00:00 As fashion designer Christine Alcalay gets ready to unveil her new collection, she's
00:05 acutely aware of how much work it took to get here.
00:08 Whenever I do see migrants or really anyone who is like struggling, there's not that much
00:12 space between them and I. Like, there's a very, very fine line.
00:17 For her, watching asylum seekers struggle to find shelter and work their way through
00:21 New York's immigration system is personal.
00:25 Alcalay was just two years old when she left Vietnam.
00:28 We were boat people. We took a boat, ended up in the Philippines for a while and waited
00:34 for the United States to accept us.
00:36 To make ends meet, her mother worked as a seamstress in a factory.
00:40 I think she just like walked into a factory one day and said, with her very limited English,
00:45 like, I can sew. Like, please hire me so that I can sew. I need to like feed my family and
00:51 feed my sisters. So, she started to work in the factories. And because she didn't have
00:56 money for a babysitter, sometimes there's like a metal bin that all the sewers have
01:00 in factories. And I would sit inside the bin and she would cover the bin with a piece of
01:05 fabric. So, I would watch her as she was sewing.
01:08 It left a lasting impression on Alcalay. She went on to study fashion at New York's Parsons
01:13 School of Design, as well as in France. But she carries the experiences with her and in
01:19 her work.
01:21 This print was from a collection called "Reflections." I read a quote that said, "All the women in
01:26 me are tired." And it really kind of struck me, because it made me think of all the women
01:32 in my life, whether it be someone who's just passing or my mom.
01:35 It's not always a beautiful story. It's a story that has a lot of struggle. It's a story
01:40 that has a lot of tears and happiness. It's about a lot of different people who have crossed
01:45 my way to get me to this place.
01:47 But I am. I'm a storyteller. And I know that fashion also is an outlet.
01:54 New York is under pressure to fix the migrant housing crisis. Authorities have been ordered
01:59 by the state's Supreme Court to spell out what it needs to resolve the issue.
02:04 More than 95,000 migrants have received services since last spring, according to officials.
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