Fe Noel Discusses the Highs and Lows of Being a Black Designer

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Transcript
00:00Hi, my name is Fina Wall and I'm here with Ebony.
00:02At my core, I'm a dreamer.
00:04I have always been ambitious,
00:08and I've always believed that you can make the life that you want,
00:12and that's what I represent.
00:14That's what my brand represents.
00:16What inspired me to return is,
00:19I have so much to say, right?
00:21And I want to say it in a very specific way.
00:23And sometimes, you know, the industry can feel oversaturated.
00:28Sometimes you may even feel like no one cares what you have to say,
00:31but I don't think that's true.
00:33I do have to use my voice and my clothes to create this platform.
00:38I was lost for a little while.
00:41Like, I started to forget of why I started this in the first place.
00:45And to get that feeling back, it was me just remembering,
00:50this is not about you.
00:52It's not about how tough it feels for you,
00:56how hard, how tired you are.
00:58It's about finishing what you started,
01:01and doing it your way.
01:03And that's super, super important.
01:05So that gave me the drive to, like, step back in
01:08and really, really do it my way.
01:12And some people are going to love it.
01:14It's going to excite some people.
01:16It's going to be a little provocative,
01:18but it's, I'm going to finish what I started.
01:20And that's the main thing that's keeping me going.
01:22I'm exploring a very provocative juxtaposition.
01:28What it means to be a woman.
01:31Who decides what a woman can and can't be.
01:34What that looks like.
01:36There's going to be a lot of play on words.
01:39And, you know, where I'm talking about more than one thing.
01:42As we get older, it's like, what's happening with our bodies?
01:45What's happening with our minds, you know?
01:47New York Fashion Week is a stage that
01:50I want every designer to experience,
01:53because it's kind of the time where you get the praise
01:56of all the hard work that you've put in.
01:58I don't even like to talk about the challenges anymore.
02:01I'm going to say it, but it's just resources.
02:03Like, we lack that.
02:05But that's never going to stop the show.
02:06We always make something out of nothing.
02:08Just Black people, that's what we do.
02:11We need more resources.
02:12We need people to, and not just having us on their billboards.
02:18We need people where they're making the decision, you know?
02:23But also, who's funding our ideas?
02:28We need people to do that as well.
02:30Because what's happening is, like, we may put out an idea,
02:33and there's someone in a corporate room
02:36that's following all these little creators,
02:39and then they're taking it,
02:40and you're seeing it on a billboard.
02:41And we are not reaping the benefits of our creative ideas.
02:45And our creative ideas is what makes this world colorful.
02:49So that's my, that's the number one problem,
02:52is that resources, so we can fund our own ideas.
02:55So we can do it the way that we see fit,
02:57and we don't have to see a watered-down version
02:59of what that looks like from somebody that had the money.
03:03It's important for when that runway is finished,
03:05for people like us to come walk at the end of it.
03:10It's a stage, right?
03:11So if you have something that you want to say,
03:14then go on that stage. That's what I do.
03:16Your point of view is what you have.
03:17It's what's going to set you apart.
03:19It's what's going to take you from level to level.
03:21That's what you're going to have to hold on to,
03:23because you might not have nothing else.
03:25So all you have is, like, your heart, why you started.
03:27What's your foundation?
03:29What is your reason for being here?
03:31If you stay the same, it's going to come back around.
03:33But I also think that celebrities are regular people.
03:37I think we put a lot of emphasis on them.
03:42And to me, fashion was always in the streets.
03:45The woman that comes and spends her dollar with me,
03:47that's my celebrity.
03:49And that's what's important.
03:50For me, that's what's important.

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