NCSE:
Courtney Jefferson
and
The Red Carpet Society
Part II
When did you decide you wanted to pursue a career in fashion?
It was at such a young age. I was talking to my mom recently and she said, You finally re-started your t-shirt business! Remember you used to sell t-shirts in high school? And she brought back memories of when I used to paint symbols and graffiti and put it on a five dollar Hanes t-shirt and sell it. I guess its always been something that was within me. I like everything to be highly personalized and unique. Im the kind of person where if I see three people wearing the same sneaker, I will push it to the back of my closet.
A major influence for me fashion-wise is Nike designer Tinker Hatfield. He, like me, started out as an architect and due to my Nike and Jordan obsession, it seems as though hes always been in my life. I’ve always worn his art on my feet and I look at his color schemes and the way he experiments with different textures and I appreciate how he can take one sneaker and make transform it in 16 different ways and have it all mean something different. I always thought it was really cool and he and I have the same structural principles when I’m designing clothing. He designed the Air Jordan 4′s, 11′s, and so many other sneakers that people love. He was always my inspiration and I’ve kind of always looked at him and said that I can do it, too. You can design buildings today and then come up with something hot for people to wear on their bodies tomorrow.
What are your favorite pair of kicks and clothing label?
My favorite sneakers of all time would have to be the Varsity Red [Air Jordan] 4′s. I am just a fiend for Jordan’s, especially 4′s. I also love the low top 11′s with the mesh on the side. I used to draw pictures of those sneakers in high school. Besides Jordan’s, I wore a lot of Gap growing up and I still do. Everyday when I go out, I am usually wearing something Gap whether it’s a jean or a sweater. Gap makes quality items and we model our own clothing off of that. Our t-shirts are organic, extremely durable in addition to be stylish. I’ve personally washed our t-shirts over and over again and find that they get better with time. A t-shirt is only good after you’ve washed it five or six times and it’s quality is just as good as when you first bought it. Quality clothing should stand the test of time.
Which celeb has a style that you appreciate or admire?
I dig and appreciate Kid Cudi’s personal style. He’s doing a whole lot. Kanye West is also really personalized. You won’t see him rocking a look that someone has already done before. With some celebrities, you can’t really give them too much credit for their style because most of them have stylists and assistants who are paid to go out and buy things for them, as opposed to the celebrity who wears things that they like. Pharell is also pretty dope and innovative. I also admire a lot of the sneaker fiend dudes and Pittsburgh based rapper Wiz Khalifa. He’s really visual in that he makes a music video for every single on his record and Khalifa rocks really dope fitteds in each and every one. Speaking of cool artists, Diggy Simmons is nice! He just came out of nowhere with the rap gene, for real. I know grown men who aren’t nicer than him. You know Reverend Run saw Diggy doing his thing and was like, YES!
How are you guys keeping RCS relevant?
Part of establishing ourselves has been learning the tricks of the trade. Social networking is extremely important. I rely on free venues like Facebook and Twitter to do all of my advertising. Just last year, my boys and I were so against Twitter but we finally had to sign up and do it because it’s just that universal. You have to keep posting links and be consistent with it to keep your business fresh in people’s minds. Sometimes people can’t afford to buy something this month but your consistency in getting the word out about your brand lets people know that in six months, you still will have fitteds, you still will have t-shirts and they can buy and support the label then. Consumers need to trust the source. You may not get them in the first twenty links but you may get them on the twenty first and then they will share it with their followers and its organic.
Big props to Courtney for taking the time to do the interview…make sure you check out the RCS STORE and BLOG…RCS SUMMER LINE COMING SOON!!!
Feeling RCS? Add them as a friend on FB, follow them on Twitter and check out RCS at www.redcarpetsoc.com
Related posts:
