WESTPORT—She sits quietly in her modest cubicle, hunched over a keyboard. Artwork hangs in a meager attempt to cover the otherwise plain and uninspiring walls. She mindless types away. After working here for three years, her daily routine is mundane at best, offering few challenges and even less thought.
It is definitely not a place that breeds creativity.
It is also not a place where someone would expect to find a flourishing fashion designer, but there she sits. Her name is Jamilah Knight and she is a graduate of both the college’s fashion design program and the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City.
Despite her background in fashion design, Knight currently works as a pharmacy technician for Prescription Solutions where she performs the same monotonous work each day.
As the clock strikes 5 p.m., Knight finishes answering her last e-mail for the day and heads home to her apartment in Westport. While most people spend the evening relaxing, Knight’s real work is just beginning.
Knight is one of 18 designers selected for the upcoming West 18th Street Fashion Show, one of the area’s premier fashion events. The show requires all designers to create new, never-before-seen designs.
As she drives home, Knight mulls over the things she must complete that night in order to stay on deadline. She only has six weeks left until the show.
Shift in interest
Knight was not always interested in fashion. As a student at Sumner Academy of Arts and Science, in Kansas City, Mo., she was more Fascinated by sculpture and painting.
“I started in high school doing a lot of sculpture and acrylics and water colors,” Knight said. “My high school art teacher basically helped me to evolve into fashion because I liked the play of textures and the colors.”
Knight’s high school art teacher helped more than she could have imagined at the time. She unwittingly unlocked a door to another possibility when she showed Knight an old JCCC catalogue that she happened to have on hand.
“That’s what put JCCC in my head,”Knight said. “They were one of the few schools in the area that actually had a fashion program. I went here first to see if it was even something I wanted to get into.”
It was. Through much hard work while attending the college, Knight became vice president of the fashion club, illustrated the promotional materials for the college’s annual fashion show in 2004 and participated in that same fashion show.
Knight recalled the show fondly.
“That was my first fashion show and just being able to see my things on the runway... just the feeling knowing that it was ours, it was our own,” Knight said. “Excitement. It’s all of your heart. Even though it only lasts for a short time, it’s all those hours of hard work.”
One of the processors who noticed Knight’s enthusiasm was Fashion Merchandising and Design professor Debra Hillen.
“I thought she was very talented but quiet,” Hillen said. “She didn’t ask a lot of questions, but then after class she would catch me and we would talk for a long time.”
Hillen also witnessed Knight’s dedication, saying Knight would often stay late, long after class was finished and that she was never afraid to try new techniques.
The long hours and hard work paid off. In 2004, Knight graduated from the Fashion Design Program. It was time for her to move onto bigger things.
The Big Apple
Knowing the landscape of the fashion world, Knight knew where she had to go next. She set her sights firmly on the Big Apple and the Fashion Institute of Technology.
“It was natural for me to go where it all happens, to go where the big designers are,” Knight explained. “You could go to other schools but this is one of the fashion capitals, where the opportunities are.”
Her application was initially met with resistance.
“At first they didn’t want to transfer me right into the bachelor program, ” Knight explained. “I had to actually go there and speak to the chair and show her all the things I had been working on... after they saw my portfolio, they saw I was ready.”
Upon being accepted, Knight quickly packed her belongings and moved 1300 miles away from home.
“I had no family there, I had no friends,” Knight said.
While such isolation might make others homesick, Knight focused all of her energy on school. An average day consisted of approximately 10 hours of class, followed by time spend in the various labs.
“I used to stay in the sewing lap until 2 a.m. most nights,” Knight recalled, “and that’s only because they kicked us out. If I could have stayed longer I would have.”
Slowing down was never an option for Knight. The competition was too intense. Instead of succumbing to the tremendous pressure, she instead used it as powerful motivation.
“Being in class with people who I thought, ‘Oh my God, they’re incredible,’ that just makes you work harder,” Knight said.
Studying in New York afforded Knight other opportunities, too. The big city environment constantly fed her insatiable need for creativity and gave her new inspiration for designs.
“I was able to intern for a successful designer,” Knight said. “I was able to volunteer for fashion week. There are just so many other things you can do there related to fashion.”
All of her hard work eventually paid off as Knight was selected to participate in F.I.T.’s senior B.F.A. fashion show.
“Only a hundred of our whole graduating class get in,” Knight explained. “I saw a lot of my friends who had been there for four years not get into the show. They were pretty upset... it’s like the pinnacle of being in fashion school.”
Knight finished her degree and graduated from F.I.T. in 2006 with a B.F.A. in Fashion Design.
A little break
After graduating from F.I.T., Knight reluctantly found herself back in Kansas City.
“[Coming back] was pretty depressing, a little sad,” Knight said. “I remember first coming back and not being able to find a fashion job. It was a little discouraging to have a fashion degree and not being able to do anything with it.”
Removed from the fashion atmosphere that New York City offered, Knight’s transition back to the Midwest was difficult.
“I didn’t have that same motivation or competition here. I kind of slowed down,” Knight said.
Looking back, Knight feels she could have done more to keep her enthusiasm.
“Not keeping that same fire in my belly that I had in New York. I should have at all costs tried to keep that,” Knight said. “There’s a lot more I could have been doing. There are fashion shows here all the time and I just let them pass.”
Instead, Knight finally settled for her current job as a pharmacy technician, far removed from the hustle and bustle of the runways and dressing rooms. However, she always planned to return to the fashion world she knew she loved.
“I don’t what to just be another person that, ‘Oh I went to school for [fashion design] but now I’m doing this,’” Knight said. “I feel like I’ve put too much work and effort into school for that.”
With a little help, Knight decided it was time for a comeback in a big way. She applied to the West 18th Street Fashion Show. Out of 60 applicants, Knight was one of only 18 chosen. Knight’s former professor was pleased by Knight’s decision to pursue the fashion show and her ultimate selection.
“She comes in about once a week and sometimes we just talk about things,” Hillen said. “I’ve seen her build up her confidence getting ready for this show.”
Hillen sees this fashion show as a way for Knight to get back on track.
“Sometimes we don’t always do what we planned on doing for a living,” Hillen explained. “She took a little break, but she’s getting ready to go again.”
Back to work
Upon arriving at home, Knight walks up the stairs of her apartment building, turns the key and swings the door open.
Entering her apartment is like walking into an entirely different world. The explosion of colors and richness of textures from the fabrics that greet her is a sharp contrast to the plain walls of her office cubicle. She walks past her dining room table, now serving as a makeshift sewing bench. Its surface is barely visible due to the rainbow of scrap materials and different colored spools of threat that litter it. Remnants of the 160 triangles Knight sewed for one of the dresses she will display at the upcoming show.
Against the wall, a partly finished bright pink dress hangs from a mannequin. This is the design that Knight will work on tonight.
“This one is going to have a surprise,” Knight says with a sly grin as she tinkers with the outfit.
Despite having to work the following morning, Knight works late into the night. She must; she only has six weeks left before the show.
“Red Bull is important,” Knight says while laughing. “Not a lot of sleep is involved.”
As for the surprise that keeps Knight awake this night, it will be revealed at the West 18th Street Fashion Show on June 12.