When I was
in school, there were no black designers, no women that were black designers.
You keep hearing like, I don't know where the black talent is.
I can't find it.
Once I discovered Tommy Hilfiger and people that look like me, it was like....
What do I need to do to get there?
It's time to show the world what you are made of.
There is no shortage of black and BIPOC designers.
The challenge is opportunity, access and funding.
Having a brand such as ours that's so big, it's only right
that we utilize our resources so that they can thrive in this industry.
We started to talk to the Tommy Hilfiger team
Tommy has been championing black and BIPOC designers for years.
It's a part of his history.
What if they could use fabrics from Tommy Hilfiger?
What if they could have mentorship from executives within Tommy Hilfiger?
What if they could actually be given funding to create their collection?
We can't exist as a fashion industry without their creative genius.
We need to do that.
That is how we came up with the New Legacy Program.
Through the New Legacy Challenge.
We will give an opportunity for three black designers to
rearticulate prep in their handwriting and reimagine it for today.
One of the winners is
not only a cash prize, but an opportunity to collaborate with us as a brand.
One of you will be selected to co-design a capsule collection with Tommy Hilfiger
We can't wait to see what all of you have in store.
Are you excited
about being one of the finalists!?
Congratulations!
This would be full circle for me.
Tommy Hilfiger was the designer.
It was the brand that made me want to be a designer.
When I was younger I had a memory impairment problem where I would learn something
and then I would forget it.
Art was that area where I got confidence.
some of my pieces, and this is elementary school I'm speaking about.
Started getting picked up by museums.
In my senior year in high school, I got picked up as a model.
I started getting a different perspective of the fashion industry,
the backstage process.
This is how it happens and this is how it goes.
I came to New York.
I was creative director of John Varvatos.
It's not what I want to do.
I want to be a designer.
I want to have my own brand.
My son is the inspiration.
I worked so hard so he can experience something different.
I love your length, how you really lean into military and biker style.
I think that's really cool.
My mother is in the military.
My father was in the military.
I was born on a military base, West Point.
So I wanted to kind of pay homage to that.
My whole motto is to think outside the box.
So any time that I'm approaching the denim is with that type of mindset.
statistically, I shouldn't be here.
I'm mixed race, divorced, military, poor family.
I grew up in
essentially a military town and very Friday Night Lights.
I was in marching band.
I took a sewing class in high school, and Project Runway was kind of
in its first few seasons, and I put on a show my senior year.
This dress is kind of like where my career started.
then that had a competition for college students.
When Andrew Ball picked it told me like, Okay, maybe I can do this.
Maybe there is a brand here. I've been trained formally.
I've worked at companies.
I've put in the dues at these people.
I've done a lot of free work.
I've made other people a lot of money.
Now I want to see my dreams manifest.
When I found out that I was the only woman.
I was like, okay, game on. just to know that I'm the only woman.
And I've never done men's wear before.
Yeah, that got me so pumped up and excited.
Hey Megan! Again
Oooh, okay, okay.
Growing up in Kansas City,
my mom had me when she was really young, she was 16
When I was about eight or nine.
She was diagnosed with schizophrenia.
I was forced to kind of like grow up pretty fast and be independent
and self-sufficient.
I think that's why I love to design these pieces
that make women and people feel strong and empowered.
So I decided to launch my own brand.
I think I was working for another company doing private label for like Macy's
and J.C. Penney's.
I just started to feel like undervalued and not appreciated.
So I wanted to build like a legacy for myself.
Things started to take off for me after being on Making the Cut.
That visibility
on that magnitude of a platform really just catapulted me to the next level.
And it definitely gives me a bit of an edge
Even what we're doing with the New Legacy Challenge.
It's next level.
There's an opportunity for three amazing, dynamic black designers,
not only to tell their story, but to also see what
they can accomplish in fashion when they have support and access.
It's going to be a hard decision.
They're each so so, so talented.
I'm 100% and I went to bed at 4:00 in the morning.
I'm going to forgo all of those holiday
festivities for this amazing opportunity presented.
I'm not feeling stressed right now.
Talk to me in five weeks.
Might be a different story.
Your challenge starts now.