2019 Featured Designers
Click photos to visit our designer's sites
Cotto was born in San Juan Puerto Rico with an artistic hand. Through his early years he immersed himself in the world of music, art and theater where he discovered his passion for fabrics. After years of working in costuming he associated himself with a major Pet Boutique in Puerto Rico and create the first ever Dog RTW brand to be sold state wide. After perusing his Bachelors and working for local designers he moved to the USA to complete his Graduate Degree. In 2016 he created a brand called The R Gene which purpose is to design pieces of clothing that when worn its aesthetic suggests a genderless, gender bending atmosphere. His statement as a designer simply suggests that clothing is just clothing and you as wearers give it its purpose and meaning in today’s society. For the past two years the brand has been showcase all around the Central Mid USA with great acceptance, showing that people are ready for something different and unique from the rest.
"Phlora" FW2019
Is a collection that portraits a digital pixelated garden where white predominate as the canvas and splashes of color block portray a digital blooming garden. The aesthetic is a futuristic almost robotic appearance to achieve the digital frontier look where gender is not important, only the desire to be different and unique.
Tangie Seay is the founder and creative director of Tanganika by Tangie and a member of the Memphis Fashion Design Network. Tanganika by Tangie uses a combination of structure, texture, movement, and volume to create pieces that are distinctive and captivating. The label’s design aesthetic is a creative blend of classic silhouettes and bold prints, most often incorporating an African influence.
Our recent accomplishments include opening the African Print Fashion Now exhibit at the Brooks Museum of Memphis, being published in The Memphis Flyer and Click Magazine, dressing reality TV personality Candace Rice for the MTV Movie & TV Awards, and spearheading the Wonderland project, a fashion collaboration of Memphis creatives. Tanganika by Tangie made its New York Fashion Week debut in February 2019.
This season’s “Wonderland” collection is inspired by Alice and Wonderland and shows three different personalities of one woman. Alice is innocent and feminine, The Hatter is masculine and untamed, and the Queen is commanding and powerful.
Sloane lenz is a 21 year old avant-garde fashion designer living in austin, tx. Growing up mostly in the rural town of athens, texas, she began creating unusual pieces for herself to wear, made from materials she could source at her local hardware store and grocery store. She creates striking garments utilizing mostly unconventional materials, with a preference for plastic and canvas. She’s been sewing since just 8 years old and also is co-creator of a blog called allumer, which focuses on music, style, and culture.
Sloane also creates films and hand embroiders pillows which her brother designs the custom graphic patterns for. She showed her debut collection at austin fashion week in april 2015 (at just 19 years old), then her second collection at dallas fashion week the following september. She premiered her third collection during new york fashion week in february of 2016. Since then she's shown during afw each year, and has traveled around the u.S. Presenting her work as well. She's had mentions in british vogue and tatler magazine, dresses a number of musicians, actors, and artists, and recently began an ongoing collaboration with the f. Scott and zelda fitzgerald museum in montgomery, alabama.
Drawing most of her inspiration from music, she incorporates elements she picks up into her collections. Her runway is comprised of wearable art, avant garde clothing pieces, as well as working on commissioned made to order pieces. Having been named “a modern betsy johnson”, having had her work compared to that of alexander mcqueen, and having been named the "Andy warhol of the night" by the houston chronicle after showing her collection 4 there in october, she’s continuing to create pieces as the inspiration comes.
Mary Ambrose is a retired flight attendant. She started designing for trashion shows where she found her niche of rubber inner tubes. After 3 years with unconventional material, she has perfected her craft. She won the 2017 Mini Collection runway show. This year she is showing as one of our featured designers.
T I E N A is for the modern woman who has an eye for design and who is looking for stylish yet timeless pieces. She is looking for clothing that she can wear with many things and in many ways. She is not trendy but is a woman with her own sense of taste and style. T I E N A embodies clothes that pull at your heart strings and evoke the spirit of expressing your most feminine self. Eclectic, Memorable, Daring, Sophisticated, and Long-Lasting Pieces are at the heart of what T I E N A expresses to the world.
Tiena Gwin is the Designer and Creative Director for T I E N A. She is a wife and mother of 2 girls. She is inspired by nature and strong women figures. She is also a huge proponent of dreaming big and utilizing one's talents. T I E N A was launched in the Summer of 2016. Tiena is a past 3-year participant in Memphis Fashion Week which gave her the confidence to further pursue her childhood dream.
Since the brand's inception, we have been featured in local publications such as R.S.V.P. Magazine and the Memphis Flyer; local ABC 24 and CBS Live at 9; a participant in Harlem Fashion Row; one of 10 Finalists for Belk's 2017 Southern Designer Showcase; and will debut at NYFW, this February.
Our clothes are Made in the U.S.A. and are sustainably produced in a small batch process. Our prints are printed using dyes that are environmentally friendly.
We hope that in our clothes, you have found what you have been looking for and that we are helping you to look and feel like your best self!
Jodi’s love of clothing construction began at an early age. In 1991 she moved from her hometown in Southern California up to the San Francisco Bay Area and began designing costumes for a local theater company. At this time she also found herself busy with bridal alteration and design and fell in love with special occasion garments. She began working on her own designs and collaborating with brides on one-of-a-kind gowns. In 1994, she moved to Memphis where she continued her work in bridal. She continues to build a strong reputation and strives to deliver dreamy gowns that radiate a strength of style and femininity.
