5/6/2023 0 Comments Edouard bolleau![]() I mean gold is forever a jam, right? I'm personally super into mixing metals. What is the Zerina Akers guide to spring accessorizing? Courtesy You styled Zales' Mother's Day campaign. Zales’mother's day campaign, styled by zerina akers. It's good for New York weather, they're good for LA weather. When you put that sweatsuit on, it's big, you don't have to wear anything under it. I feel like I made the perfect set for BOE. Oh, I'm a sweatsuit girl, even with Black Owned Everything. Has quarantine changed your approach to dressing at all? I've always been a fan of suiting and monochromatic suiting. I love strong shoulders and longer, leaner silhouettes. At times, I like to feel powerful-period. I like to kind of play to different parts of my personality. How do you approach styling yourself right now? Who can wear two pairs of socks to fit their shoes? No, your mom was buying your shoes too big., and then it was adapted as a trend. I realize now that there were things that people did out of necessity. We would wear leggings, stretch pants, an oversized t-shirt, and slouched socks over your pants, multiple socks. I grew up in Maryland, we had very weird trends. She was a lanky little thing thinking that she knew what she was doing. People are always surprised by me and say "Oh, you're actually nice." How did little Zerina dress growing up? I still teach some of those things to my assistants, but without all the fear, that Devil Wears Prada kind of mentality. So I learned how to give my opinion and voice in a way that won't affect the job on hand. There were a lot of hierarchies where you can't speak in this room, or at this time. Those days you really had to dig into that mindset to figure out how to become an assistant. Back then, the fashion industry felt much more elitist and exclusive and, in a way, less tangible. Now with social media, everyone can just call themselves a stylist and then end up actually becoming a stylist. I realized that if you just be yourself, no matter what that is, you can go so much further. I thought there was an expectation to speak a certain way and act a certain way. And then maybe a few weeks later they hired Shiona Turini, she was an editor at the time. When I started at W Mag as an intern, I was the only black girl in the office. How did those experiences growing in the industry as a young, Black stylist inform who you are and how you navigate the industry now? That for sure was like, Oh, okay, you can do this, moment. When I became aware that I was actually entering the industry and realizing its depth and how much you really could do, I truly didn't learn until I became an intern at W Magazine. ![]() I would kind of quiz myself and play around like that. I remember being in middle school, looking at fashion magazines, and wanting to name the brand and name the designers before I looked at the credit. I want that feeling all the time, to actually fully enjoy clothes. ![]() We tend to not wear our clothes because we want to save them for a special occasion and you never even get to enjoy them. ![]() If I find something I love, I just wear it all the time. That was the moment I realized clothes make you feel good. They had to practically hide the dress from me because I wanted to go to the playground in it and wear it all the time. When I was about four years old, my parents put me in an Easter dress that I never wanted to take off. I think it kind of came in different phases. At what age were you aware that fashion could be more than just putting on clothes, but something that could be a viable career? Without the lockdown, I probably have had the time to dig into what made that happen. I'm thankful for the time I was able to create cool content with Chloe and Halle on their tennis court designing and collaborating with Macy's, starting a foundation. Rewarding because I was able to do so many different things and work on so many different projects. A lot of my friends lost their parents or grandparents, lost a lot of people in their family, and trying to navigate through all of that. How was last year both challenging and rewarding for you?Ĭhallenging because a lot of people were affected in a negative way. Ahead, Zerina Akers talks about navigating the fashion industry during her early days, collaborating with Zales, and Black Owned Everything’s next steps.
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