A pair of Cohoes High School seniors recently had a surprise when bags they created were featured in a New York Fashion Week fashion show.
Aspiring fashion designers Dicey Lewis and Haze Ingram had their drawstring bags shown by fashion designer and bag creator Karen “Kema” Maxwell. Ms. Maxwell—owner of Kema’s Kreations—is the Global Fashion program teacher at the Capital Region BOCES Career and Technical Education (CTE) Center, where the two seniors are enrolled.
At a Feb. 15 show during New York’s famed Fashion Week, Ms. Maxwell shocked Dicey by including her bag design among the more than one dozen bags she showcased at the Unieke Mode NYFW Runway Series show. She also showed one of Haze’s bags at a later Unieke Mode show that same day.
“I was honestly surprised a little, but I was also proud. It was really cool,” said Dicey, who was in attendance at the show to support her teacher and to attend another show where she was buying fabric for an upcoming project. Haze, who was not present at the show, heard about it almost immediately and was also shocked.
“It is wonderful to have my bag shown on one of the biggest stages in fashion. It makes me feel proud, like I can do it,” she said.
It’s a big start in the industry for the soft-spoken Dicey who aspires to one day create work for a major fashion house and the equally demure Haze, who aspires to be a fashion entrepreneur.
“I am going to [Hudson Valley Community College] in the fall to study business and then I want have my own fashion website, like Ms. Maxwell,” Haze said.
Meanwhile Dicey is finishing high school and her CTE education and competing in the New York state SkillsUSA fashion competition by creating a coat with fabric she purchased at a fashion house while in New York City.
Then she plans to attend a fashion school in the Philippines, where she has family.
Speaking about her experience on one of the world’s biggest stages for fashion, Dicey said it was “amazing.”
“The whole sense of community was great. I felt like everyone had their own style, but yet we all felt unified,” Dicey said.
Located on the CTE Albany Campus, students in the Global Fashion program study creative design and core business concepts and apply them to the world of fashion. They also learn about careers in fashion, merchandising, marketing, fashion drawing, textiles, how to use a sewing machine, foundation pattern making and sewing skills while taking part in work-based learning opportunities at area shopping malls to learn visual display and merchandising. Learn more about the Global Fashion program.