Today we’d like to introduce you to Exodus Brownlow

Hi Exodus, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.

My name is Exodus Oktavia Brownlow. I am a writer, sewist and editor native to Blackhawk, Mississippi. It is such a pleasure to take the time today to introduce myself, and to talk with you all again after such a stellar experience with my first Canvas Rebel interview (August, 2024).
Since this is our second time around at this, I figured I would approach my interview from the perspective of being a sewist and fashion designer in formation, to hit the bits that don’t get as much attention as my writing does.
I’ve always had a love for fashion and styling. As a child, I would take great pride in oufting my dolls (I was almost exclusively a Bratz doll collector) and styling their hair. I put on runway shows. I took them with me everywhere in a doll carrying case–that served as my portfolio before I knew what a portfolio even was.
I think, at the time, it was a way for me to story-tell without words, in the form of physical, touchable play.
At 32, I’m just now getting into the meat-of-the-bone of fashion, sewing, history, techniques, art, construction and so much more.
It has been such an adventure to begin this new journey at the offset of a new age decade within my life.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?

In a way, yes and no.
The thing about art is that the more you learn, the more you learn.
The more you learn, the more you have to do better within the next rounds of practicing and producing.
Starting is smooth. You’re an infant. You’re unaware of the complexities of the art you wish to practice.
The challenges arise when you set your mind to tackle the intricacies of the art.
How something is made, even the most simplistic of garments, is so complex. Demanding our respect, patience and time.
Perhaps it’s the ease in which we’re able to buy clothes etc, that allows us who aren’t in fashion to misinterpret it as a simple process.
But fashion is as to the body.
And the body is infinite, intricate and varied in more ways than whether or not someone fits a small, medium or large.
From the middle point, to continuing forward–struggles may come about. But this, again, is just the artist in that infant state. Not something to necessarily fear, but just the constant awareness that we have more to learn. More first steps to take.
The ebb and flow of learning is that we receive the gift of mastering new elements all the time, all the while knowing that there’ll never be a fixed end to that learning.
That isn’t so much of a struggle as it is as joyful reminder that our own growth is just as never ending.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?

As a sewist, and fashion designer in formation (I say formation as I am only in the infancy of my informal education), I aim to create work that feels like that beautiful bit of breath that is often only captured in childhood, in moments when we are truly at peace with ourselves.
Fashion that feels playful, soft, dramatic, and treasurable.
Fashion that honors that we are the stars of our stories, and are always worthy of wearing garments that reflects this.
Right now, to keep a consistent sewing practice while I learn more, I am crafting hand-sewn luxury berets. Each beret takes up to five hours to craft. I’ve utilized whimsical brocades with ivory satin lining, golden-beaded dupioni silk, and wools with delightful cotton innards for the customers I’ve been blessed to receive since opening up for commissions on November, 2024.
My aim is to eventually grown into sewing and selling other luxury items, hand-sewn and machine, in the future.

Where do you see things going in the next 5-10 years?

That is hard question for me, a fashion history and business novice, to answer with much confidence. But I will try.
I can say (because I have learned) that with some of the political shifts, in this current social climate, we are seeing a return to conservative clothing. To cleanliness. To traditional values. To bodies of a certain size and portion. We are seeing fashion that particularly seeks to protect people of female-identifying genders, to affirm people of male-identifying genders. And to answer why that is, is to again look at where we are politically, socially, culturally.
If fashion is political? And it is. If fashion is a form of storytelling? And it is.
What is the belief, policy, set of clothes, etch of body type that will secure my story in this world?
And once we shift from this current reality what will that set of clothing, for that time, look like then?
Personally, on my end, and always with optimism at my heart, I am still intentional about crafting work that weaves in the light, that keeps the dark at bay.
Play isn’t conservative.
Play is powerful.
Play is the shedding of the self-conscious and the reckless display of the person underneath who seeks to be themselves, truly themselves, without worrying with the worlds’ watching.
If I can create fashion that centers this as it’s ethos, I will be satisfied.

Pricing:

• Luxury Beret [Standard Sizing] $45
• Luxury Beret [Oversized] $50

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.exodusoktaviabrownlow.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/coocoo4afropuffs/?hl=en
• Facebook: Exodus Brownlow
• Twitter: https://x.com/CoCo4AfroPuffs?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor&prefetchTimestamp=1733766613682&mx=2

Image Credits

N/A