This week, Milwaukee native and Kéraye London owner Kevon Albright traveled to London to participate in the SHEIN X Global Challenge as one of the top-10 finalists.
“Tomorrow, we’re going to do the design challenge so as of now… I am kind of nervous,” she said Tuesday afternoon before the competition officially launched.
The SHEIN X Global Challenge, an initiative under the SHEIN X Designer Incubator Program for the global online fashion and lifestyle retailer, supports independent fashion designers and artists in bringing their ideas to life. The participants are taught masterclasses in product development, manufacturing, marketing, and supply chain logistics.
“I have been following SHEIN X on Instagram for about a year and I said, ‘I’m going to apply, and something told me not to apply just yet,” Albright said.
The independent fashion designer decided that this year felt like the right time to submit her work. SHEIN X Global Challenge asked designers to submit three complete Spring Summer 2024 women’s looks based on this year’s theme, “Radiance.”
Albright’s designs were then voted for by members of the public against about a thousand other qualified submissions published on the SHEIN X Challenge website. After they weighed in for the top-20 submissions, judges shortlisted 10 submissions.
“This year’s submissions have seen a surge in creativity and technical skill. It has been wonderful to see so many submissions that interpreted the theme with great commercial viability,” Colin Horgan, SHEIN X Global Challenge 2024 judge said in a press statement. “I’m excited to get to know their work and get the opportunity to mentor them during the masterclasses, as they evolve within the industry.”
Albright, who graduated from Marquette University earning a bachelor of arts degree in broadcast communications and business marketing, is also excited to network with others within the fashion industry and learn from other designers.
“I didn’t go to school for fashion design so I like to say that I’m self-taught,” she said.
Albright chose to follow her calling to become a professional fashion designer sometime after college. “Upon graduation, I realized that that wasn’t for me. I didn’t enjoy it as much as being a designer,” she said.
However, Albright insists that fashion has always been a part of her life. She uses clothes to express herself and says that her brand, Kéraye London, symbolizes uniqueness.
“I would like to be a very well-known fashion designer, as someone who dresses and styles celebrities,” she said. “I want to be international. I want to go to Paris, Milan, and everywhere else.”
However, Albright already started making a name for herself in the States. In recent years, she worked behind the scenes at the BET Awards and has participated in local fashion shows in Milwaukee. She’s participated in New York Fashion Week (NYFW), not once but twice, which she called an amazing experience.
“That was my first collection that I made so I got to make a collection of 12 pieces … so ever since I’ve been making collections. I would do fashion week over and over again,” Albright said.
For the 2024 SHEIN X Global Challenge, three of the designers are from Brazil, two are from Italy, and there are other finalists from Albania, France, Japan, and the United Kingdom. Albright is the designer representing the United States at the competition in London, however, she doesn’t plan to do any sightseeing this week as the designer has been there many times before.
“I love London. I’ve been to London a lot so I named my brand after it,” she said.
The winner of the SHEIN X Global Challenge 2024 will be announced today and will walk away with 10,000 euros ($10,932.95 in US Dollars). Three special finalists will receive an award of 5,000 euros ($5,466.47 in US Dollars) each for their creativity, innovation, and representation of the competition’s theme and the rest of the finalists will go home with 3,000 ($3,279.88 in US Dollars) euros each.
“If I won the top prize of 10,000 euros, I would use this to invest in a rental space where I am able to create and design freely. This would help with in-person consultations, client measurements, and more space in general to sew and design,” Albright said regarding the prize.
