Dalia Capellan models peer’s dress. Every garment participants created through 15-week course was made with donated fabrics or materials bound for landfill‘ Publisher and my father, Wilbert “Bill” Tatum, before me.
The idea for Custom Collaborative came to her while picking up custom-made clothes from a West African seamstress. Okaro thought about how successful the seamstress could be with the right business plan and connections. “She could be making so much more money, and it just wasn’t right,” she said.Isetou Bahaga, self-proclaimed “proud Gambian Muslim woman,” models custom-made evening dress.
Jones’s teachings align with Custom Collaborative’s mission. Okaro didn’t just want to inspire a new generation of fashion designers; she wanted to create financially independent entrepreneurs. To date, 97% of graduates — who hail from 25 countries — have increased their financial literacy; 80% are immigrants, refugees, or first-generation immigrants, and 83% have gone on to start their own businesses.
Surrounded by friends, family, donors, and supporters, cohort participants modeled their peers’ customized creations. The outfits — evening gowns inspired by the film industry, the graduation theme — reflected the cohort’s diverse religious, ethnic, and cultural backgrounds.Revis wore a white mermaid-silhouette dress with off-the-shoulder sleeves and a matching headscarf, designed and produced by fellow cohort member Kazi Razia Delagracia.