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Could you tell me briefly about your beginning in the Fashion industry and what inspired you?
Mona Muhammad
Basically, I got started on a dare. My daughter-in-law was in my stuff, looking at a magazine which came in through the mail, she saw a dress and said, “Oh, this is really cute” but it was very expensive like $300-$400. So I said, well I can crochet, I hadn’t crocheted that time for 20 years, she had never seen me crochet. I said, “Yeah, I can make that, it’s pretty simple.” And she said to me, “Mama I’ve never seen you crochet, I don’t believe you can do this.” I am a sister from the west side of Chicago; don’t dare us to do anything. That year, we were coming up on Christmas, so I made her first dress and I made dresses for my 4 sisters and after they started wearing those dresses out and about, that’s how I got started.
blackmattersus.com
At what moment did you come to understand that the fashion business was your path in life?
Mona Muhammad
It was not too long after my family started wearing their pieces out and people started coming to me saying, “Hey, can you make me that or can you make me something like that?,” at first, I would just do it because I am an empty nester, my kids are grown and I had a lot of empty space and time. But then, as I started creating more and more, I would start visualizing things. I would look into magazines and try to do something somewhere and I was like, “no, no” because it didn’t feel right. Finally, I just evolved, I started creating and seeing the things that I really wanted to do. It was just a natural evolvement.
blackmattersus.com
What kind of clothing are the bestsellers in your shops?
Mona Muhammad
The bestsellers are some of the unique scarves that I wear, I have one scarf that you could wear many ways, pieces that they can add to something else are very popular, like the sweaters or pullovers which are unique and different. They aren’t what you are going to find in a general department store, so those are the most popular pieces, the pieces that they can add to a pair of jeans and a tank top.
blackmattersus.com
What are your creative business plans for the nearest future?
Mona Muhammad
I’ve been doing this for about 10 years now, but mostly in Chicago, so my nearest plans for the immediate future would be to start branding more outside, I would like to get to the East Coast, I’ve been invited out there quite a few times. I’ve started branching out a little bit into Ohio, Detroit, and Michigan. So, I want to keep branching eastwards, for the most part, that’s where things have been getting a lot of interest and a lot of my online sales come from there. A lot of my clients that I’ve never met are from the East Coast, so I think branding myself a little more in that area is my immediate goal.
blackmattersus.com
What are you going to showcase at the Black Fashion Week USA?
Mona Muhammad
I have been debating and a lot of times, my decisions are made when I meet my models. I am going to be doing poncho dresses, as they’ve been popular this year, tunic dresses also and a few whole dresses. It’s going to be an explosion of colors; we are going to really go with the colors this year.
blackmattersus.com
What do you expect from the Black Fashion Week USA? How does it help designers to develop their business?
Mona Muhammad
I think exposure of any kind is helpful you know, to get your name out there, to brand, to find new clients. As a designer, I am home alone 99 percent of the time and that’s when I’m creating. And it’s not until those creations are put on by models and presented to an audience. When I create, I don’t create just for the size 0 or the size 20, I am across the board, but to see how your creations are accepted, to see what people really like, I like to be the one that’s picking out the curtain to kind of see how the people react to what they are seeing. What you hope for is that your work is accepted, that people understand what you are trying to do, what direction you are trying to go and to get feedback from after the show that says “Oh, I really love that.” And to have people understand that even though something might be presented on a size 2 model, that I can take that same outfit and do it in a size 24 tastefully and make it look nice as well, maybe with some alterations or something different. I look to that feedback and the interaction with the audience.
blackmattersus.com
Do you know about the trend “Black 4 Black” or “Buy Black” which calls people to support black owned and developed businesses? Do you feel like you are a part of this trend?
Mona Muhammad
Yes, I run a small business. My father, before me, he ran a small business, so for my whole, we have run small businesses or tried to work within the community. Most of my clients are black clients, you want to have a very big client base, but they have been my biggest supporters. To force out to the community and to get the kind of feedback from the community is just one of my biggest joys.
blackmattersus.com
What would be your advice to designers who are just starting up?
Mona Muhammad
I ran into a lot of different things when I just started up like I said, I got into this more or less like as a fluke, I just fell into it. I didn’t go into this thinking “Oh, I’m going to be a fashion designer,” that was just a natural progress and I’m glad I did it. But to understand the difference between a hobby and a business, to understand the different methods of promoting yourself, because for most fashion designers unless you are extremely lucky, money is tight, so to understand how to use your social media, how to do some of the smaller shows, just to keep staying in the game and keep promoting yourself, because I can create all day long and have a full basement or closet of stuff, but if I’m not presenting that or showing my work, I am not growing. I’m going to keep on repeating the same thing, get out there to understand the business part of it, that’s really important. I think as artists, we just want to create, but to create with a purpose; you want to see people wear your thing. So, I would say keep moving, don’t stop.
blackmattersus.com
How do you think Black Fashion influences American Fashion?
Mona Muhammad
We have a unique style. I have a client base that helps me create, they’ll give me an idea, they’ll say “I really like this or I saw something like this but I think it will be great in crochet,” because it adds this unique element. One item can influence different things, I can look at something in a store and say, “OMG, I can do something like that,” but with my own flavor and flair, that would be much more sassy. I think it comes full circle, people look at our style or the styles that most blacks would wear and they are like “Oh, this is nice” and you’ll see something similar to that in a department store.
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