San Antonio has yet to see such chic fashion—that is, until this past Friday night.
On April 14, Daiquonne Lanier graced Brick and attendees with his premier collection and fashion show “Jacquelynne: A Transformative Composition.” The formal event included a night of cocktails and conversation between those who have supported Lanier throughout the process of creating his collection and casual lovers of the fashion industry.
Lanier’s inspiration for the collection comes from a personal experience. He graduated from the International Academy of Design & Technology (IADT) in San Antonio with a bachelor’s degree and, soon after, he married. He was married for two years and during that time he had sight of who he was: a fashion designer.
“I had this degree, and I wasn’t using it,” said Lanier. “I was like ‘who even am I?’”
The tough decision to walk away from his marriage led to him creating the beautiful pieces displayed on Friday night.
He began creating the pieces last June. The original collection was meant to have 37 pieces. Instead, he narrowed it down to ten. He decided against producing all 37 pieces to focus more on captivating the audience’s attention with a short collection.
“A lot of times that’s what designers wanna do. They’re just like ‘I need to push out looks so I can have variety.’ That’s not what I wanted to do. I wanted to tell the story.”
The ten pieces he chose for the collection signify ten pivotal moments he experienced while in his relationship. His favorite work from the collection is the tiered chiffon piece.
“That one signified the step away. Chiffon, it’s such a flowy fabric and it moves however it wants to move. You can pin it all you want, but it’s still free and wild.”
He described while he was making the chiffon piece, he had a difficult time with the fabric.
“It signified freedom to me. I was like ‘This is my redemption. This is my step away.’”
He began designing clothes as a young boy by sketching women’s clothing. In a big family of two brothers and eight sisters, he made articles of clothing for his sister’s dolls. Constructing clothing for the dolls was practice for what was to come: becoming a rising star as a fashion designer.
“I want to continue to inspire people to tell stories and continue to push out narratives.”
He talked about how it’s become the norm in the design industry to mass produce clothing for monetary value.
“That’s not why I do this. I do it because I love it. I do it to inspire little boys and girls—who were like me—who didn’t have an outlet. That’s why I do this.”
For more information on Lanier and to catch up on the latest fashion designed by him, check out his website at jacquelynne.splashthat.com and his instagram @lanier.contact.
