hourglass and a drop-waist pleated dress.

“Learning about [sustainability] also inspired me to create art because now I’m thinking, ‘what can I do with everything else that I don’t use?'” Baez says. “I save every little piece of scrap fabric that I use.”

Dorelus, who immigrated to the U.S. from Haiti three years ago as a single mother, sprinkled celestial references throughout her two designs: a structured black pantsuit featuring a gold star-shaped button closure and twinkling cape; and an asymmetrical slip dress with white butterfly-printed lace across the bodice. Dorelus says the program felt longer than 15 weeks given all the industry knowledge the cohort gained. “They [taught] us not for one moment, but for [our] whole life,” she adds.

Semenuk spent most of her career working as a seamstress, and after recently relocating to New York City and looking for other opportunities, she returned to her fashion roots. “My mind [was] going crazy about creating and staying with clothing and fashion,” she says. Her two looks — a tiered mini dress and a boatneck gown paired with a ruffled shawl — embraced an oceanic color palette of midnight blue and cream. Pulling inspiration from water and the night sky, Semenuk’s gown appeared to combine seafoam’s airy texture with the ocean’s stillness via pom-pom details and a satin-like skirt.

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For Okaro, what sets Cohort 16 apart from previous classes is that “they have really owned who they are and their responsibility through turmoil and success and feedback and fear.” Ahead, see the rest of the looks from Custom Collaborative’s “Written in the Stars” graduate showcase. 

A design by Natalia Semenuk. Photo: Maria Vullo/Courtesy of Custom Collaborative

A design by Viviana Collazo Richardson. Photo: Maria Vullo/Courtesy of Custom Collaborative

A design by Viviana Collazo Richardson. Photo: Maria Vullo/Courtesy of Custom Collaborative

Viviana Collazo Richardson. Photo: Maria Vullo/Courtesy of Custom Collaborative

A design by Emmeline L. Celestine Dorelus. Photo: Maria Vullo/Courtesy of Custom Collaborative

Emmeline L. Celestine Dorelus. Photo: Maria Vullo/Courtesy of Custom Collaborative

A design by Angela Altagracia Baez. Photo: Maria Vullo/Courtesy of Custom Collaborative

A design by Jazmine Saint-Victor. Photo: Maria Vullo/Courtesy of Custom Collaborative

A design by Jazmine Saint-Victor. Photo: Maria Vullo/Courtesy of Custom Collaborative

A design by Malika Randall. Photo: Maria Vullo/Courtesy of Custom Collaborative

A design by Malika Randall. Photo: Maria Vullo/Courtesy of Custom Collaborative

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