North Texas Daily

In a sketchbook, UNT fashion design junior Alicia Crayton has sketches from her first fashion collection, including one with a tan jacket that is long in the back and is paired with a plaid skirt with buttons across. Another sketchbook has her bridal designs from her more recent fashion show. One of the sketches showcases a mermaid style dress with hand-sewn beading across the top.

Crayton started her own fashion brand in 2018 called Exclusive.co. She was in Northwest Arkansas Fashion Week in 2018 and 2019.

Starting her first semester this fall, Crayton chose to come to UNT because she wanted a program that would focus more on design. Crayton is always trying to challenge herself to improve.

UNT fashion design junior Alicia Crayton sketches her ideas out first before pulling out the sewing machine and fabric, she said. Image by Hope Alvarez

“Over the last year, I pushed myself a lot,” Crayton said. “I used to be so scared, but I really push myself to do the more risky things and it ended up turning out well. I’m excited to see a year or two from now.”

For the 2019 Northwest Arkansas Fashion Week, Crayton challenged herself to do something different: bridal designs. The coordinator for the fashion week saw her designs and asked her if she was interested, which Crayton said was exciting because creating bridal dresses was a new experience.

“It was really cool to get to [do bridal] to show different sides of me, to be able to put myself out there in person,” Crayton said.

Crayton has been sewing since she was seven years old. A family friend taught her how to sew, but the TV show “That’s So Raven” inspired her to see fashion design as a career.

“[Raven Baxter] was a designer on the show and I was like ‘Ooh, I want to do that,’” Crayton said. “I really didn’t know it was a job, and the more I was looking into it I was like ‘Wow, people really do this.’”

Crayton draws inspiration from documentaries and other fashion designers. She likes learning about designers and what they did to succeed.

“It gives me confirmation that I’m on the right track,” Crayton said. “That this isn’t something I came up with [in my head].”

Crayton said she is trying to cater to college students with her brand because that’s what she knows. She advertises her brand through social media. At the moment she’s doing it all by herself, but she said she hopes to expand her brand.

“My current goal right now is to be in New York Fashion Week,” Crayton said. “I’m trying to do that within the next year, either February or September of next year.”

Crayton never thought she would have gone to Northwest Arkansas Fashion Week, but she said what helped was having connections with other designers.

“When I went [to Arkansas] and did that, it was a culture shock, a little bit, because it was like ‘Oh, there’s a lot of people,’” Crayton said. “I had to get adjusted to working with different models and stuff.”

Lazarria Wesley, Dallas resident, is also a friend of Crayton’s and a fashion designer. She met Crayton while working at Dillard’s in Arkansas. Crayton has encouraged Wesley to keep going with fashion design.

“She basically came here, to Dallas, and I guess to network more,” Wesley said. “Literally within two months, I grabbed my stuff and was like, ‘I’m coming with you.’”

Tyniesha Robinson, an Arkansas Tech University sociology/criminal justice senior who has known Crayton since she was in eighth grade, attended one of her fashion shows. Robinson said one of her favorite designs was a yellow summer dress that a bridesmaid could wear.

“If [clients] need anything done, she’s the person,” Robinson said. “She will bring what [the client] wants to life and the end result will be amazing. It will be something that she’s proud of and that they’re accepting of.”

Featured Image: UNT fashion design junior Alicia Crayton stands in the University of North Texas Union on Sept. 18, 2019. Image by Hope Alvarez