Sakeenah Ashiru’s living room looks more like a fashion designer’s workshop than an off-campus student apartment.
A headless mannequin, dressed in a floor-length gown, and a rack of dresses stand in the corner of the small living room. Her sewing machine—a gift from her mom when Ashiru was 15—rests next to the dresses. Plastic drawers filled with colorful thread are stored beside a dark leather sofa.
This is where Ashiru designed her “Midnight in China” collection, which she showcased March 22 during Fashion Week in New Orleans, 225 details in feature in its current issue.
“I always knew I wanted to do fashion,” says Ashiru, 21.
She designed her first collection and held her first runway show as a student at Fontainebleau High School in Mandeville and now majors in textiles, apparel and merchandising at LSU, where she also minors in entrepreneurship.
In 2015, Ashiru began designing her current collection. She was selected from a pool of applicants to show that collection at New Orleans Fashion Week.
With brocade fabrics, deep colors and bright florals, the designs were inspired by her experience during her junior year studying abroad in China. Some of the dresses are form-fitting, with billowing sleeves providing a nod to the traditional cheongsam or qipao, a one-piece, sheath-like dress worn by Chinese women.
“China is mesmerizing,” Ashiru says. “The buildings and architecture and colors are all breathtaking. I wanted to use that in my collection.”
