Most people first met you as Morgan Stark in Avengers. Looking back, how has growing up in the spotlight shaped the person and artist you are today?
All my amazing support from all my fans has helped me to believe that I can do anything from Singing to Influencing to Modeling to now Designing. I feel like they have given me such a support system to live my dreams.
You're an actress, a singer, and now a designer. Do these different creative worlds inspire one another?
Honestly, each different field that I'm in, just inspires me to push more for the next. Every single time I go through a phase of focusing on one of them, it just gives me more dedication for the next, so yes, there is something that fashion design gave me that singing and Acting didn't. Plus, it helps me to always have something cute to wear.
Fashion seems to have become an important part of your self-expression. Was there a specific moment when you realized, "I don't just love clothes - I want to create them"?
Growing up like when I was really really young probably around, I would be watching runway shows with my mom (not gonna name names) and I remember just watching that TV and just looking up to the designers and seeing how beautiful and amazing it was! It finally fully came to fruition when I wore my first red carpet dress, and I realized they had made it just for me. That gave me an understanding at the ripe age of six years old that I could actually make these clothes myself one day.
Do you remember the first piece you designed or made that made you think, "This feels like me"?
I designed my first dress when I was about eight I drew pictures for a Designer to make and then by the time I was nine, I started making small skirts and all my clothes. That first thing I made myself was skirt was a long sequence fitted skirt, with stretchy sequence material. Honestly, I would still wear it to this day.
My mom fought me hard to start with an easy to use material. But I kind of looked at her and said I don't wanna make something basic, if I'm not gonna wear it what's the point of making it?
What kinds of pieces do you love creating the most, and where does your personal style come from?
From traveling all these years and going to a multitude of different countries and learning so much from different cultures, it has inspired me to look through history and all of my experiences to culminate a style that is heavily reflected on being unapologetically authentic and creating an art style that resonates with the youth of today.
I have a mix of fashion that is cute, reflects the beauty of the human body, and has edge of rebellion to it. That pretty much sums up most of my streetwear line that I work with with my brother. Logan Rabe.
My couture line I always try to do something that is reflecting some of the newer technologies from unique structures to chemical reaction I love, pressing some of the boundaries of what's happening in fashion today.
You're still so young, but you've already built careers in several creative industries. Are you mostly self-taught when it comes to fashion? What has been the biggest challenge in learning this craft?
Threading that stupid needle... but honestly, finding ways to express myself when there is a monetary budget in the way. As you have multiple career paths, your parents cannot financially support every single one of them, so you have to find a way to make your art while being financially responsible. I have raised the money myself for every single one of my shows. I am completely self-taught. I mean my mother has helped me learn over the years. But we don't work in patterns much we usually figure out how to craft things through draping. Don't get me wrong there are certain things like a circle skirt and a corset, you have to learn how to make through a pattern or mathematics but for the most part we make stuff through draping which is why we love a dress form so much!
We'd love a peek into your creative world—what does your workspace look like today? Is there something in your studio that you can't imagine creating without?
A dress for number 1, but also obviously sewing machine, but it said the third thing is a grommet tool I have loved making my own corsets from scratch this year. Turning all of my dresses into corsets to make them size and even gender inclusive.
When you're designing a new piece, what's most important to you: the fit, the story behind it, the details, or the feeling someone has when they wear it?
The feeling whenever someone's wearing it, it feels good, makes you feel confident, but also the message it portrays and the emotion - it attracts you to the model. I like my fashion to tell a story itself, but I can't tell that story when the fit is wrong and if my model doesn't feel beautiful. When a model isn't feeling confident and beautiful, it shows it shows on the runway, it shows in the photo, and I haven't done my job.
Before discovering Royal Dress forms, what was your experience working with dress forms like? Was there something you felt was missing from the tools you had?
I have used adjustable dress forms from popular inexpensive online retailers again, trying to not name names, but they literally fall apart, the base falls off and breaks, the form itself loses its shape. The pins won't go in. You cannot see how you could pull a corset tight to see how it might change the shape of the body. The The dress forms from other Online retailers do not have a body shape that is actually anything similar to real life. I love my dress form. I got the Monica on purpose because I like the body type. It's a little curvier and it looks like what a real woman looks like, therefore I can see how my clothes actually fit a real woman!
Since working with a soft dress form, have you found any unexpected ways to use it while designing, fitting, or even presenting your creations? Any tips you'd share with other young designers?
A dress form that is soft, literally makes the difference between how well your dresses fit in real life. I had a really good friend and her birthday was coming up and I knew I wanted to make a skirt without her dimensions available. All I knew is that my dress form was a medium, and she was roughly a medium. It was already late at night and I didn't have the ability to call and ask her for her measurements because her birthday party started in the next morning at brunch. I knew she was pretty close to the body form I have, and the material was a little bit stretchy. So I knew that with those two factors - a soft body form and a slightly stretchy material that I could make the skirt fit my Monica and it would fit her. And guess what it did. It fit like a glove. Her mom was like how did you make this skirt for her without having her here to try it on or get any measurements ? But I never told her my magic secret- material with a little give and a good soft body dress form in a similar size to your model.
Thank you Lexi Rabe!
