Early on, Wilcox had a knack for design and artistry. Working as a full time hairstylist in his mother’s shop, Ramona’s Touch of Essence, Wilcox said he had a gift for art.
“I am an artist first and foremost,” he said. “A lot of things I have done was done in my sketchbook. From there, it turned into designing. I saw the female form so I sketched what I saw. That’s how it turned into designing.”
Although Wilcox does men’s fashions, he stated there is a special process that goes into crafting his women’s line.
“It’s what I like to see my women in,” Wilcox said. “It’s what I feel is appealing. It’s what I feel and what I interpret to be sexy.”
His desire to design clothing came to fruition thanks to his mother’s special present upon finishing West Catholic High School in 2005.
“For my graduation my mother (Ramona Wilcox) had a party where she had a surprise fashion show for me,” he said. “She took my sketchbook and got my designs made. That was when I seen that I could really do this in living color.”
Wilcox then held a preview for the National Association of Fashion and Accessory Designers, an organization he is affiliated with, building a buzz for his skills.
Even though Wilcox is in the beginning stage of his career, he wants people to see how far he has come.
“With this show I want people to see the growth in my designing,” he said. “I have a lot of people supporting me and I want them to see all of the investments that they put into me harvested.”
As with any artist, inspiration is a key component to creating a finish product.
“Every collection has it’s own inspiration,” he said. “Now that I’m growing into manhood, so — the things that you would like at 17 and 18 that were hip and trendy have turned into more classic. My collection is more classic and grown up. Something that you can go from day to evening.”
Ultimately, Wilcox aspires to ascend his career to the heights of some of the giants of the industry.
“The classic designers like Versace and Gucci inspire me because of the richness of the clothes,” he said. “People know when you have something like that on. That woman who has that on is in a certain place in her life. That’s the type of line that I want to have.”
As an African-American designer, Wilcox declared that he follows the blueprint drawn up by other Blacks in the fashion sector.
“As far as Black entrepreneurs and Black men in the fashion industry, I model a lot of what I want to be from P. Diddy and Russell Simmons,” Wilcox said. “I read Simmons’ biography on how he did it. He saw a need in the industry and I think that’s what I’m bringing.”
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