00:00What's up guys, it's Justine Skye, a part of the season 4 cast of If Not For My Girls,
00:04and I'm here at the Essence Fashion House with Diet Coke.
00:07Diet Coke is celebrating its 40th birthday, and it's empowering drinkers to love what you love.
00:12Tell us a little bit about your collection, Char Workroom.
00:14Okay, so Char is an unseasonal women's wear brand.
00:18We are based in Houston, and we focus on just like making women feel confident
00:22and accentuating our bodies and all of that good stuff.
00:25Love that.
00:26So our partners at Diet Coke have a campaign called Love What You Love.
00:30Share with us a piece from your collection that you love and why.
00:32Okay, so we have this new piece, which is our woven skort.
00:37And basically with this piece, I love it because it's almost like a metamorphosis
00:42of our silver high-cut cheeky short with the silver wax denim on it.
00:46And we took a little inspiration from Bottega with the woven details on it.
00:51But what makes it fun is the fact that it's a super mini skirt,
00:54but it's also a pair of shorts in the back, which I love.
00:58So, you know, we don't have to worry about flashing anybody or anything like that.
01:02So I think this is going to be a good piece for us moving forward.
01:07Love functionability.
01:09What's one thing you wish you knew before launching your line?
01:11I think just learning how to scale and have, like, the proper inventory
01:18and keeping up with the demand on your products.
01:22Because for me, I would start off with, like, 20 pieces of an item.
01:26And knowing that it's like a fire item, but not necessarily knowing, like,
01:31how many people wanted to buy it, we would sell out super quick.
01:34So I upped it to 100 just to, like, test the temperature of a piece.
01:38But I think now we're definitely, like, ready to, like, go big
01:43and start off with, like, 500 pieces.
01:45So just trying to learn how to scale and forecast
01:49what our customers want in the demand.
01:53Awesome.
01:53So as you know, Diet Coke is celebrating their 40th birthday
01:56and a lot can change in 40 years.
01:59And so what are some styles that you'd like to see resurfacing from the 80s?
02:03Um, I think ultimately just oversized clothing.
02:06I'm a girl that just loves, like, a baggy fit.
02:09So definitely, like, an oversized pair of jeans,
02:12oversized jackets, blazers, t-shirts, all of that.
02:16But just, like, adding, like, that special touch to it.
02:20So, like, maybe, like, a corseted shirt
02:22or, like, a baggy pair of white-legged cargo jeans or something, you know?
02:27So definitely oversized clothing.
02:29Okay, sweet.
02:29What's up, Belay?
02:30So tell us a little bit about yourself
02:32and your line Against Medical Advice.
02:34My name is Wole Olasunday.
02:36I'm a 25-year-old registered nurse and designer.
02:39I founded a line called Against Medical Advice.
02:42The premise of the line is that
02:44I'm not literally against medical advice,
02:46but it's kind of a metaphor for the idea
02:50of not conforming to the world of just medicine.
02:52Like, I feel like a lot of nurses and doctors,
02:55they, you know, get into their career
02:57and they kind of erase everything else they used to do
02:59because of how rigorous it is
03:01and all that we have to put up with at the hospital.
03:03So this is me kind of not conforming to that
03:06and choosing to do everything that it is that I want to do.
03:10Sweet.
03:10Love that.
03:11So how would you say your home
03:12and cultural background have influenced your career?
03:15Well, yeah,
03:15my upbringing definitely influenced my career
03:18through my parents.
03:19My parents are Nigerian immigrants.
03:21They immigrated to Brooklyn.
03:23I'm born and raised in Brooklyn.
03:24And even that accessibility to street style
03:27and to the world of culture that is Brooklyn, honestly,
03:31has shaped me in a way
03:33that has directly contributed to my brand, honestly.
03:37Also, my dad, like, used to work at Elmer's hospital.
03:39He was the head of IT there at one point,
03:41like, assistant manager.
03:42And I spent a lot of time in the hospital.
03:44Like, he'll pick us up from school,
03:47just have us in his office, like, on the low
03:49until he got out.
03:51So I was always in the hospital.
03:54And it was a kind of a cool thing for me.
03:56I never kind of saw it as a place
03:58where people were injured and hurt and dying.
03:59But just because of his coworkers
04:01and how hospitable they were to us,
04:03I just loved the hospital.
04:05And through that and the take your child to work days
04:08and all those things,
04:09I kind of knew I wanted to do medicine
04:10and I wanted to help people in that way.
04:12And that's what made me become a nurse.
04:13And then me being a nurse
04:15is what has influenced the brand.
04:17Amazing. Amazing.
04:18Are you wearing it right now?
04:20I made this chain as well.
04:21This chain is Felakuti.
04:22My dad listened to a lot of Felakuti growing up.
04:25I'm Nigerian, like I said.
04:27So I made this chain as a tribute.
04:29His signature pose, he used to double fist up.
04:32And he's kind of breaking the chain on my chain.
04:35I love that.
04:35I see it's really thick.
04:37And the sews this jacket, really cool.
04:39So this question is very hard for me
04:41all the time when I get asked it.
04:43But describe your personal style in three words.
04:46I would say medical, of course,
04:49because I like to incorporate parts of my background
04:51into my style.
04:55Free, because I wear whatever I like
04:57and whatever I think fits me and shapes my body well.
05:01And I don't know.
05:04I think it's conversational.
05:06I think a lot of the clothes I wear,
05:07people wonder why I'm wearing it
05:10or why did I put this on there
05:11or why does he have that on?
05:13So I think it starts a lot of conversations.
05:15And I often get into random conversations
05:17based off of pieces that I might have on.
05:19Awesome.
05:20So as you know,
05:21Diet Coke is celebrating its 40th birthday
05:23and a lot can change in 40 years.
05:26So, you know, fashion always resurfaces and recycles.
05:29What are some trends from the 80s
05:31that you would like to see come back?
05:35I don't know.
05:35Old trends.
05:36In general, I like bell bottoms.
05:39I think those are coming back.
05:40And I love that style.
05:43I love corduroy also.
05:45I feel like back in the day,
05:46a lot of people used to wear a lot of corduroy
05:47and like suits and stuff.
05:50I'm kind of incorporating a lot of those aspects
05:53into my new collection.
05:54I'm having my first runway show on Wednesday.
05:56So, yeah, I guess those are a few things
05:59that I would like to see come back.
06:01Well, congratulations.
06:02Thank you so much for sitting and talking with me.
06:04Congratulations again.
06:06Okay, Alan.
06:06So tell us a little bit about yourself and your collection.
06:09So my name is Alan.
06:11I'm from Washington, D.C.
06:13I'm Nigerian-American, first generation.
06:16My collection, or my line rather,
06:18is called OL, stands for Outside Lines.
06:21Been working on it for the past seven years.
06:23Have seen a lot of successes.
06:26And, yeah, glad to be here.
06:28Speaking of glad to be here,
06:30what does it mean for you to be here
06:32at Essence Fashion House?
06:33We have designers from all over the globe
06:35that we're highlighting.
06:36And, yeah, tell us a little bit about that.
06:38Okay.
06:39It's definitely an opportunity.
06:41They reached out a few weeks ago,
06:43and I was glad to hop on a plane
06:45and come out here to celebrate with them.
06:47New York Fashion Week,
06:48it was always a thing
06:49that we kind of went to involuntarily.
06:53So, like, to finally get those calls
06:55to come and do things officially
06:56feels really good for me.
06:58So our partners at Diet Coke
07:00have a campaign called Love What You Love.
07:02Talk to us a little bit about the piece
07:03that you love the most from your line.
07:05I love all of my pieces the most,
07:09but I think for the crowd,
07:12this hat, this crazy bucket,
07:14has been doing numbers for me.
07:16We have this in a few different variations.
07:18I feel like this hat has opened up our community.
07:23There's a lot more women
07:24who are looking towards what we're doing,
07:27so I'm really thankful for that.
07:30And they're all unique.
07:31These are all upcycled from fabrics
07:34that were going to wastelands in India,
07:36and we salvage them.
07:37We have people who are getting paid,
07:39like fair trade,
07:40and then that comes over here,
07:41and then we actually do it.
07:43We actually get it made from artisans in L.A.
07:45So this is one crowd pleaser
07:47that I really love
07:48and everyone around does, too.
07:49Well, I definitely love this piece
07:51and gotta get one.
07:53As you know,
07:54Diet Coke is celebrating its 40th birthday,
07:56and a lot can change in 40 years.
07:58So what style from the 80s
08:00would you like to see come back?
08:02I'm not going to say bell-bottom pants,
08:03but just flooded pants.
08:05I feel like I'm also doing that myself right now
08:07with these Martian pants,
08:09but just style overall.
08:11I feel like in the 80s,
08:12fashion was a lot more around style in general,
08:15more so about who you were as a person,
08:18how you want to present yourself
08:19versus the trends that we kind of see now
08:21where everything kind of has
08:22a quick 15-minute turnaround.
08:25I just want to see a lot more unique style.
08:27Okay, so now we are going to play
08:29a quick game of
08:30love what you love,
08:31this or that style.
08:33So, color block or monochrome?
08:37Color block.
08:40Underdressed or overdressed?
08:43It depends.
08:45I like under.
08:48Baggy or fitted?
08:50Baggy right now.
08:52Same.
08:54Accessorized or simplicity?
08:56I think that's where the uniqueness really lies,
08:58so accessorized.
09:02American style or African-inspired?
09:05All of them.
09:06Why not?
09:08Okay.
09:09All right, one more.
09:09Save or splurge?
09:11You only live once.
09:13You better enjoy your time.
09:16Yeah, that's what everybody's been saying so far.
09:18Well, thank you so much.
09:19Well, that was so much fun.
09:20I learned so much from all of those designers.
09:22In fact,
09:23I think I'm a little bit thirsty now.
09:32Refreshing.
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